2-7 Triple Draw Poker Rules

1. What is 2-7 Triple Draw?

2-7 Triple Draw is a five-card lowball draw variant. Each player is dealt five cards and try to make the lowest possible five-card hand. Aces are high in 2-7 Triple Draw.

Here we go over the poker rules for 2-7 Triple Draw.

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2. How to Play 2-7 Triple Draw

There are four rounds of betting and three draws. After each round of betting, players choose how many cards they want to discard, anywhere from 0 to 5, and the dealer deals them replacement cards.

After the third and final draw there is one last round of betting. A dealer button determines the order of betting and discarding.

3. 2-7 Triple Draw Strategy

There is plenty of 2-7 Triple Draw strategy available on the PokerNews website. Here are some of our favorites:

4. 2-7 Triple Draw Hand Rankings

Because you are trying to make the lowest possible hand, straights and flushes count against you. This means that 6x5x4x3x2x, for example, is a very bad hand. It is not considered a 6-low. It is a straight and is therefore worse than holding AKQJ9.

The best possible hand you can make is 7x5x4x3x2x with no flush. This hand is called a wheel or Number 1. The next best hand is 7x6x4x3x2x, again with no flush. This hand is often referred to as Number 2. Likewise, 7x6x5x3x2x is referred to as Number 3 and so on.

Because Aces play for high Ax5x4x3x2x is not a straight. It is the best possible Ace-low you can make-also called the Nut Ace. 8x5x4x3x2x is the Nut 8 or Eight-Perfect. 9x5x4x3x2x is the Nut 9 or Nine-Perfect and so on.

AxKxQxJx9x is the worst possible unpaired hand you can make, since your goal is to make a low hand. 2x2x5x4x3x would be the next best hand after that.

The worst hand you can hold in this game is a Royal Flush. Trips are worse than pairs. Straights are worse than pairs and trips. Flushes are worse than straights. And full houses are worse than flushes. So, the hand rankings are the inverse of the hand rankings in a regular high game.

Here are the top ten best hands in 2-7 Triple Draw:

Rank	Hand	Nickname
1	7-5-4-3-2	Wheel, Number 1
2	7-6-4-3-2	Number 2
3	7-6-5-3-2
4	7-6-5-4-2
5	8-5-4-3-2	Nut Eight, Eight Perfect
6	8-6-4-3-2	Eighty-Six Smooth
7	8-6-5-3-2
8	8-6-5-4-2
9	8-6-5-4-3
10	8-7-4-3-2	Eight-Seven Smooth

5. Difference Between Perfect, Smooth and Rough in 2-7 Triple Draw

You will often hear 2-7 Lowball Draw players refer to hands as either perfect, smooth or rough. But what do these terms mean?

Perfect

When a player describes their hand as perfect they mean that they are making the lowest possible hand for their highest card. Let us explain.

If someone announced 'Ten Perfect' this would be they held a 10x along with 5x4x3x2x, making it the best ten they could make. The next best hand would be the worst nine. Similarly, if someone declared 'Nine Perfect' they would hold the best possible nine 9x5x4x3x2x

This is usually used for any perfect hand apart from 7x5x4x3x2x where a player would declare 'Wheel' or 'Number 1'.

Smooth

Smooth refers to having a very good low end of your hand. For example, a player might say that they hold an 'Eighty-Six Smooth'. This would refer to a player holding 8x6x along with 4x3x2x.

Similarly, someone could announce a 'Ten-Eight Smooth' which would be 10x8x along with 4x3x2x - the best bottom end of a ten.

Rough

A rough hand is the opposite of a smooth hand, and refers to when a player has a bad high-end of their hand. For example, a player might say that they hold a 'Rough Nine' where their hand is 9x8x7x4x2x. This would indicate that their Nine wasn't a particularly good one.

6. 2-7 Triple Draw at the WSOP

Whereas 2-7 Single Draw first appeared at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in 1973, 2-7 Triple Draw didn't appear on the WSOP schedule until 2007 when a $1,000 Rebuy event was added.

The buy-in increased to $2,500 from 2008-13, before in 2014 increasing again to $10,000 with the introduction of the 2-7 Triple Draw Championship. 2014 also saw the introduction of a $1,500 buy-in 2-7 Triple Draw Event.

WSOP 2-7 Triple Draw Championship 2007-19

Year	Buy-in	Entries	Prizepool	Winner	Payout (USD)
2019	$10,000	100	$940,000	Luke Schwartz	$273,336
2018	$10,000	109	$1,024,600	Nicholas Seiken	$287,987
2017	$10,000	80	$752,000	Ben Yu	$232,738
2016	$10,000	125	$1,175,000	John Hennigan	$320,103
2015	$10,000	109	$1,024,600	Tuan Le	$322,756
2014	$10,000	120	$1,128,000	Tuan Le	$355,324
2013	$2,500	282	$641,550	Eli Elezra	$173,236
2012	$2,500	228	$518,700	Randy Ohel	$145,247
2011	$2,500	309	$702,975	Leonard Martin	$189,818
2010	$2,500	291	$669,300	Peter Gelencser	$180,730
2009	$2,500	257	$593,400	Abe Mosseri	$165,521
2008	$2,500	238	$547,400	John Phan	$151,896
2007	$1,000+R	209	$721,804	Rafi Amit	$227,005

WSOP $1,500 2-7 Triple Draw 2014-19

Year	Buy-in	Entries	Prizepool	Winner	Payout (USD)
2019	$1,500	467	$630,450	Robert Campbell	$144,027
2018	$1,500	356	$480,600	Hanh Tran	$117,282
2017	$1,500	326	$440,100	Brian Brubaker	$109,967
2016	$1,500	358	$483,300	Andrey Zaichenko	$117,947
2015	$1,500	388	$523,800	Benny Glaser	$136,215
2014	$1,500	348	$469,800	Todd Bui	$124,510

What happens when there are not enough cards to complete the draw?

When this happens, the muck has to be reshuffled and the draw is completed after the reshuffle.