Handout 01 · Limit · Pot-limit variant noted
Deuce-to-seven triple draw
Five cards, three chances to change them, and the worst conventional poker hand wins. The game this site is named for.
- Cards
- Five, all face down
- Draws
- Three
- Betting
- Fixed limit, four rounds
- Players
- Up to six W
- Best hand
- 7-5-4-3-2, not all one suit
- Also known as
- Kansas City lowball, "triple draw"
1How it is dealt and bet
The game uses a button and two blinds. Each player gets five cards face down, and there is a round of betting at the small bet. Then comes the first draw: in turn, each player still in the hand throws away any number of cards from none to five and receives the same number of new ones. Standing with all five is called standing pat. Another round at the small bet follows. The second draw is followed by a round at the big bet, the third draw by a last round at the big bet, and then the hands are shown. B W
So there are four betting rounds and three draws, and the bet doubles halfway through. The first round starts to the left of the big blind. Every later round, and every draw, starts with the first player still in the hand to the left of the button, so the button draws and bets last. A2
Procedure worth knowing
- Running out of cards. If the deck runs out, the dealer shuffles the earlier rounds' discards, the muck and the burn cards to finish the draw. The cards being discarded in the current round are not shuffled back in, so you cannot be dealt a card you just threw away. W
- Exposed cards. Under the WSOP's rules, a card exposed on the deal or on any draw is replaced. W Older rule sets differ before the draw: see the single-draw page.
- How many did you draw? In the WSOP's rules for the badugi family, you and the dealer must answer that question truthfully until someone acts after the draw; after that, nobody has to say. You may change the number you asked for only until a card has been dealt or someone has acted on what you said. W
2Hand ranking
Take the ordinary poker ranking and turn it upside down: the hand that would lose at hold'em wins here. Three details catch everyone who arrives from hold'em. W R
- The ace is high, and only high. A-5-4-3-2 is not a wheel and not a straight. It is an ace-high hand, and it loses to any king-high.
- Straights count against you. 7-6-5-4-3 is a straight, so it loses to every hand with no pair.
- Flushes count against you. 7-5-4-3-2 all in one suit is a flush, which is worse still.
Hands with no pair are read from the top card down, and the first difference decides. An "eight-six" is any 8-6-x-x-x. A hand with small cards under its top card is smooth; one with big cards under it is rough. Suits never break a tie.
- 7♥5♦4♣3♠2♥ beats 7♠6♦4♥3♣2♦Number one against number two. Same top card, so the second card decides: 5 is lower than 6.
- 8♥7♦6♣5♠3♥ beats 9♥5♦4♣3♠2♦The roughest eight still beats the smoothest nine. The top card is compared first.
- K♥Q♦J♣10♠8♥ beats 7♥6♦5♣4♠3♦The second hand is a straight. King-high with no pair is the better low.
- K♥Q♦J♣9♠8♥ beats A♥5♦4♣3♠2♥The ace plays high. A-5-4-3-2 is ace-high, the worst kind of no-pair hand.
- A♥5♦4♣3♠2♥ beats 2♥2♦5♠4♣3♦But A-5-4-3-2 is not a straight either, so it still beats every pair.
- 2♥2♦5♠4♣3♦ beats 6♥5♦4♣3♠2♦A pair of deuces beats a six-high straight, because a pair is a worse high hand than a straight.
There are only 4 different seven lows (7-5-4-3-2, 7-6-4-3-2, 7-6-5-3-2, 7-6-5-4-2) and 14 different eight lows: the 18 best hands in the game. You are dealt a pat eight or better 0.71% of the time, a pat nine or better 2.04%, and a pat ten or better 4.75%. Nearly every good hand is drawn to, not dealt.
3The draws, step by step
Follow one hand. You are dealt 2♠3♥4♦7♣K♠. Four of the five cards belong to the best hand in the game, so you throw away the king and draw one.
