Badugi is a four card poker game which uses a hand rankings system which is unique to Badugi and Badugi only. To understand how to play Badugi you first need to be aware of the Badugi hand rankings system which will be explained briefly in the first part of this article. The rest of the article will then deal with how to play a hand of Badugi. If you have ever played 2-7 Triple Draw then you will find that the mechanics of Badugi work in very much the same way, the only differance being the hand rankings the two games use.
Badugi Poker Rooms
The aim when playing Badugi poker is to make what is known as a Badugi. This is a hand with four cards in it that are all of different values and different suits. If you have a hand that contains cards that are suited or paired then you are forced to disgard cards from your hand leaving you with a 3, 2 or even 1 card hand. A Badugi always beats a 3 card hand or worse and the best possible Badugi is a rainbow A-2-3-4.
How To Play a Hand of Badugi
Badugi starts with the player to the left of the dealer posting the small blind and the player to the left of the small blind posting the big blind. The dealer then deals each player at the table four cards which are face down. Players look at their cards and a round of betting takes place.
After the first round of betting is completed the players who are still in the pot have the opportunity to draw cards from the dealer. Drawing basically means swapping cards in your hand with cards still in the pack. Players are allowed to draw up to four cards but are not required to draw any cards. If a player decides not to draw any cards this is known as ‘Standing Pat’. When a player does stand pat it usually indicates a made strong hand.
The hand continues like above until three rounds of betting have taken place. In total there are four betting rounds and three drawing rounds. After the thrid round of betting takes place a showdown commences and the player with the best hand takes down the pot.
Badugi is spread as both a pot limit and a limit game. In a pot limit game players can only bet or raise the size of the pot at any one time. If you are in a limit game the betting is restricted to the stakes of the game. When playing in a fixed limit Badugi game when play reaches the third round of betting the limits are doubled.
Badugi has a bad repuation of being a difficult game to learn, in all honesty it’s not that difficult and once you have some hands under your belt the mechanics of the game will come naturally. Then you are free to enjoy one of the most popular high stakes poker gambling games available online.