 Vegas June 2026 |
| Triple Draw Mix Nugget |
| Last Updated: 2026-06-25 04:21:52 |
| I'll just say right up front I walked out of the poker room wondering a little bit why I keep doing this to myself ...
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| I said it in a previous BLOG and I'll say it again, I realize triple draw doesn't make for the most interesting story to read about ... but I'm gonna try because it's what I do!
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| All of these games are four and five card triple-draw lowball games, the object is the lowest hand not the highest hand.
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| 2-7 Triple Draw, I've talked about it a lot, aces are always "high", 7-5-4-3-2 is the best (worst) hand, straights and flushes are high hands (read: BAD).
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| A-5 Triple Draw, 5-4-3-2-A is the best hand, aces are "low", straights and flushes don't matter. That actually is a critical distinction because a hand like 3-4-5-6 can make a straight in 2-7 and is almost unplayable because of the possible straight, but in this game a 2 or a 7 could easily turn it into a winning hand.
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| Badugi, A-2-3-4 with all four suits is the best hand, any paired cards are ignored (so A-2-2-3 is really just A-2-3 at showdown if you have three suits) as are cards that match the suit of another card (so Ac-2s-3h-4s is really also just A-2-3). If nobody has all four suits with no pairs then the best hand with three suits and no pairs wins (the aforementioned A-2-3 is therefore the nut 3-card hand when nobody has a 4-card hand).
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| So Kc-Qs-Jh-Td, the worst possible Badugi, beats Ac-2s-3h-4s because of two suits.
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| And it's hard to make a Badugi ...
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| I was about an hour late buying in and was a little discouraged by how few people were in at that point (30-something) but I was there to play my favorite games so I plunked down my cash.
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| Early on playing 2-7 I draw and catch 8-6-5-3-2 on the second draw, there's betting and calling and no third draws ... and the other guy rolls over 8-6-5-3-2. Yup, same hand, chop it up! That's really hard to do!
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| After that it was pretty brutal for the hour I played until the break. I stole blinds now and then to sort of maintain my stack but every time I was drawing one I missed, of all the times I was drawing two cards I only improved to a one-card draw once or twice and missed at the end.
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| Nothing was working out for me.
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| I get moved to start up a new table and I was dealt three straight pat Badugis. You don't get dealt pat Badugis often so that was pretty remarkable! And usually they will win, no matter how bad they are, because it's hard to make a Badugi!
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| The first one was as bad as it gets, K-Q-J-2. I raise out, I get reraised by a guy who definitely was willing to reraise and still draw ... and he also patted. I cannot win at showdown, and I'm not going to bother drawing three so I'm done with the hand.
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| Next hand better, K-J-5-2, I raised, other guy drew two, I bet and he folded. Then I actually got dealt a monster 8-6-5-2 Badugi and got raised into! I got in two more bets before he folded, but still after being so dead up to that point I was only at 28,300 at the first break from a starting stack of 35k.
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| Finally the second hand after the break I make a draw for the first time. Playing A5 I start with A45 and get a 2 and a 7 on the first draw. I lead out and get called, but they were drawing two and after I patted and led out they folded.
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| Then argh playing A5 I had a 9-low hand and the other person patted and bet ... so I was convinced they had my 9 beat and broke it and caught a jack ... we checked it down and they showed an inferior 9 to what I broke. All I had to do was not draw ... grr ...
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| But the rest of the A5 was kind to me, I actually hit a couple draws and bet people out and I think I took down 4 or 5 of the 6 hands.
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| Not much going on through Badugi or 27, back to A5 again where finally things turn around.
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| I'm in a pot that was raised and reraised on the draw, I draw two and catch the nuts on the first draw while he catches a 6-low. Raising and re-raising before we both start patting, he check-calls every bet and is disgusted when he sees my hand.
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| The bottom line with Badugi is that if you are drawing you're effectively drawing to what would be an open ended straight draw in Hold'Em. Always. If you are even drawing live, you might be drawing dead! It's hard to make a Badugi!
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| Yes, I keep saying that. It's true ...
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| So any time you make a Badugi you assume you're probably winning the hand ... until you have reason to think you aren't!!!
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| I raise out and get called in two places drawing two with A-3. I spike 7-K of different suits, so I have a really bad but made Badugi. I lead out, there's two callers.
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| I pat and after they draw I make the standard bet (if I'm pat and you're drawing I'm probably in good shape!) and there's one caller and then a raise! Uh-oh.