With your king counted as gone, 47 cards are unseen. A five or a six (8 cards) gives you a seven low. An eight (4 more) gives you 8-7-4-3-2. That is 12 cards out of 47.
| You hold 2-3-4-7 and draw one | Cards that hit | 1 draw left | 2 left | 3 left |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Make a seven | 8 of 47 | 17.0% | 31.5% | 43.6% |
| Make an eight or better | 12 of 47 | 25.5% | 45.0% | 59.6% |
These figures count your own discard as a dead card. The solver's own table further down leaves the discard out (48 unseen) and gets 25.0%, 44.1% and 58.7%. Both are exact; they answer slightly different questions.
Each time you miss, you throw the new card away and draw again, and each draw costs a bet to reach. By the third draw the bets are double size, so a draw that was cheap at the start is expensive at the end. That is the whole tension of the game: you have about a three-in-five chance to make an eight from the best one-card draw with all three draws to come, and only one in four on the last one.
Not all one-card draws are equal
| Draw | Hits | 1 left | 2 left | 3 left | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2-3-4-7, 2-3-5-7, 2-3-4-8, 2-3-7-8 | 12 | 25.5% | 45.0% | 59.6% | Three ranks complete it |
| 2-3-4-7 all one suit | 9 | 19.1% | 35.0% | 48.0% | Three of your outs make a flush |
| 2-3-4-5 | 8 | 17.0% | 31.5% | 43.6% | The six makes a straight; the ace is high |
| 2-4-5-6 | 8 | 17.0% | 31.5% | 43.6% | The three makes a straight |
| 3-4-5-7 (no deuce) | 8 | 17.0% | 31.5% | 43.6% | The six makes a straight |
| 4-5-6-7 | 4 | 8.5% | 16.5% | 23.9% | Only a deuce helps: the 3 and the 8 both make straights |
4Starting hands
- Enter a pot meaning to make an eight low or better. C7 N5 Against several opponents, aim for an 8-6 or better. N5
- The deuce is the most important card: only four of the eighteen best hands lack one. C7
- Two-card draws such as 2-3-4 and 2-4-5 are premium. Two-card draws without a deuce (7-5-3, 8-4-3, 8-5-4) are a leak from early position and playable from late position. C7
- 2-3-4-5 is overrated: it is an underdog to most other one-card draws. C7
- Do not draw more than two on the first draw as a habit; three-card draws are for stealing and defending blinds. N5 C7
- Position matters a great deal, because the player who acts last sees how many cards the other took before choosing his own draw. C7
The table in section 3 is the arithmetic behind the "2-3-4-5 is overrated" advice: it has 8 cards that make an eight or better, where 2-3-4-7 has 12.
Share of hands raised when everyone before you has folded, six-handed. These come from heads-up proxy solves, not from a true six-player solve, and the solver deals in hand classes with no card removal between the two hands. Read them as a first sketch. How to read these numbers.
| Seat | UTG | HJ | CO | BTN | SB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raises first in | 21% | 22% | 30% | 43% | 70% |
Heads-up, the solver's button raises about 85% of hands. We suspect that is too wide, because the simplified game ignores card removal. Facing that raise, its big blind folds 16%, calls 62% and re-raises 22%.
5The key decision on each draw
Once you have a made hand, every draw asks the same question: stand pat, or break it and draw to something better? The answer depends on how many draws are left and on what the other player's draws have told you.
How often a pat hand is still best at the showdown against one opponent drawing one card to 2-3-4-7. This is a raw chance of holding up, not a rule for what to do: it ignores the betting and assumes the opponent keeps drawing.
| Your pat hand | His outs | 1 draw left | 2 left | 3 left |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8-7-6-4-2 | 10 of 43 | 76.7% | 58.5% | 44.2% |
| 9-7-5-4-3 | 14 of 43 | 68.2% | 46.0% | 30.7% |
| 9-8-6-4-2 | 13 of 43 | 69.8% | 48.2% | 32.9% |
| 10-8-6-4-2 | 17 of 43 | 60.5% | 36.0% | 21.1% |
| J-8-6-4-2 | 21 of 43 | 51.2% | 25.6% | 12.5% |
| Q-8-6-4-2 | 25 of 43 | 41.9% | 16.9% | 6.6% |
The 9-8-6-4-2 row matches the exact odds quoted with the solver work (69.8%, 48.2%, 32.9%). Note the 9-7-5-4-3 row: it is a "better" nine, yet it holds up slightly less often here, because it blocks only one of the cards the draw needs (a five), where 9-8-6-4-2 blocks two (a six and an eight).
