Playing the 2-7 game

And no, I don't mean Deuce-to-Seven. Over on the forum someone posted about the first episode of High Stakes Poker Season 4, which aired last night. And they mentioned something that came up, called the 2-7 game. I asked the forum bunch to try not to elaborate on it because we were going to have Mike "The Mouth" Matusow on the show this week. But as you see, he was travelling so we asked Dags to be on instead.

***SPOILER ALERT*** If you haven't watched this High Stakes episode yet then do NOT read further. If you don't care, read on.

So, what's the 2-7 game? Well, it's played during hold 'em, and whenever someone wins a pot with 2-7 in their hand, everyone at the table MUST pay that winning player $X. Last night the amount was $500 each. On like the second hand of the night Matusow picked up K-K and Hellmuth got 7-2. In the end, Hellmuth bluffed $40K and got Matusow to lay it down. It was beautiful, and we'll be sure to ask Mike about it when he eventually lands on Ante Up! But here's the thing: Some schmoe with 2-7 actually lost $117K last night trying to push a guy off a hand when he had flopped quad kings!!!

So here's the reason for the post: What do you think about incorporating this into your home game? Why do it? That idiot lost $117K to try to win at most $3,500 from everyone else. What a joke. I have thoughts about this, and I have a feeling I'll be able to discuss it through the comments, so let me know what you think. Sorry about hijacking this from the forum, but we were supposed to talk to Matusow about it. Maybe Dags will weigh in on it, too.

-- Chris

Comments

[Paboo]

Just a different sort of prop bet. If eveyone agrees to it, I'd be willing to give it a try, but I don't think I would ever be the one to suggest it though.

Was really fun to watch it on HSP last night though. Enjoyed all the 2-7 hands immensely!

Paboo

[Mike]

We actually do this in our home game, and it is named after one of our players. We call it a "Browning". (Browning = Donkey) We also call it the "7-2 Rule".

For us, someone with 7-2 has to win the pot in a SHOWDOWN. If you bet everyone out, it is no pay.

First time during the night someone does it, every player pays the winner $4 each ($1/$2 game). The next time $5 each, etc.

[Blazman]

It's just silly. I play poker because I think that I have an edge, not to get involved in degenerate prop bets.

-Blaz

[JLBSox]

Fun to watch. Don't think I would do it in my home game. Although I do like it better with the show down to win rule stated above.

[Chris Cosenza]

Yes, the showdown rule makes it WAY better, because NO ONE would do it unless they were in the blind and flopped a monster.

[Aquaman]

Blaz said:
"It's just silly. I play poker because I think that I have an edge, not to get involved in degenerate prop bets."

But think of all the Donks trying to bluff everytime they get 7-2. I bet the donks give you back more money trying to play 7-2 than you would give up to them if they actually win with it.

[Chris Cosenza]

Has anyone noticed that almost all of the comments on this post have come from Nutmeggers?

[Godard]

I play the hammer for free. If people want to pay me for playing it, all the better.

I might enjoy watching this, I don't know I haven't seen the episode yet. But I have no interest in doing this in a home game.

[daedalus]

2-7 is the genius of Greenstein and Dolly. They've been looking for ways to get Easy Money into the Big Game and HSP. It's a sucker way to get action, that paid off early. What an idiot. I'm sure they set this up thinking they'd catch Mike running off his meds or Sheiky trying to prove himself.

[Clever Moniker]

"I'm sure they set this up thinking they'd catch Mike running off his meds or Sheiky trying to prove himself."

They don't have to come up w/ a gimmick to get in this situation. This is called every day life for those two dopes.

[Bazkar]

The 7-2 game is a way to learn how to play the person rather than the cards. You could pick any garbage hand really....kind of like playing an online tournament blind (do we know someone who's done that?) except instead of playing hands blind you're taking a garbage hand and playing it as if it's much bigger. I know in High Stakes Poker they use it as a prop bet creating action. There was a time in my game that I relied too much on what my cards were and ignored my instincts both live and online. To help myself with this I decided to play 7-2 as if they were aces when I got them. Now I didn't go overboard and go all-in when facing a raise and a re-raise in front of me but the point is I didn't worry about the cards and played the situation representing a big hand. It helped my game immensely and I still will do it from time to time now.

Just my .02

[Erik H]

I agree with Bazkar. My favorite hand is 5,2 and I play it nearly every time I get it. I play it strong to represent a big hand, and when it hits it's a beautiful thing. You'd be surprised at how much it hits and how much you see people playing it on TV.

One of the last times I was at Derby Lane I picked up 5,2 in early position and limped. I called out for the flop to be 2,2,5. It came out 2,5,9. The turn was a blank and the river a 2, and I bet the whole way down and got a guy to call all in.