You are probably not familiar with Badugi with its weird betting structure and moves but it is big in Asia and is becoming more well known in North America. The game consists of four cards and three drawing rounds in which bets are placed and players begin to assemble that fine Badugi hand into showdown. The game is usually played as fixed limit with two blinds and similar playing methods to other poker variations. Badugi games may also include pot or no limit play, most often seen in tournament play.

The Workings of Badugi

To start the game, the dealer deals four face-down cards to each player, round one of betting follows starting with the player right ahead of the large blind. One can call, fold or raise up to the house limit. Players who stay with the game post-round one betting can then draw no cards at all or up to four cards. These drawn cards are not played. All players must be very cognizant of their discards and update their odds accordingly. Interestingly, similar to the streets used as terms for rounds in Texas Hold’em, Badugi uses the time of day to describe rounds.

One important facet of Badugi to be aware of is that the hand that wins is not your usual poker hand. Before attempting to actually play Badugi, you must be very familiar with the card ranking in hands. Oddly, the duplicates have no value in a hand, just suits and single cards, and not even dual suits. The name Badugi is in reference to a hand comprised of distinct suited cards. When all is done and hands are compared, the first thing to look at is the number of cards, then the lower value of the highest ranking card (aces are low in Badugi). Ergo, the epitome of a winning hand would be ace, two, three, four, unsuited. The big loser would consist of four kings.

Badugi Strategies to Win

Like 2-7 triple draw poker, Badugi has three drawing rounds. Unlike it, and very much so, is the difference that duplicates play in hand ranking. And with all poker forms, position at the table is important, but in Badugi it is critical. It serves as a very important observation point to watch your opponents draws, many cards indicate a weak hand, few a strong one and you can determine your own strength in relation to this.

Assume you have a complete hand of four cards, i.e. a Badugi and are curious about the odds of your opponents drawing to a Badugi themselves. The odds can be calculated thusly. If a player swaps a card, he must hit upon the one that does not match a suit already in his hand. The odds in this case are 10 to 52 as the player will be unable to match any of the three cards present in his hand. Also to be considered are the odds of the player drawing a card with a lower high value.

Now suppose you hold a four-card ten high hand, another players chances of hitting on a lower, distinct value are 6 in 52 because any cards higher than ten in the right suit cannot best your hand.

Before beginning that first betting round, the player has a little more than a 50% chance of drawing to a discrete four-card hand during each round, which adds up to a 20 % chance of doing so in each round.

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