- With one draw left and your opponents still drawing, keeping a nine can be better than breaking it to chase. Against a single opponent who is still drawing, even a pat ten or jack can be right. N5
- Break a nine when the other player has probably stood pat with better, your four low cards are a strong draw, and the pot is large. N5
- A snow, standing pat on a hand that cannot win a showdown and betting as if it could, works against players who fold when they miss. Use it sparingly. N5
- Pat sevens and eights are kept.
- A rough nine (9-8) is broken about 98% of the time against an opponent who drew one, bet, and then stood pat.
- A smooth nine is kept 94% of the time if that same opponent only check-called.
The pattern is the useful part: the same nine is a keep or a break depending on whether the other player's line says "made hand".
6Common mistakes
- Reading the hand as hold'em. Calling A-2-3-4-5 a wheel, or 3-4-5-6-7 a seven low. Section 2 is the cure.
- Drawing to straights. Computed 4-5-6-7 looks like four good cards and has 4 cards that help, a third of what 2-3-4-7 has.
- Playing no-deuce hands up front. Published Loose early opens without a deuce tend to lose chips chasing a second-best low. C7
- Chasing. Published Staying for every draw after falling behind is named as a common and costly habit. C7
- Treating a made hand as finished. A nine is a different hand with two draws to come than with none. The table in section 5 shows how fast it shrinks.
7The pot-limit version
The WSOP's dealer's-choice list carries pot-limit 2-7 triple draw as a separate game: the same cards and ranking, with pot-limit betting in place of fixed limit. N1 N2 None of the odds change. None of the solver baselines on this page apply to it; they are for the limit game.
2-7 triple draw: cheat sheet
Seminar 27 · Handout 01 · limit, five cards, three draws
The order of play
Deal 5 → bet (small) → draw → bet (small) → draw → bet (big) → draw → bet (big) → showdown.
Ranking in one breath
- Worst poker hand wins. Best: 7-5-4-3-2 in two or more suits.
- Ace is always high. A-2-3-4-5 is ace-high, not a straight.
- Straights and flushes are bad. Pairs are worse than any no-pair hand.
- Read from the top card down. Suits never break ties.
Odds to carry
| One-card draw | Hits/47 | 1 left | 2 left | 3 left |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2-3-4-7 to an 8 or better | 12 | 25.5% | 45.0% | 59.6% |
| 2-3-4-7 to a 7 | 8 | 17.0% | 31.5% | 43.6% |
| 2-3-4-5 to an 8 or better | 8 | 17.0% | 31.5% | 43.6% |
| 4-5-6-7 to an 8 or better | 4 | 8.5% | 16.5% | 23.9% |
| Pat hand vs one 2-3-4-7 draw | 1 left | 2 left | 3 left |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8-7 holds up | 76.7% | 58.5% | 44.2% |
| 9-8 holds up | 69.8% | 48.2% | 32.9% |
| 10-8 holds up | 60.5% | 36.0% | 21.1% |
| J-8 holds up | 51.2% | 25.6% | 12.5% |
Published rules of thumb
- Play for an eight or better. Want a deuce. Two-card draws without one are for late position.
- 2-3-4-5 is weaker than it looks. The button sees your draw before choosing his.
Solver baseline (simplified heads-up game, not a full solution)
First-in raise share six-handed: UTG 21 · HJ 22 · CO 30 · BTN 43 · SB 70 (%). Pat 7s and 8s stay. A rough 9 breaks against "drew one, bet, then pat".
seminar27.com · Odds computed by the site's own script. Rules: WSOP live-action rules and the BARGE rulebook. For education.