A-7 5 Card Draw is one of my favourite games. The reason for that is simple: no-one knows how to optimally play it! Oh people think they do – but they really have no idea how to play it, and I’ve been cleaning up at the game for years.

Unfortunately, A-7 5 Card Draw is only available on the Boss Network which currently doesn’t accept North American players, which is a category I unfortunately fall into. Therefore I have decided to take all the A-7 5 Card Draw Strategy I have learnt over the years and share it for free, so you too can hopefully clean up at the tables.

Before I go any further I want to recommend one thing – change poker rooms. If you’re not playing at Bovada then you’re making a big mistake. Fortune Poker have the best promotions and rewards, and are easily the best room to play on the Boss Network. So sign up for Bovada – that’s the first best move you can take when it comes to cleaning up at A-7.

The strategy is separated into the three main parts of the game: pre-draw, the draw and post-draw. We explain what hands to fold pre-draw, what hands to be calling with, what hands to be raising with, we go over every possible starting hand and explain how you should play it.

We then discuss the draw, with some advanced plays to fool your opponents, as well as the standard plays. Afterwards, we discuss post-draw, and when to value bet, what hands to bet, what hands to check behind etc. This section is especially crucial, for learning when to get those extra bets in.

After that, we discuss some standard drawing odds, and the chances of improving your hands. You can take these into account with the pot odds that you are getting, and will soon become the master of A-7 5 Card Draw!

If you’re not familiar with A-7 5 Card Draw, be sure to read the A-7 5 Card Draw Rules to understand how the game works.

PRE-DRAW STARTING HANDS & GUIDELINES:

PAIRS:

(KK-66)xxx: I fold these every time outside the blinds. If there are two callers, and I’m in the SB with a passive BB, I’ll complete, and draw for trips(or better). If there is only one caller, I fold. If there is a raise, I’ll muck everytime,

AAxxx: AA is the only single pair that you should be playing pre-draw, as post draw, aces up will be the only (two pair) hand that you can even consider calling a bet with, or value betting with. I will open-raise this, and raise this with a limper in the pot; however I will just call if there are already two limpers in the pot. I will draw for trips the majority of the time.

Two Pair: For Qs up and under, open raise, or raise with 1 caller. With 2 callers, or with a raise in front(and you in the blinds), call and draw for the boat.

For Ks & As up, raise from any position. 3-bet aggressive opponents. Draw for the boat.

Trips: 666xx-AAAxx. Raise from any position, and 3-bet all but the most passive players. When it comes time to draw, draw one. While this minimizes the chances of hitting quads, you will get paid off post-draw with your unimproved trips by many hands, including KKQQ, and lesser trips. The reason for this is 99% of players on Fortune Poker play straightforward, so when they see you draw one, they automatically assume you have two pair. This also increases the chances of them drawing 3 then bluff betting their QQ, thinking you might fold two pair as they have “hit”. So remember, with trips, draw one. Deception is key, and this will pick you up many extra big bets.

DRAWING HANDS:

Gutshot Straights: (ie: 89TQA). Fold every time, unless BB in unraised pot. Check, and draw for the four outer.

Open Ended Straights: (ie: 89TJA) Fold in UTG & MP. Limp on the button if UTG or MP has called, and table is generally passive, otherwise you will need both limpers in case one of the blinds raise. If opening on the button, raise. If you do not hit your draw, however the SB, BB or both, drew 3, then bet.

Flush Draws: Fold in UTG, MP and Button. Complete in SB with 2 callers. Call on button(with 2 limpers) if your flush draw also has a gutshot.

Open Ended Straight Flush Draws/Royal Flush Draw: Limp from any position, open/raise from button, and follow same rules as OESD in bluffing post draw.

PAT HANDS:

Straights: 6789T->TJQKA. Raise and cap-preflop from any position. Stand pat.

Flush: Raise and cap preflop from any position. Stand pat.

Full House: Raise and cap preflop from any position. Stand pat.

Quads: raise and cap preflop from any position. Draw 1.

Royal Flush: Its rigged so you never get these so don’t worry about it. Only the fish get these.

(That’s a joke. Obviously, raise and cap preflop).

THE DRAW:

I’ve instructed you on how many to draw depending on your hand value in the pre-draw Starting Hand guidelines, so I won’t get into that again.

