Badugi Poker Rules
Badugi was first played in Asia and is another type of draw poker. This poker variant is similar in plenty of ways to low-ball since it’s the lowest hand in the game that takes home the pot. This variant is different from most of the popular variants of poker since the way the hands are ranked is different. The strongest hand is that with no pairs and four low cards, one of every suit.
Playing Badugi
Blinds
The forced bets in Badugi are referred to as blinds. The player who sits to the left of the marker will post the small blind and the player sitting on the left of this player will post the big blind. The small blind is defined as half the value of the big blind.
The Deal
Each punter on the table will be provided with four cards face-down. The first round of betting will be done and the players can call, fold or raise. If you are the player left to the first player to bet, you will have the option to draw. The reason for the daw is that you will have the choice to get rid of any cards that you do not want to use when playing and have them replaced with some new ones that you anticipate will improve your gaming.
Click on the cards that you would wish to discard by clicking on the discard button on your gaming screen. There is the choice to get rid of all the four cards that you have. When this happens, there will be a second round of betting and the other players will have the option to fold or bet. After this round is done, another round of betting or drawing will happen. This will be followed by a final draw and betting session.
When this is done, there will be the showdown if more than one player is still active on the table. When this happens, the last player to make a bet will show their cards first, if no wagering happened in the last round, the player sitting on the closest seat to the dealer’s button will show their hand first and this will proceed clockwise. The player who will have the best hand will take the pot.
Strategy to doing well in Badugi
The aim here is to make a Badugi. This is a four card low hand that has four different suits and has no pairs. The best hand in the game is 4, 3, 3, A with each card being of a different suit.
Badugi hands are ranked by their highest card and the aces are always taken as the lowest cards while the straights are ignored. A player with a 9, 8, 4, 3 hand of different suits will be said to have a nine Badugi. The nine badugi holder would lose the game to a holder of and eight Badugi (8, 7, 3, 2) of different suits.
When the game gets to the showdown session without any player having a Badugi, the punter with the best three card or two card hands will carry the pot home.