2-7 Triple Draw Rules

The object of the game is to win the pot, either by holding the lowest five-card hand at showdown under the Deuce-to-Seven ranking in Article 2, or by making a bet that no other player calls.

The game is played with a standard 52-card deck with no jokers. Suits have no rank.

Every player's hand consists of the five cards they hold. There are no community cards and no cards are dealt face up.

Triple Draw is normally played with no more than six players, because each player may replace up to fifteen cards over three draws. No-Limit Single Draw is normally played with up to seven players.

Deuce-to-Seven is also called 2-7 lowball or Kansas City lowball. It is a different game from Ace-to-Five lowball, used in Razz, in which aces are low and straights and flushes do not count.

Hands are ranked by the standard poker hand rankings, and the lowest-ranking hand wins. A hand with no pair, straight or flush beats any hand with a pair; any pair beats two pair; and so on up to a straight flush, which is the worst hand possible.

Aces are high only. An ace is always the highest card. A hand containing an ace and no pair is an ace-high hand, which is a poor holding. A-2-3-4-5 is not a straight; it is ace-high.

Straights and flushes count. Five cards in sequence are a straight, and five cards of one suit are a flush. Either one ranks above every no-pair hand and every pair, and so loses to them.

Comparing no-pair hands. Two no-pair hands are compared by their highest card; the lower highest card wins. If the highest cards are equal, the next-highest cards are compared, and so on down to the fifth card.

Hands that each contain a pair or better are compared as in high poker, and the weaker hand wins. A pair of twos beats a pair of threes; a pair of twos with a lower set of side cards beats a pair of twos with higher side cards.

If two hands are identical in rank, the pot is split equally.

A dealer button marks the nominal dealer and moves one seat clockwise after each hand.

The player directly to the left of the button posts the small blind and the next player posts the big blind. Blinds are live bets, and the big blind has the option to raise if no one else has.

In fixed-limit Triple Draw, the big blind is equal to the small bet, and the small blind is usually half of it. In No-Limit Single Draw, tournaments commonly add an ante from every player or a big blind ante.

Heads-up play. With two players, the button posts the small blind, acts first before the first draw and last on every later round.

The big bet is twice the small bet. In a 200/400 game, bets and raises on the first two rounds are 200, and on the last two rounds 400.

Each round is capped, most commonly at one bet and three raises. Many venues remove the cap when only two players remain in the hand. See betting structures.

After each betting round, starting with the first active player to the left of the button, each player in turn discards any number of cards from none to five, face down, and receives the same number from the deck.

A player who stands pat on one draw may draw on a later one. There is no requirement to draw, and no limit on the number of cards drawn other than five per draw.

If all but one player folds at any point, the remaining player wins the pot at once and need not show their cards.

A player shall declare the number of cards they want and discard them before receiving replacements. Once replacement cards have been dealt to a player, the number drawn may not be changed.

Discards are dead and may not be retrieved.

A card exposed by the dealer during the draw may not be taken by the player. It is placed with the discards and replaced. Venues differ on whether the replacement is dealt at once or after every other player has drawn.

Until there has been action after a draw, a player may ask how many cards an opponent took on that draw, and the dealer or that opponent shall answer.

Reshuffle. The last card of the deck shall not be dealt. When the remaining cards cannot complete a draw, the dealer deals as far as possible without using the last card, then gathers all the discards, the burn cards and the last card, shuffles them, has them cut, and completes the draw from the new stack.

5.5(a) The discards of the player currently drawing, made on this draw, are not included in the reshuffle. That player shall not receive their own discards back.

5.5(b) In most cardrooms the dealer burns a card from the new stack before continuing. The venue's procedure governs.

If more than one player remains after the final betting round, the last player to bet or raise on that round shows first. If there was no bet, the first active player to the left of the button shows first.

The cards speak. Hands are read from the cards shown. A player who miscalls a hand does not lose a pot their cards win, but a player who misdeclares a hand in a way that causes another player to discard a winning hand may have their hand declared dead at the floor's discretion.

A player with more or fewer than five cards at showdown has a dead hand.

When a pot cannot be split evenly, the odd chip goes to the first player in the tied hand to the left of the button.

Blinds are posted as in Article 3, and in tournaments an ante is usually added. Each player is dealt five cards face down.

The first betting round begins with the player to the left of the big blind. Betting is no-limit: the minimum bet is the big blind, a raise must be at least the size of the previous bet or raise on the round, and a player may bet all of their chips at any time.

After the first betting round, each active player in turn, starting left of the button, may discard and replace from none to five cards. There is one draw only.

A second betting round follows the draw, starting with the first active player to the left of the button. Showdown follows the rules in Article 7.

An all-in wager that is less than a full raise does not reopen the betting to players who have already acted and are facing only that short amount.

Rules 5.1 to 5.5 on the draw, exposed cards, questions about the number drawn and the reshuffle apply equally to Single Draw.