The games · Coolhand Poker

2-7 Triple Draw

Five cards and three swap rounds. The lowest hand takes the pool, a run or five of one suit counts against you, and the ace is always high.

18+ · Nothing to win but the hand.

Players: 2 to 6
Family: Draw
App: Coolhand Poker · iOS and Android, soon

How it goes

You're dealt five cards face down and get three swaps, with a round of offers before each swap and one more after the last, then the reveal. The lowest hand takes the pool. Two things catch people out. A run counts against you, and so does five of one suit, so the hand you want has gaps in it and mixed suits. And the ace is always high, never low, so it's the last card you want to see. Nobody sees your cards until the end. The only clue you give away is how many cards you took.

A good hand

Seven-five-four-three-two in mixed suits is the best hand. Anything eight-high, five different ranks with an eight on top, is strong. Anything that pairs up or lines up hurts: a pair is bad, a run is worse, and five of one suit is worse still. Low cards with gaps between them, not all of one suit, are what you hope to be dealt and what you swap toward.

The usual mistake

Treating the ace as a low card. Here it's the highest card in the deck, so ace-two-three-four-five isn't a run at all. It's plain ace-high, worse than any king-high hand. The habit from the other low games is hard to shake, so count the ace as the top of your hand every time you look at it, and swap it early.

Played differently where you are?

Card games change from table to table, and we researched some of these games instead of playing them. If 2-7 Triple Draw goes differently where you play it, tell us. That's one of the things the closed beta is for.

The closed beta is by invitation. How to ask to join.