2-7 TD Heads Up

[Hosayif]

Like, say i have a 2479, if i draw for the 7, my hand is in a different percentil than if i draw for the 9, so knowing these percentages would help in making a decision to perhaps call with the 2 card draw or raise with a one card draw. (assuming the 2 card is a dog to the one card, once again, im brand new at thsi game)

[MarkGritter]

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Like, say i have a 2479, if i draw for the 7, my hand is in a different percentil than if i draw for the 9, so knowing these percentages would help in making a decision to perhaps call with the 2 card draw or raise with a one card draw. (assuming the 2 card is a dog to the one card, once again, im brand new at thsi game)

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I'm not entirely sure that thinking in these terms is helpful for triple-draw, even HU. Position matters a lot, so even a relatively stronger hand before the first draw may not be worth reraising. For example, 732xx is going to be better than a lot of the 2-card draws, or 3-card draws, that your opponent is raising, but still may not be worth reraising from the big blind.

My rule of thumb is to reraise any 1-card draw or something like 73322 or 77732.

Another key rule of thumb is that any (decent, no straight or flush) 1-card draw is a favorite over any 2-card draw.

Hand percentiles do become more important when evaluating value betting on the river or standing pat vs. multiple opponents, but knowing your opponents is much more valuable in making most decisions.

Drawing to a 9 is a tricky case--- you should probably not ever be drawing 2 to a 9, of course. But in the situation you give I would not draw to the 9 on the first draw OOP, and not draw to the 9 against an opponent drawing 1. I might also try to draw more smoothly against an opponent who chases rather than folding when two cards behind.

Unfortunately I don't have access to the software I wrote which can illustrate the difference in expected outcome (in absolute rather than relative terms) between drawing to the 9 and to the 7 in this case.

[randomstumbl]

Mark's post says basically what I'm thinking. Your opponent's tendencies are often the most important factor in any decision.

I guess at this point, I'm probably the worst person to ask this question. I just have a set of drawing decisions that are basically memorized. That doesn't mean I always discard a 9 or always stay pat with a 9, it just means that I know what I normally do and can look for reasons not to do that.

For example, if my opponent stays pat with rough hands and pays off with them, I'm more willing to draw rough (but, not as rough as my opponent). If my opponent folds too much, I'm more willing to open the pot.

Basically, I look at how their play differs from mine. Then, I think about why I don't play like they do and think about a strategy to exploit that decision. Unfortunately, you have to know the basic strategy of the game to do that.

My rule of thumb is to throw a 9 away on the first draw. Also, you should realize that a decent 3 card draw is not that much of a dog against a 2 card draw. I'm not sure you're a favorite at all when you draw two cards to a "smooth" 9 against a decent 3 card draw.