Black Chip Poker is the newest poker room to have joined the winning poker network. Nevertheless, it is one of the best places to play any existing poker variant, including badugi.

1. First the dealer is determined by high card and small and big blinds post their blinds. This is typical for all poker games. First four cards: The dealer deals every player four cards (one at a time).
2. Badugi, also known as Padooki among other names (Korean for “spotted dog”), is a very unique variant of lowball poker. It is most often found in mixed games, though often played on its own in private games, high limit Las Vegas games, and tournaments.
3. Badugi is a poker-like game played with four-card hands. To win the pot at the showdown you need to have the lowest set of cards with no two cards of the same rank or suit, ace ranking low. The best possible hand is therefore A-2-3-4 with one card of each suit.
4. The goal in badugi poker is to have the lowest hand out of all your competitors, while having no cards of the same suit, and having no pairs or better in your hand.

Badugi is a four-card, triple draw, lowball poker game with its own unique method for ranking hands. The goal of Badugi Poker is to make a hand that includes one card from each suit (without making a pair) with lowball rankings then used. The best possible Badugi hand is A-2-3-4 in four suits, and the second best hand is A-2-3-5 with each card being a different suit. When a player makes a non-paired four-suit hand, this hand is called a Badugi. If more than one player makes a Badugi, the player who has the lowest Badugi wins. The value of the Badugi is ranked by highest of the four cards. For example, an A-2-3-J Badugi is a Jack high Badugi. Kickers only come into play when the players’ highest of four cards match with one another.

If at showdown a player has 3 suits in their hand, this is considered a three card hand. A card in matching suit can not be used, as Badugi rules require all cards to be in a different suit as part of the hand rankings. If no player at the table has a Badugi, the pot will be awarded at showdown to the player with the lowest three card hand. In the rare case no player has a three card hand, then the pot will be awarded to the player with the best (lowest) two card hand.

Badugi Rules

Badugi rules are similar to those of Triple Draw lowball games, where the differences, already covered, are the unique hand ranking system and four cards instead of five. For those not familiar with Triple Draw, we’ll break the Badugi rules down further here.

Detailed Badugi Rules

Badugi is played with up to eight players at the same table and uses a fixed limit betting structure. The exact “How to Play Badugi” is covered below.

Badugi starts with the two players to the left of the dealer-button posting a live small blind and a live big blind. Starting with the small blind, players are dealt one card at a time until each has four cards. The first round of betting takes place and when complete, the first of three draws begins. The draw starts with the player to the left of the dealer having the option to discard any number of their cards and have them replaced with new ones. This option goes around the table, with each player having the chance to draw.

After the first draw, the second betting round takes place with stakes equal to the first, and a second draw follows. After the second draw, a third betting round occurs with the stakes now doubled. The players then have one more chance to draw new cards and when complete, the final betting round takes place using the same doubled stakes. The final action is a showdown where the player with the best Badugi hand is awarded the pot.

Badugi Rules on Reshuffles

Badugi rules allow up to eight players per table. For the math minded player, you’ll see it is possible that with each player getting four cards and with three draw rounds, the deck might run out of cards. In the event there are no cards left to deal, a reshuffle occurs, creating a fresh deck. Badugi rules on the reshuffle vary from house to house. In many live games the discards of the players still in the hand are left in front of them, and only cards from mucked hands are used for the reshuffle. At PokerStars.com the rules state that all cards will be reshuffled, however their software has been programmed in such a way that no player will get a card they’ve previously discarded. It is worth noting that in most cases a reshuffle is not needed, as many players have folded before making it deep into the drawing rounds. For a full guide on dealing Badugi check out this article: How To Deal Badugi

Badugi Strategy Guide

Now that we’ve covered “How to Play Badugi”, we recommend reading our page on Badugi strategy or our Badugi tips guide.

Baduci (also known as Badeucy or Badeucey) is a combination of Badugipoker and deuce to seven triple draw, and uses hand values similar to lowball. The pot in this game is split much like high-low split between the best Badugi hand (with aces playing high in Baduci) and the best 2-7 triple draw hand. The betting structure and overall play of the game is nearly identical to a standard poker game using blinds. A players' hand contains five cards, where only four cards are used to determine the best Badugi hand and five cards are used to determine the triple draw hand. During each of three drawing rounds, players can trade zero to five cards from their hands for new ones from the deck.

