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Part 1 is located here: Triple Draw Basics - Part 1 - How the Game is Played

Part 2a is located here: Triple Draw Basics - Part 2a - Before the Draw

This is part 2b which is a continuation of How to play 2-7 triple draw before the 1st draw:

The 2 card 7 draws are your bread and butter. These are your most common good starting hands, and the ones you will play the most. How you play them will depend mainly on your position and what any opponents ahead of you did. Optimally you would like to be in position. OOP is a differnt story but you really don't play much differntly with one of these hands. From up front it is always best to open raise. I almost NEVER call before the draw in TD. You could almost say it is never right to call in TD but never say never. As far as 2 card 7 draws are concerned though you are always going to raise if you are the first into the pot. Even if you are in early position (or late) and there is a raise in front of you you should re-raise and get it heads up if at all possible.

As far as there being 2 raises in front of you then it becomes a judgement call. Obviously if your opponent is a new player you have never seen before who just went to the third draw with a full house and is wondering hy he lost and some player you know to cap it with a 349 pre draw you can go ahead and cap it. If the raisers are the tightest players who won't leave the gate with anything worse than a premium 1 card 7 draw you can quietly muck your hand. If it is somewhere in the middle this is one spot I might call if in position but if out of position I fold. While a premium 2 card 7 is a great starting hand there are still times we could be way behind with one.

One common exception to raising or re-raising is when you are in the blinds. Here it can be okay to call a pre-draw raiser as re-raising only serves tobuild a pot and we really have no idea where we stand. Anybody already in the pot is not going anywhere so why bet? We only build a bigger pot that we now have to play out of postition against one or more opponents. We are also re-opening the betting possibly costing us more bets if one of our opponents happens to already have a good pat hand and now here we are, out of position, not knowing where we stand. Like I said there are few exceptions to calling pre-draw and this is one of them. You just don't want to put too much money in the pot in these tough spots out of position.

2 card draws with a 6 are played with a little more care. I will open in ealry position with one but after I make that first raise how how I play the hand can change dramatically ranging from if I am re-raised pre draw to bricking the first draw. Just try to catch a 7 early or get out with these hands. Prefferably I would say only play a hand like 256 on or near the button for a raise and take the blinds. Even if you are called or raised you still have that position. The problem once again is that you may pick up a card that looks good but really only makes you a straight draw. Don't call a raise with this hand, muck it and save yourself from those times you make a straight on the river.

2 card 8 draws - My requirements for a good 2 card 8 draw are very similar to the 1 card 8 draw requirements but I do not like to play a 278. Just about any other 8 draw I consider highley playable in most situations but the 87 draw is where I tend to draw the line. I think the only time I play and 87 draw is when on the button with no limpers and I can bring it in for a raise in position. Short of that very scenario I put most 87 draws right into the muck. The best two card 8 draws can make a #5 or 23458 so 238, 248, 258 although I also consider 268 playable. As a matter of fact 268 is probobly the worst hand I will play before the draw willingly and often.

2 card 8 draws can be very profitable and you will be playing a lot of them as you learn the game a little better and are able to loosen up a bit. Very similar to playing a 1 card 8 draw I like to raise up front with an 86 but I will usually muck an 87. If I am first into the pot with any 86 or better I come in for a raise. If there is a raise in front of me I will re-raise, mainly to get it heads up.

If you are facing 2 raises again it is a judgement call as to wether you proceed or not. Here you may call if you were raised obviously but waht do you do when you have 2 raisers in front of you and you now have to call 2 bets cold? Well who bet? is there anyone behind you still to act? If I am on the button with a super premium 258 or better against some loose bad opponents I might venture a call but most of the time you can fold your hand and find a better spot to put your money in. If you are out of position this is a great time to fold, even from a blind if you are facing multiple bets. You don't want to be caught with one of these hands out of position.

Dangerous Hands

To put it short and sweet most hands you recieve in TD are not playable. That doesn't mean they are all dangerous as you are obviously not seeing the first draw with AAAAQ but some hands that can appear okay to play are really unplayable money pits that will dent your bankroll badly if you keep playing them. Often times you run into these types of "trouble hands" when it appears you have a 1 card draw but that 1 card is a deuce! Suppose you see a 1 card draw like 3457X. You might be tempted to limp in and play this hand for one bet. Don't! This is better to be placed in the muck especially in a multi-way pot. Notice only a 2 helps us? That is 4 outs times 3. It may sound good but you can count on anyone being in the pot with us to have a 2 and who knows who discarded one already!

Other hands I often see people playing are hands like 345xx. I understand you have 3 wheel cards again but you are voilating are golden rule again! Where is the 2? This is made even worse when I see players that are playing hands like 456. Now 2 rules are being violated. Do you know what they are? This hand has now seen the first draw with no 2 an with a 6! Now even if you pull that dream deuce out of the deck you still have a straight draw to dodge!

As you may have noticed many of the problem hands we encounter stem from violating our main golden rule. Don't leave the gate without that 2 in your hand! Also these trouble hands help demonstrate that we are not just starting with low cards and praying we end up with the lowest hand at the showdown but that we are playing right and starting with strong high in percentage hands. Leave playing those iffy pre draw hands up to your opponents!


So this is some very basic pre draw advice so if you ever feel lost you can look over this and get some idea of what you are doing. We learned that we don't play without a 2, to come in for a raise or don't come in at all, and what most of the better 1 and 2 card draws look like pre draw. We also learned that some hands may look okay but really are dangerous and give us a false sense of hop in our hand! We learned to play aggressive! We learned to bet to level the playing field as well as to build the pot. I realize many pre draw desicions are very situtaional and I cannot cover every scenario but these are some very common occurences. Good Luck! And I hope to have advice for playing the first draw up shortly.

Also when I typed this I just kinda started typing so please ignore the typos and point out any flaws you might see! Let me know what you think!