Badugi Poker

Badugi is a variant of draw poker and shares many similarities with Lowball, as it’s the lowest hand that wins. As a ‘draw’ game, you are dealt four cards, and may discard from zero to four of them on the draw and receive that number of replacement cards. The hand ranking system is different however, as the strongest hands are those that have no pairs and four low cards, one of each suit. This is known as a Badugi.

The three major variations of Badugi Poker are distinguished from each other by the number of draws and the betting limits:

• No Limit Single Draw: A player can bet any amount, up to all their chips. One round of drawing takes place.

• Pot Limit Double Draw: A player can bet any amount, up to the size of the pot. Two rounds of drawing take place.

• Limit Triple Draw: There is a pre-determined betting limit on each round of betting. Three rounds of betting take place.

The Rules of Badugi Poker

The object of the game is to make a Badugi - a four-card low hand with four different suits, and no pairs. The best possible starting hand therefore is 4-3-2-A (with each card a different suit). Badugi Poker uses a variation of the ‘Ace to Five’ or ‘California’ system for ranking low hands which means Aces are always low.

Badugi hands are ranked by their highest card, with aces always playing as a low card, and straights ignored. A player holding 9-8-4-3 of different suits (a ‘Nine Badugi’) would lose to an opponent holding 8-7-3-2 (an ‘Eight Badugi’) of different suits. Likewise, 6-3-2-A (a ‘Six Badugi’) would lose to 5-4-3-2 (a ‘Five Badugi’). If the top cards in the hand are tied, then the next-highest card is considered, and so on. Therefore, a 6-5-4-A (a ‘Six-Five Badugi’) would lose to a 6-4-3-2 (a ‘Six-Four Badugi’).

If a hand reaches showdown and no player has a Badugi, the player with the best three-card or two-card hand wins the pot. For example, if you hold 6h-4d-3s-Ah, you have two hearts, so the highest one is ignored, leaving a 4-3-A-x. That hand is known as a ‘Three Card Four’, and would lose to any Badugi, but it would beat 7h-5d-4d-3s (the highest diamond is ignored, making a ‘Three Card Seven’, 7-4-3-x),. All three-card hands, in turn, beat all two-card hands. For example, Ad-As-2d-2c is a ‘Two-Card Deuce’, 2-A-X-X, because there are two pairs). It’s even possible to have a ‘One Card’ hand; for example, Qd-Jd-8d-4d has four cards of the same suit, so three of them are ignored, leaving just the 4d, a ‘One-Card Four’.

To help understand the ranking of hands, the following Badugi hands (not a complete list) are ranked from least powerful (#1, which will rarely win the pot) to most powerful (#18, the nuts):

One-card hands

Q J 8 5

[5-x-x-x] (three of the diamonds are ignored)

K J 9 4

[4-x-x-x] (three of the spades are ignored)

A A A A

[A-x-x-x] (three of the Aces are ignored)

Two-card hands

Q J J J

[Q-J-x-x] (the Js and another Jack are ignored)

T T 9 9

[T-9-x-x] (one Ten and the Nine of the other suit are ignored)

9 8 7 6

[7-6-x-x] (the two highest spades are ignored)

3 2 A A

[2-A-x-x] (the 3c and one Ace are ignored)

Three-card hands

K K 2 A

[K-2-A-x] (the Kd is ignored)

Q Q 2 A

[Q-2-A-x] (a Queen is ignored)

Q J T 9

[J-T-9-x] (the Qs is ignored)

Q J T 6

[J-T-6-x] (the Qs is ignored)

K J 8 6

[J-T-6-x] (the Qs is ignored)

4 3 2 A

[4-2-A-x] (the 3c is ignored)

3 3 2 A

[3-2-A-x] (a Three is ignored)

Badugi

K Q J T

[K-Q-J-T] (the worst Badugi)

8 7 2 A

8 5 4 2

4 3 2 A

[4-3-2-A] (the best Badugi)

How to Play Badugi Poker

The Blinds

In Badugi games, a marker called ‘the button’ or ‘the dealer button’ indicates which player is the nominal dealer for the current game. Before the game begins, the player immediately clockwise from the button posts the "small blind", the first forced bet. The player immediately clockwise from the small blind posts the "big blind", which is typically twice the size of the small blind, but the blinds can vary depending on the stakes and betting structure being played. [J-8-6-x] (the Ks is ignored)

In Limit games, the big blind is the same as the small bet, and the small blind is typically half the size of the big blind but may be larger depending on the stakes. For example, in a $2/$4 Limit game the small blind is $1 and the big blind is $2.