The key during the draw is to watch how many your opponents draw, and pay attention to their hands afterwards. For example, you want to know if someone with 88Axx is going to keep just the 88, or the ace as well. You also want to know if an opponent draws 1 or 2 with trips. This is also a great spot to discover fish too. For example, someone limped in to a pot with me, I raised and everyone folded. This person called, and drew 4. In other words they called and drew with an ace high, and thus were labelled by me as a fish, and someone I was able to value bet marginal hands against again and again.

You can also note who the passive players are. They will call a raise, then draw 2. Look these guys up, because you want to know if they’re just calling with trips, and if so, can be labelled weak-tight.

Don’t Stand Pat immediately. Believe me when I say that. If you take 5 seconds to stand pat, you will be called by someone post-draw who thinks you are bluffing.

If you raise with AAxxx, and a decent player calls and draws 3, 90% of the time he has aces. In this case, I will keep a K or a Q in my hand, in case of a kicker war. If I have Jacks and under, I’ll draw 3.

Also here’s a fun thing to remember. If you capped preflop with someone, and you have A6789, and they stand pat…you have the worst hand. In a capped pot, no-one is going to stand pat as a bluff, as they’re going to get looked up every time. Even a hand like 89JTQ is unlikely to be best. If you have any chance of a straight flush, draw to that, otherwise you’re going to have to get lucky and hit a boat.

POST DRAW STRATEGY:

Pairs:

(AA-66)xxx: Check/fold.

Two Pair: Ks up and under, check/fold in a multiway pot, check/call headsup.

As up, value bet against an opponent who drew 3. If an opponent draws 1 and bets, feel free to call and look them up, find out whether they’ll do that with a pat hand, with a bluff, or with two pair.

Trips: 666xx-QQQxx. Value bet, and with KKK & AAA, raise against an opponent who drew 3.

Pat Hands:

Straights: Value bet against people who drew 2-5, but not against people who drew 1. Otherwise, just call.

Flush: Value bet, and call. No raising or 3-betting.

Full House: 666-JJJxx. Go to 4 bets before calling. QQQ-AAAxx depending on the opponent, you can go to about 20 bets. I’ve went 43 bets with KKKAA before, and won against someones QQQJJ. It’s opponent-dependent.

Straight/Royal Flush & Quads: Bet and bet till you have no more money.

A-7 5 CARD DRAW STRATEGY SUMMARY

Pre-Draw: The most important factor, but once you get the starting hand requirements down pat, you’ll be able to play 5 tables of this with ease.

The Draw: If you take one thing from this section, it’s “draw one when you have trips”. This will make you lots of money.

Post-Draw: You can’t make many mistakes post-draw, so just follow those guidelines and you’ll be okay.

A-7 5 CARD DRAW DRAWING ODDS

Here are the odds when drawing, what your odds are of improving your hand:

4 Flush, Draw 1 – Flush: 5.2-1 Odds or 16% chance to hit. There are 9 values of each of 4 suits, for a total of 36 cards. After the deal, there are 31 cards remaining unseen. There are 5 cards of the suit remaining, so the odds are 5/31.

Open Ended Straight Draw, Draw 1 – Straight: 2.875-1 Odds or 25.8% chance to hit. 8 outs, 31 cards

Gutshot, Draw 1 – Straight: 6.75-1 Odds or 12.9% chance to hit. 4 outs, 31 cards.

2 Pair, Draw 1 – Boat: 6.75-1 Odds or 12.9% chance to hit. 4 outs, 31 cards.

Pair, Draw 3 – Any Improvement: 1.43-1 Odds or 41% Chance to hit. Pair, Draw 3 – 3 of a Kind or Better.

4.2-1 Odds or 19.2%: Pair, Draw 3 – Full House or Better. 33.5-1 Odds or 2.9%. There are 4495 possible combinations of the three cards received. (31!)/(28!3!).

29 combinations give 4 of a kind. (A, A, x) where x is any of the 29 remaining cards.

78 combinations give Aces Full. 2 possible aces * (3 ways to get each of KK-JJ + 6 ways to get each of TT-66)

23 combinations give x’s full of aces. (1 way to get KKK-JJJ, plus 4 ways for each of TTT-666)

734 combinations give trip aces. 2 remaining aces * (9*6/2+9*20+20*16/2), where the numbers in ()’s represent the possible pairs of two cards, K-J, one card K-J with 1 card T-6, and 2 cards T-6. The division by two is needed to keep from counting AKJ as different than AJK.

