
As a relatively new game to the online poker community, 2-7 Triple Draw tournaments may be a little harder to find but they’re definitely worth the effort. Not only is the action usually fast-paced because of the short tables, but its novelty means there are far fewer players who have mastered the game. With only six players at the average table and fewer winning hand combinations than most poker games, it’s extremely important to take full advantage of each premium hand you’re dealt (or drawing to). This is best accomplished through tight / aggressive play (TAG) and consistent betting and drawing action, especially in the early rounds.
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Unlike stud or flop games, draw games like 27 Triple Draw Lowball do not lend themselves as well to loose / aggressive play (LAG) because it’s so easy to detect. If you’re raising or re-raising on the first round and then draw three cards, it’s pretty clear to anyone left in the pot you have a questionable hand (at best) and they’ll punish you for the attempt. In contrast, if you’ve been playing TAG from the very first hand, they’ll have no choice but to assume you have a big hand and respect your play, no matter what you’re holding. When your opponents believe you play only the strongest hands, you can control the entire table with a single bet or raise… even when you’re bluffing.
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When you’re dealt a premium hand, you may be tempted to limp in from early positions in order to suck more players into the pot with marginal hands. This is a common and often profitable tactic in stud or flop games, but in draw games it usually doesn’t work out as well. You’ll typically win bigger pots if you can get just one or two players to call your raise than you will by getting the whole table to limp in behind you. Aside from the risk of so many players actually outdrawing you (unless you have the nuts), they’re probably going to fold when they see you stand pat or draw just one card and bet big. But if you’re betting consistently and aggressively with only one or two callers, you can entice them to stay in the pot longer and win even more chips.
Bluffing is a little trickier in 2-7 Triple Draw because of the three drawing rounds. Your best attempt to bluff will be from late or last position and just after the deal. You can often push speculators off their hands with a strong raise, and even if you do get a caller or two they’ll have to respect your hand and your table position. Bluffing can also work very well on the last draw; if you and one other player have been betting and drawing one card each through all three rounds, you can bet very strongly on the last round and push your opponent off his hand. If he caught a 9 or higher or paired up his hand, he’ll probably fold. If he comes back at you, you’d better be holding premium cards to call or re-raise.
The first few levels of a tournament are excellent for gathering information, building your chip stack little by little and establishing your table image, especially in Limit games. The blinds are lower and the pot sizes are easier to control, making it safer to speculate and bluff a little, without getting carried away. The middle levels are when most of the players lose everything, so it’s wiser to tighten up your play and wait to hunt down the bigger pots with only premium hands. The last levels are when things get most interesting. The chip stacks are bigger and therefore more inviting to go after, the blinds are too expensive to speculate very much and the tournament is on the line. In these high-dollar levels, slightly loose / very aggressive play is probably the most profitable strategy, depending on the players around you. You can’t just sit there; the blinds will eat up even the biggest chip stacks. You can’t hope to limp in much with marginal hands, you’ll just be giving your chips away to the short stacks that are forced to go all in and outdraw you. Your best bet is to push hard with pat hands or one- or two-card draws from late positions and force your opponents into bad decisions.