In Pot Limit and No Limit games, the games are referred to by the size of their blinds. For example, a $1/$2 game has a small blind of $1 and a big blind of $2.

Depending on the exact structure of the game, each player, or an individual player, may also be required to post an ‘ante’ (another type of forced bet, posted before cards are dealt) into the pot.

Player Betting Options

In Badugi, as with other forms of poker, the available actions are ‘fold’, ‘check’, ‘bet’, ‘call’ or ‘raise’. Exactly which options are available depends on the action taken by the previous players. Each poker player always has the option to fold, to discard their cards and give up any interest in the pot. If nobody has yet made a bet, then a player may either check (decline to bet but keep their cards) or bet. If a player has bet, then subsequent players can fold, call or raise. To call is to match the amount the previous player has bet. To raise is to not only match the previous bet, but to also increase it.

Pre-Draw

After seeing his or her four hole cards, each player now has the option to play his or her hand by calling or raising the big blind. The action begins to the left of the big blind, which is considered a ‘live’ bet on this round. That player has the option to fold, call or raise. For example, if the big blind was $2, it would cost $2 to call, or at least $4 to raise. Action then proceeds clockwise around the table. Action then proceeds clockwise around the table. Betting continues until all active players (who have not folded) have placed equal bets in the pot.

Drawing

Once the first round of betting is complete, there is a draw. That is, each player selects which (if any) cards he or she wishes to discard. Discarding takes place in order, clockwise from the dealer button with each player placing their discards directly in front of them. The dealer will then replace the cards clockwise from the dealer button while bringing in the discards.

After the first draw, there is another round of betting, beginning with the first active player to the left of the button. So the sequence of action is:

1. Four cards dealt to each player.

2. Betting round #1, beginning with first active player to left of big blind.

3. Draw.

4. Betting round #2, beginning with first active player to left of button.

5. Showdown (if necessary)

For Double Draw or Triple Draw, the above procedure is repeated either once or twice, to make two or three draws, depending on the game type. For Limit games, the betting amount doubles for the second and third draw.

In draw games, it is possible for more cards to be needed than are remaining in the deck. In this case, the cards are reshuffled, including the burn cards and any mucked cards from previous draw rounds (not cards from the existing draw round), and play continues using the new deck. It is allowed to use the final card of the deck to complete a draw round.

Showdown - Determining the Winner

If there is more than one remaining player when the final betting round is complete, the last person to bet or raise shows their cards, unless there was no bet on the final round in which case the player immediately clockwise from the button shows their cards first. The player with the best four-card Badugi hand wins the pot. In the event of identical hands, the pot will be equally divided between the players with the best hands. In the event of an odd chip during the split, it is awarded to the first active player immediately clockwise from the button.

After the pot is awarded, a new hand of Badugi Poker is ready to be played. The button now moves clockwise to the next player, blinds and antes are once again posted, and new hands are dealt to each player.

Limit, No Limit, and Pot Limit Badugi Poker

Draw rules remain the same for Limit, No Limit and Pot Limit poker games, with a few exceptions:

• Fixed Limit Draw Poker

Betting in Limit Draw is in pre-determined, structured amounts. Pre-draw and on the first draw, all bets and raises are of the same amount as the big blind. On the second and/or third draw, the size of all bets and raises doubles. In Limit Draw, up to four bets are allowed per player during each betting round. This includes a (1) bet, (2) raise, (3) re-raise, and (4) cap (final raise).

• No Limit Draw Poker

The minimum bet in No Limit Draw is the same as the size of the big blind, but players can always bet as much as they want, up to all of their chips.

Minimum raise: In No Limit Draw, the raise amount must be at least as much as the previous bet or raise in the same round. As an example, if the first player to act bets $5 then the second player must raise a minimum of $5 (total bet of $10).

Maximum raise: The size of your stack (your chips on the table).

In No Limit Draw, there is no ‘cap’ on the number of raises allowed.

• Pot Limit Draw Poker

The minimum bet in Pot Limit Draw is the same as the size of the big blind, but players can always bet up to the size of the pot.

Minimum raise: The raise amount must be at least as much as the previous bet or raise in the same round.

Maximum raise: The size of the pot, which is defined as the total of the active pot plus all bets on the table plus the amount the active player must first call before raising.

Example: If the size of the pot is $100, and there is no previous action on a particular betting round, a player may bet a maximum of $100. After that bet, the action moves to the next player clockwise. That player can either fold, call $100, or raise any amount between the minimum ($100 more) and the maximum. The maximum bet in this case is $400 - the raiser would first call $100, bringing the pot size to $300, and then raise $300 more, making a total bet of $400.

In Pot Limit Draw, there is no ‘cap’ on the number of raises allowed.