The exact origin of Baduci is unknown but the game is slowly becoming popular due to the growing success of Badugi poker being played in cardrooms around the world and online.^[1] In cardrooms, baduci is often played as part of a mix.

Play of the hand[edit]

Play begins with each player being dealt five cards face down. Each player may observe those five cards he is dealt, but not the cards dealt to other players. The hand begins with a 'pre-draw' betting round, beginning with the player to the left of the big blind (or the player to the left of the dealer, if no blinds are used) and continuing clockwise. Each player must either call the amount of the big blind (put in an amount equal to the big blind), fold (relinquish any claim to the pot), or raise (put in more money than anyone else, thus requiring others to do the same).

When all players have wagered the same amount of money into the pot or folded, play proceeds to the drawing rounds. Starting with the first player left of the dealer who is still playing the hand, players can then discard up to a maximum of three cards and 'draw' an equal number of replacement cards. The discarded cards will no longer be used in play for the remainder of the hand.

Badugi Card Game

After the first draw, a second round of betting is played. Players may check (not place any money into the pot, but still remains in play) until someone bets. This round of betting begins until everyone has placed an equal amount of money into the pot or has folded. After this round of betting ends, there is a second draw followed by a third betting round. Continuing, there is a third and final draw round followed by the fourth betting around, which is followed by a possible showdown.

If at any time all players but one have folded, the sole remaining player is automatically awarded the pot. If there is more than one player remaining at the conclusion of the final betting round, the hands of those players are compared and the player with the best badugi hand is awarded half the pot and the player with the best 2-7 hand is awarded the other half of the pot. This is known as the showdown.

Hand evaluation[edit]

Two different hands must be evaluated at the same time. First a Badugi hand must be created by using a maximum of four out of the five dealt cards. This hand must have distinct ranks and suits. Any duplicates of a suit or rank are ignored and these cards become invalid. Any four-card Badugi hand will beat any three-card Badugi hand. A three-card Badugi hand will beat all two-card Badugi hands, which in turn will beat any one-card Badugi hand. In Baduci, the best possible Badugi hand is a five-high hand with four different suits, such as 2♠3♥4♣5♦. (Note that in straight Badugi, unlike in Baduci, aces are low and thus the best possible Badugi hand is a four-low hand with four different suits, such as A♣2♠3♦4♥.^[2]) This hand is used to determine the winner of one half of the Baduci pot.

The other hand that must be evaluated is the 2-7 triple draw hand. Players use all 5 cards to determine this hand. Like Badugi, the triple draw hand increases in value as the card ranks are lower. The best 2-7 hand is 7-5-4-3-2, where the cards not all of a single suit. An example of the most powerful 2-7 triple draw hand is 2♣3♣4♣5♥7♣. Aces are always played high in 2-7.^[3] Note that 2♣3♠4♦5♥6♣ would may seem like a lower hand, but this creates a straight and this is the reason why it is not the strongest hand. The best 2-7 triple draw hand would win the other half of the Baduci pot.

The objective of Baduci poker is to make the best two hands out of the five cards available in order to win both pots at the same time. This is known as 'scooping' the pot.

Betting structures[edit]

The most popular betting structure for Baduci poker is to use both fixed limit and two blinds. The limit for the first two rounds of betting is called a small bet, while the limit for the third and fourth betting rounds is called a big bet and is generally double the small bet. Other betting structures such as pot-limit, half-pot-limit, and no-limit can also be used but it is not as common.

Badugi Poker

Strategy[edit]

Baduci shares many strategic similarities with other forms of draw poker and Badugi poker at the same time. The general strategy is to win both halves of the pot by making the lowest hand possible. An example of the most powerful hand in Baduci would be 2♣3♠4♦5♥7♣.^[4] This hand includes both the best Badugi hand and the best 2-7 hand, guaranteeing at least a tie for each half of the pot.

Badugi Strategy

Notes[edit]

Badugi Hand Rankings

1. ^Pokerstars.com: Badugi
2. ^lolPoker.com: Badugi Poker Strategy
3. ^PokerStars.com: Triple Draw 2-7
4. ^lolPoker.com: Baduci Strategy

Badugi Practice