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| I have what's called a "convertible" hand. If they're drawing I'm ahead ... but if they're pat, well three to a 7 is a pretty good draw as opposed to my above mentioned K-Q-J-2 Badugi which I can't just pitch one and hope to improve to a winner.
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| So ... I break my Badugi and pitch the King of diamonds ... and spike a deuce of diamonds!!! He leads out into me, I raise, he doesn't even have a full bet left and tosses it in ... and walks away because his 10-Badugi got cracked.
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| 65k!
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| After that I went on quite a run. I won most pots I played in all the games and worked my way up to 82,500 going into the next break.
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| My run continues after the break! Playing Badugi I get a guy all in both of use drawing one card and me with a monster A-3-4 3-card hand, he missed and I caught a 6 of spades to make a Badugi I didn't need for the takeout.
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| Only 65 players, paying 10 places, 44 are left and I'm at 97,000.
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| My run continues winning more hands than I'm losing, registration had closed at the last break and now we know that there were 65 entries paying 10 places and 44 are left. And I'm at 97k, probably double an average stack.
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| Great shape!
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| Then a crazy hand where I had an A-3-4 3-card in badugi and missed on every street against a guy who was pat on the deal and was betting and I was calling. He finally checks the river and says "I have a jack" and rolls over his cards. I lament my A-3-4-6 with two hearts and they start pushing the chips to him ...
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| WAIT ... TWO CLUBS
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| Dude had completely misread his hand, he had the 2-3 of clubs thinking he had a 2-3-6-J Badugi but in fact my A-3-4 crushed his 2-6-J 3-card!
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| Dude was genuinely embarrassed!
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| I'm at 110k and my table breaks as we're consolidating as people are busting out.
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| I win a monster pot shortly after joining my new table when there is all kinds of betting and raising and reraising when I catch #2 in A5 (6-4-3-2-A) and he had #4 (6-5-4-2-A). We had 4-bet after the second draw and we both pat-bet-called from there.
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| Win a pot, lose a pot. Lose a decent chunk when I catch a 9-Badugi and one guy has an 8 and the other has a 7! Ouch!
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| But in 27 I get dealt an 8-perfect (8-5-4-3-2) and get in bets and calls on every street three handed! Then draw out two more 8-lows and get paid as well. Before I know if I have a monster 189k stack!
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| And just 30 left paying 10 places ...
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| Here I am again just like the day before sitting on a great chip stack with the money definitely in my sights!
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| But ... it pretty much all went to shit from there.
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| Fail to improve four of the next 5 hands I play and the one I caught was not a big pot.
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| Go card dead and lose blinds.
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| Do pull off a snow! Dealte 33366 in 27 I raise out and bet every street and he folds after the final draw!
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| But ... have to give up on a couple more hands before finally chipping up once catching a 7-low in A5.
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| But ... then ... nothing works out for some time aside from stealing blinds now and then and before I know it I've dropped from a 2.5 times average stack to a 60k, well below average stack. Worst was the hand where me and the other guy had strong one-card draws in 27 and I caught a 10 at the end and so did he, but the rest of his cards were better than mine.
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| Just win a small pot in A5, lose more blinds and I'm down around 50k.
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| Four from the money, but seriously on fumes.
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| I'm four cards to a 7 in 27, all my chips get in, we both draw and miss, draw again and I catch a jack, he draws one so I pat (a jack is ahead of a one-card draw) and he spikes a 10 and I'm out just four from the money.
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| Brutal.
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| When I booked the trip I was planning to go home Friday. But ... Friday is our usual poker night and I cut off that last day and was going home Thursday.
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| A few days ago, however, I realized that the Nugget was going to have back-to-back triple draw tournaments and after talking with Joann we decided that I feel really good about my triple draw game and that I should stay that extra day after all.
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| So at the time the plan was this tournament I just talked about (4 from the money is not a bad run!) and then this other one that was the same three games plus Baduecy and Badacey.
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| No, I did not make those words up.
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| But ... I'm not going to explain them :-)
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| Only 65 players showed up today. That's not much of a field. I'm not optimistic that there's going to even be as many tomorrow with the two additional games.
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| So ... as I'm finalizing this BLOG I'm planning to blow off the whole reason I re-extended the trip for another day to play in what I think will be a more lucrative WSOP Daily Deepstack Seniors tournament on Thursday as my (probably) final run in a tournament.
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| If it goes really poorly I can always jump in the 1pm DDS for what would really be my last shot. It's a long drive home having to charge an EV, I don't want to be leaving at noon so I will not be trying for any 7pm second chance tournaments. |
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