I think it’d be best that I give you a definition of the Half Pot Limit betting structure before I even start with this article, just to make things clear. Half pot limit denotes a betting structure, which caps the maximum amount with which a bet, raise or re-raise can increase the pot, to half the size of the current pot. Mind you that the size of the current pot includes any amount of chips that would be needed to make a call.
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As far as the structure goes, half pot limit betting is the same as pot limit betting, with a different cap on the maximum bets.
As such, half pot limit games are pretty much where pot limit games are: somewhere between fixed limit and no limit, much closer to NL though.
With that in mind, it is kind of obvious that the guiding principles of PL Badugi will remain in place for half Pot Limit Badugi too. Pot control remains just as important in HPL Badugi as it is in PL Badugi. Most of the money you make playing Badugi comes from the mistakes your opponents make, especially the ones tied to pot odds. PL Badugi is much more of a pot odds based game than NL Badugi. Pot control is basically about having the pot stuffed when you have a good hand and keeping it small when you’re on a marginal one. Pot control takes all sorts of skills and as such it is a rather complex element of overall poker strategy. One of the most basic concepts in HPL and PL Badugi pot control is the one linked to the importance of one small bet. In both betting structures, a small bet can be likened to an avalanche. An apparently unimportant event triggers a massive, large-scale string of events that carry the potential of ending up in disaster. Therefore, weighing the option of betting vs checking carefully becomes of paramount importance in HPL and PL games. The problem with small bets is that they generate an exponential increase in allowed maximum bets. Obviously, if you’re aiming to keep the pot small, you should make sure you do not open up the gate for your opponent.
This takes us to another fundamental HPL and PL concept: the opening of the gate. In the instances when you’re aiming to get as much money into the pot as possible, the cap on your bet size becomes a nuisance. In HPL and PL Badugi, you can use a small bet to open up the gate though. Being fully aware of the avalanche effect a small bet can create, you can use it to your advantage. Never forget one thing though: once the gate opens up, it remains open both ways.
Because – safe in the knowledge that the betting is capped – players call and make bets much easier than in NL, and because every time you fire out a half pot-sized bet, your opponent can opt to re-pot, pot control becomes the central element of HPL Badugi.
You should also keep in mid that PL and HPL games tend to generate more poker rake than NL ones. The rake will have a pretty difficult to counter effect on your long term profits, but rakeback can somewhat tone that down. Other than that, you should dust of your Badugi starting hand selection, and you just stick with the general strategy guide-lines.