Badugi Poker Rules For 10-Game Players

Full Tilt Poker’s new 10-Game Poker includes Badugi poker, one of their new draw poker games. This is a general rules guide for mixed game players that do not know how to play Badugi.  Badugi poker is a variation of triple draw lowball and is one of the most exciting (and most frustrating) poker games around.  A Badugi hand consists of four cards, and when you get the four card combination that you’re looking for when playing Badugi poker, you are said to be holding a “Badugi”.  Knowing the rules of Badugi will help you to become a profitable Badugi player.

Badugi Poker Betting Rules

Badugi can be played as limit Badugi, half pot limit Badugi, and pot limit Badugi, and the betting limits are different for each type.  With limit Badugi, betting occurs in each round of betting with a maximum number of bets being set at four (which actually includes three raises and one bet for each round per player).  In half pot Badugi, bets can be up to half of the Badugi pot, and in pot limit Badugi, bets are the full limit of the pot.

Badugi Hand Ranking Rules

Being a lowball game, the lowest hand in Badugi wins the pot.  A Badugi hand is made up of as many as four cards, and none of them can be of the same suit or rank. Aces count as low cards in Badugi.  Ace – two – three – four is the best possible Badugi hand.  An example of hand ranking would be that a two – three – four – five hand would beat a two – four – six – seven hand.  Unlike many other games in poker, suits do not have any particular value or rank over each other.  Pairs in Badugi are treated differently than in other lowball games – one of the paired cards in your hand is not counted at all.  Paired cards will cause your hand to be a three card hand as in a hand that holds two – four – six – six would become a three card Badugi hand of two – four – six.  Similarly, trips are treated in the same way, making a Badugi hand a two – card hand; as an example, two – four- four – four would become two –four.  A four card Badugi hand outranks a three card hand and so on.

How to Play Badugi Poker

Badugi poker is complex at first look but becomes easier the more often you play.  As in Texas holdem, Badugi uses a small and big blind and dealer button/chip.  Each player is initially dealt four cards initially, followed by a round of betting at the lower limits.  Players can check, bet, or raise.  Players next have the option of drawing up to four cards in a rotation that is clockwise from the dealer button/chip to improve their hands; inversely, players can also stand “pat” by taking no cards at all.  A second round of betting now takes place at the lower limits, followed by another drawing round of up to four cards.  The third and fourth drawing rounds are identical in nature to the first other than the fact that bets are now taken at the higher limits.  It often becomes necessary after the second round to reshuffle the discarded pile of cards to have enough cards for the rest of the game.  The showdown occurs after the final round of betting.  Players either show or muck the hands that they are holding. A winner is declared in Badugi poker based on hand ranking.