Dramaha is a five-card split pot game combining Draw and Omaha, and has become a very popular genre of poker in home games and mixed rotations all over the country. It’s the poker equivalent of a second-chance, scratch-off lottery ticket. If your Draw holding fails to materialize the dealer might deliver what you need in Omaha, and vice-versa.
What wins in Draw varies depending on what particular game you are playing, and in past installments we introduced variants where the winner of the Draw hand was simply the best pure high holding, the lowest ranked hand, or perhaps the superior badugi.
In this issue we’ll look at other variants where the winner is determined by the number of points within your hand. In all of the games described below, face cards are worth zero, aces count as one, and all other ranks (deuces through tens) are worth their listed amount.
In Dramaha 49 the goal is to obtain the highest number of points; the best possible hand is 10-10-10-10-9 which sums up to forty-nine, hence the name. In no other game are you explicitly hoping to get dealt middling cards, making it a unique form of poker. It’s mildly interesting to note that while 49 is the best possible holding, it is not the nuts since lesser amounts effectively block the ability of anyone else to beat you.
For example, if you make a 47 (e.g. 10-10-10-9-8) there are not enough tens and nines left in the deck for an opponent to make anything greater than 45 (10-9-9-9-8). 46 would constitute the technical nuts as you can only be tied (10-10-10-8-8 versus 10-9-9-9-9).
In a 52-card deck there are 220 total points, so the average card is worth around 4.2 points, making 21 points the approximate dealt total. If you get dealt Q-10-9-8-6 you currently have 33 points, which is way above average. Assuming you discard the queen (which you should do the majority of the time), you’ll have an opportunity to accumulate more on the draw.
While this is a holding you are going to be quite happy to play, it’s important to note that starting behind in points to another player is obviously possible, and puts you in relatively bad shape. For example, if someone else was dealt K-10-9-9-7 they would have 35 points for a two-point lead heading into the draw, assuming you both end up ditching your high card.
For the sake of simplicity, we will ignore how various boards impact the race, but with 42 cards left in the deck there are 14 cards (10 remaining face cards and four aces) to catch that would be automatic losers no matter what your opponent receives. And when catching one of the four deuces, you can only hope to tie. Overall, 43% of the deck (18/42) is really bad news unless it helps you in Omaha, but at that juncture you would often be playing for just half of the pot.
When the dust settles, you only have around a 34% chance of winning the Draw side. While that is not a catastrophe, it’s less than ideal since the basic tenet of any form of Dramaha is that it’s very important to be in good shape for that half of the pot. With Q-10-9-8-6 playing from behind is going to be an unavoidable situation except for very rare circumstances where perhaps you face a cold three-bet from tight players, or an early position open from Broomcorn’s uncle.
However, we should be careful not to overrate hands such as Q-9-8-8-6 (31 points) that can more easily have an uphill struggle in Draw. All we did was exchange the 10 for an eight, but in a game where everyone is going for the same premium cards it can make all the difference. Now if someone appears to like their hand it’s dangerous as all of the tens are live, and being several points behind would make you a massive underdog.
Dramaha Zero is the exact opposite in that the lowest point total wins. In this game you want kings, queens, and jacks, and there are a total of 12 of the best cards one can be dealt as opposed to the four tens in Dramaha 49.
Aces are also quite valuable in that they are only worth one point and can aid significantly to your Omaha prospects. Some good Big O type hands such as A
K
2
3 9 can scoop pots in Dramaha Zero because when they catch another face card (in exchange for the nine), they will only have six points and usually have good prospects in Omaha as well.
This aspect probably makes starting behind in points a bit less of an issue than it is in Dramaha 49 since it’s easier to leapfrog into a winner on both sides.
Don’t make the common rookie mistake of assuming tens are worth zero! Surprisingly this comes up relative frequently; perhaps confusion is caused by the fact that they are Broadway cards.
Then there is Dramaha 21 where the Draw side is won by the player getting closest to 21 without going over. Similar to blackjack, you can “hit” by drawing cards in order to try and improve your position, however, if you accumulate more than 21 points your Draw hand busts and the holding is then only eligible to contest the Omaha side. It’s worth noting that aces can only be played as one point and not 11 as you could do on the casino floor.
When multiple players tie in the ‘21’ hand there is a tie-breaker in place to determine the winner, and that would be whoever uses the most cards to make their hand. For example, A-9-6-3-2 (a five-card 21) would beat A-K-10-5-3-2, which is considered a four-card holding due to the use of the king. Remember, the king is worth zero points and considered to be ‘invisible.’
The best possible dealt holding is probably A A 8 8 3
as it’s a five-card 21 and also has a large amount of Omaha equity. In contrast, J 6 6 6 2 is a four-card 20 and a likely trap hand perhaps only worthy of a late-position steal. Usually, you’ll have a pile a nothing in Omaha and against many players would probably end up losing the ‘21’ side more than one might suspect.
As for playability, I’ll rate Dramaha 49 (5 out of 10), Dramaha Zero (8 out of 10), and Dramaha 21 (6 out of 10).
Dramaha 49 typically isn’t that well received, and while it’s not that hard to explain to new players, counting the points in your hand is not something that many people like to do. It also has the problem of not having enough of the good middling cards to go around, which effectively curbs the action. If the action is raised and three-bet by tighter players, it’s almost a waste of time for everyone else to check their hands.
In contrast, Dramaha Zero has 16 premium cards (aces through jacks) that more often creates the desired multi-way action and big pots. And these same cards are also useful in Omaha High.
Dramaha 21 is somewhat of a gimmicky game and in my somewhat limited experience was not a fan favorite. No one had a great sense of what a playable hand looked like, thus the game moved a little slow and was on the tight side even amongst a bunch of action players. And after a few rounds we ended up taking it out of the rotation.
We may have been unlucky in that the dealer just happened to deliver a few cold rounds, so the game may be worth a try in your home game sometime simply because it’s quite different than any other game out there. Plus it’s Dramaha so it can’t be all that bad. ♠
More From This Series
Introduction
Old School Dramaha
Super Sized Stud Hi-Lo
Badugi Dramahas
Simultaneous Omaha And Hold’em
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.