No Limit 2-7 Single Draw

So I figured it was about time to add a post about a game that doesn't get played too often these days. I got some friends together and we played a small 2-7 single draw tournament. There is usually just one of these tournaments each year. However, that tournament is at the World Series of Poker and features one of the most difficult fields one would ever want to face. It also is a $5,000 buy in with rebuys. Whether you're playing triple draw or single draw, position is vitally important in draw poker much more so than in other games. Because you do not have any community cards being able to act last is a huge advantage. I took advantage of my position against a tight player. I was on the button and looked down to see the A-A-K-K-Q. This is a great hand in most poker games, but not when you play lowball. In fact, this is almost an automatic fold in any circumstance. However, I felt a bit frisky and wanted to run a bluff.

I raised before the draw. I made my standard pot sized raise as I was doing with hands like a made 9 or 10 or draws to an 8 or 7. I get called by a tight player. Obviously, I know my hand is no good. My plan was to stand pat if my opponent drew a card and to draw one if my opponent stood pat. This strategy might appear to be odd to a novice draw poker player. If my opponent is drawing, I want to give the appearance that I was dealt a good hand before the draw and I don't need to improve my hand to win the pot. A made J low is about even money against a one card draw. Ideally, I'm hoping that my opponent draws and pairs up and has to fold his hand.

If my opponent stood pat, I know I would get called after the draw if I remained pat as well. Therefore, I want to draw one card to make it seem like I'm drawing to an 8 or 7. That way, when my opponent bets after the draw, I can raise and try and win the pot there. Of course, I know that I have no chance of winning the pot in any kind of show down. I'm just trying to utilize my position and a slightly bigger stack to win the pot. My opponent ended up drawing one card--I put him on a 10 draw at worst (probably a 9). I stood pat as I had planned. After the draw, my opponent led out with a bet about half of the size of the pot. To me this felt like a value bet on a marginal hand. I figured that my opponent just made his hand, but it wasn't a good one (maybe a 9-8 or 9-7). I decided to raise. Of course, I could always just fold if I knew that any raise I made would get called, but I made a fairly healthy raise (about 5 times what my opponent bet at me). My opponent went into the tank for a while and eventually mucked his hand. I knew he had the winner, but I opted to not show my "monster" hand to the table. You really don't want your opponents to know what you are capable of in a game like this so I would rarely show my cards.