7Juicer

I think people highly underrate triple draw as a variation of poker. I have seen people try and argue that triple draw is not even poker. I can’t offer a concise analytical or mathematical reason why one should play TD over other games. I will instead offer my own value judgments.

What have I learnt Playing Triple Draw?
*Position *
I hate to admit it but before I started playing TD I understood the concept of position but really didn’t weight it that highly in the scheme of things. After only a few sessions of TD I realised how important position is in any game. In tougher games $2-4 and above if you are Out of Position it is like bending over to pick up the soap in a prison shower block.

Simple example
After the second draw
You hold: 2347T out of position
And your opponent holds
2347T
Who has the advantage???

Now whenever I am out of position I remind myself I am Out Of Power (OOP) and adjust my calling range.

Aggression
In TD you quickly find if you play passively you will more often then not lose. Before I started playing TD I was a very passive player and had no idea about value betting and played very straightforward fit or fold poker. Playing TD quickly teaches you the importance of not giving your opponent’s free cards, playing strong draws aggressively and the importance of value betting marginal hands.

Deception
In the world of TD you will often play the same opponents on a regular basis. If you don’t mix up your game you will be exploited. After a while playing TD I have learnt that every hand I play I am telling my opponent a story. When I three bet pre draw I tell my opponent I have a strong hand. If I call a raise and discard one, I am telling my opponent I have a weak one card draw, if my draw was stronger I would have three bet. Sometimes you have to tell your opponent you are:

• Weak when you are strong.
• Strong when you are weak.
• Weak when you are weak.
• Strong when you are strong.

Also against opponents you face regularly you have to have a bluffing frequency greater then zero.

Hand Reading
In TD at the low stakes your opponents will tell you what their hand is. What you don’t believe me? They do, lucky for us they don’t realize they are doing this. As a very wise (old) poker player once said:

“Bus pass to value town.”

Note Taking
In TD if you are not taking notes then you are giving up a huge amount of value. Before I started playing TD my notes consisted of: Weak, passive, donkey, aggro spew monkey and so on. I have color-coded my notes, date my notes, and make notes in session and out of session. Example:
[player=****]
{7}
Aggressive, usually draws well, can’t fold. 09/10/09
VB:87,86543,
09/10/09
.
.
.
.
Prone to tilt, annoy him and get ready for the spew fest.
VB:876, 98,
Bluff bet: K, str8
18/10/09
OSN: Dropped a lot at $2-4, 5k MTT, moved back down, German time zone utc1,
Avg session: time 44 min, -8.4 BB/100
http://www.pokerprolabs.com/****/pokerstars.aspx
http://www.pokertableratings.com/stars-player-search/****

I choose to focus on TD as it allows for the development of skills I have listed above and these skills transfer well to other poker games. By playing TD I can focus on playing a small number of tables and make double the BB/100 that I could in hold’em. To make the same amount of money I would have to play at least 8-10 tables play a robotic 18/24 type game. TD also challenges me more mentally and at the end of the day the main reason I play poker is to have fun. I really don’t think that the path to learning poker is set in stone. Sure No Limit Hold’em is the most popular game at the moment but learning alternative games will make for a better-rounded poker player. This turned out to be a longer post then I wanted & I don’t think it answers the question as well as I would have liked. If you have not played TD yourself watch DeathDonkey and DJ’s Triple the Gold video series and get into the action.