984 combinations give 2 pair. 234 ways to get KKx-JJx, (3 ways per each pair, * 3 pairs)(3*2+4*5 remaining x’s), plus 750 ways to get TTx-66x, (6 ways * 5 pairs)(16+9 remaining x’s)

The odds above were simply found by combining the appropriate number of combinations.

Pair, Draw 2 – Any Improvement: 1.6-1 Odds or 38 %.

Pair, Draw 2 – Three of a Kind or Better: 6.5-1 Odds or 13%.

Pair, Draw 2 – Full House or Better: 45.5-1 Odds or 2.1%. There are 465 possible combinations of the remaining two cards (31!)/(2*29!)

1 combination gives four of a kind. 6 combinations give aces full of kings (2 aces*3 kings). 3 combinations give kinds full of aces. 6 combinations give AAQQK-AAJJK. 30 combinations give AATTK-AA66K. 52 combinations give AAAKx (2 aces*(6 cards Q-J + 20 T-6)).

3 of a Kind, Draw 1 – Any Improvement: 6.75-1 Odds or 12.9% chance.

3 of a Kind, Draw 1 – Full House (exactly): 9.33-1 Odds or 9.6% chance.

3 of a Kind, Draw 1 – Four of a Kind: 30-1 Odds or 3.2% chance. 1 out gives you 4 of a kind. 3 outs give you a king.

3 of a Kind, Draw 2 – Any Improvement: 5.7-1 Odds or 14% chance.

3 of a Kind, Draw 2 – Full House (exactly): 10.9-1 Odds or 8.3% chance.

3 of a Kind, Draw 2 – Four of a Kind: 14.5-1 Odds or 6.5% chance.

There are 465 possible combinations of the remaining two cards (31!)/(2*29!) 30 combinations include an ace. Ax, with 30 possible x’s. 9 combinations give you KK-JJ (3 ways to make each of 3 pairs). 30 combinations give you TT-66 (6 ways to make each of 5 pairs).

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Additional A-7 5 Card Draw Strategy Questions:

What is the best basic strategy for beginners?

A-7 5 Card Draw is a popular poker game on the Boss Network, a network that hosts the like of Paradise Poker, Pokerheaven and Bovada.

If you have ever played A-7 Card Draw, you should be aware that the quality of play at this game is notoriously bad. Most players have absolutely no clue how to even play A-7. I’ve watched people play not realizing aces or low, think that flushes and straights don’t count or are even “bad” hands to have, while others think they are playing regular 5 card draw, and after a few hands ask where all the low cards are.

So obviously, an A-7 Five Card Draw Strategy Guide would be a great asset to have – and after playing A-7 for many, many hours, we have came up with a very complete strategy guide.

This A-7 5 Card Draw strategy guide covers everything you ever need to make money at A-7 5 Card Draw. We cover Pre-Draw Strategy, The Draw Strategy, Post Draw Strategy and Drawing Odds. We tell you the best hands to play, what hands to muck, what position to play hands with, what hands to draw with.

Everything you ever need to know, is available in our A-7 5 Card Draw Strategy Guide.

Of course we don’t want to give the book away for free. Why would we? We play the game, we profit from it, and the last thing we want is people following our strategy guide and cutting into our profits. However we also don’t want to charge for it either. We tried that method but just weren’t happy with it, so we have a very simple solution:

(1) Register at Bovada and deposit.

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Here is a portion of the strategy guide, as an example of the content available in it:

Pre-Draw Starting Hands & Guidelines:

There are 5 positions in A-7 5 Card Draw Poker. We will call them UTG, MP, Button, SB and BB.

Pairs:

(KK-66)xxxx: Fold these every time outside the blinds. If there are two callers and you are in the SB with a passive BB then you can complete and draw for trips or better. If there is only one caller, fold. If there is a raise, fold every time.

AAxxx: AA is the only single pair that you should be playing pre-draw, as post draw aces up will be the only two pair hand that you can even consider calling a bet with, or value betting with. Open-raise this hand, raise this hand with any limper in the pot, however just call if there are two limpers in the pot. Draw for trips the majority of the time.

Two Pair: For Qs up and below, open raise or raise with 1 caller. With 2 callers or with a raise in front(and you are in the blinds), call and draw for the full house.

For Ks & As up, raise from any position. 3-bet aggressive opponents. Draw for the full house.

That’s just a small portion of the exclusive strategy available in our A-7 5 Card Draw Strategy Guide.

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