One of the more lively but perhaps polarizing games to add to your home mix is Archie, a five-card Triple Draw high-low split game with qualifiers of an eight-or-better for low and either a pair of nines or better for high. (In some games, the high qualifier is a pair of sixes or better.)
While the rules are relatively simple, it’s a difficult game to play well and probably has the most variation in terms of what starting hands people choose to play and their overall strategic outlook.
By all accounts the game originated in the Phoenix area and took the name of Archie to honor a gentleman who had quite a bad run in it when first introduced. Originally, I had assumed Archie was a fun player throwing a party, but have since softened on that stance after years of riding this rollercoaster.
Pots frequently get enormous so once you enter with a reasonable holding it can be hard to find an off ramp, especially since it’s often not clear what direction others are going. Add in brutal coolers and an extended period of run bad is possible for just about anyone, but at least Archie received a cool consolation prize out of it.
Conceptually high hands hold an advantage over lows since it’s hard for the latter to scoop. For example, in a heads-up pot someone drawing to 2♣4♥6♥7♠ can only hope to get their money back against a measly pair of nines. However, it’s tough to play mediocre single pairs in this game even when they improve since it’s all too easy to be shown a better high at the end, and someone usually ends up making a low.
We can target either the high or the low, but it’s important to have strong potential in that direction else risk getting stuck in the middle which can be quite costly. The first order of business in Archie is to qualify, and as far as high hands go, we get dealt a pair of nines or better around 27% of the time:
Trips are a strong holding as they often don’t need to be improved upon to drag the high side, and a small three-of-a-kind such as three fives can effectively interfere with the ability of the low hands to complete. Note that in many cases it’s beneficial to draw one to trips to mask your strength.
Two pairs are decent in the right spots and over the course of three draws will fill up around one time in four. However, middling versions such as J-J-9-9 are often payoff hands as they don’t block low straights and can easily lose to a pair of aces or other high pair that improved.
Another good starting high hand is a pair of aces, but we would prefer to play them heads-up. When facing a raise in Archie there’s a strong argument to three-betting any holding you choose to play as it’s generally never to your benefit to allow weak hands going in the opposite direction to come in cheaply. But with aces it’s more important as they don’t perform well multi-way, and we’ll happily take our chances against a single opponent since they only fear the top 3% of hands (trips or better) and are essentially flipping against two pair.
Other big pairs should mostly be reserved for blind steal situations. However, in multi-way pots there can be value when getting good pot odds to drawing three and attempting to hit high trips or better.
Big flush draws such as A♣K♣8♣7♣ are highly profitable as we’ll find another club around half of the time and will usually be on the winning side in a flush versus flush situation. Pairing the ace or king also has value, especially on the end versus an opponent going low.
Qualifying lows are the easiest draws to complete; with A-3-4-6 (or any other one card draw) you will make an eight-or better low a little over 70% of the time. However, given this high likelihood of success applies to all, it’s important in multi-way pots to have some high potential and/or be drawing to at least a six-low otherwise you’ll often be taking the worst of it.
A slightly annoying and tough decision needs to be made when you start with a premium drawing hand such as 2-3-4-5 and receive an eight on the first draw. Do you keep the qualifying low, or should you continue drawing and take two shots at improving to a better hand that has a better chance of scooping?
It depends on the situation but it’s usually correct to break the eight as the odds of either improving or at least making an eight-low again with two draws to go are relatively good preserving your implied odds. In Stud eight-or-better we could just keep the made low and free-roll a high pair, but we don’t have that luxury in Archie.
When no one qualifies the pot is either chopped or goes to the superior (but non-qualifying) high hand, but a fun alternative is to keep the money in the middle setting up a spicy splash pot on the next deal. A community card can also be deployed for use only on the high side; however, it can also greatly benefit the low draws.
For example, a two card draw such as 3-4-5 is more playable since there are 16 community cards (aces, twos, sixes, and sevens) that will give you a straight draw providing a greater ability to scoop.
Overall, I’d give Archie an 8 out of 10 rating as far as mixed games go.
777 is a variant of Archie where the pot can potentially be split three ways between the best high hand, the best low, and the superior badugi. A major drawback is that the qualifying requirements (trip sevens, seven low, and seven badugi) are quite stringent, so this game only gets a 4 out of 10 rating from me.
Since it’s relatively difficult to qualify for the high side in 777 we are mostly hoping to get dealt holdings like 2♣5♥6♠ that can make some combination of lows, badugis, and straights. In any player pool there are usually a few individuals that prefer one winner games, tolerate split-pot variants, but may balk at the prospect of possibly chopping the pot three-ways.
Most players in your lineup are likely to prefer regular Archie and embrace the action it creates as it tends to spill over into the entire rotation when the ne’er-do-wells chase their losses. It is a polarizing variant in that many claim to dislike it, but very few respond by locking it down and waiting for the next game. Most will still end up contesting pot after pot, which is somewhat amusing, but not all that uncommon in a good game.
More From This Series
Introduction
Old School Dramaha
Super Sized Stud Hi-Lo
Badugi Dramahas
Simultaneous Omaha And Hold’em
Point-Based Dramaha Variants
Kevin Haney is a former actuary but left the corporate job to focus on his passions for poker and fitness. The certified personal trainer owned a gym in New Jersey, but has since moved to Las Vegas. He started playing the game back in 2003, and particularly enjoys taking new players interested in mixed games under his wing and quickly making them proficient in all variants. Learn more or just say hello with an email to haneyk612@gmail.com.