Games - Badugi

	Games - Badugi

Badugi, commonly mispronounced "Padooki," is a triple draw, four card, low hand game.

Rules

The descriptions below assume a familiarity with the general game play of poker, and with poker hands. For a general introduction to these topics, see Poker, Poker hand, Poker probability, and Poker jargon.

Badugi

Originating in Asia, Badugi is becoming very popular in America. The object of the game is to make a 4 card rainbow hand (4 suits) with the lowest cards, Ace being the lowest rank. There are 3 draw rounds where players can swap as many of their cards as they like, each draw followed by a betting round. Once the betting rounds are complete, there is one final betting round - the showdown - if more than one player remains in the hand.

Play of the hand

Play begins with each player being dealt four cards face down. The hand begins with a "pre-draw" betting round, beginning with the player to the left of the big blind (or the player to the left of the dealer, if no blinds are used) and continuing clockwise. After the pre-draw betting round, beginning with the first player still in the pot to the left of the dealer, the players one at a time each discard any number of cards and are dealt that many new cards. The first draw is followed by a second betting round. After the second betting round ends, there is another draw followed by a third betting round. After that there is the final draw (hence the name), followed by a fourth betting round and the showdown, if necessary.

Betting structures

In casino play, it is common to use a fixed limit and two blinds. The limit for the first two rounds of betting is called a small bet, while the limit for the third and fourth betting rounds is called a big bet and is generally double the small bet. The small blind is usually equal to half of a small bet, and the big blind is equal to a full small bet.

This game is also played pot-limit, half-pot-limit, and no-limit.

The showdown

If a player bets and all other players fold, then the remaining player is awarded the pot and is not required to show his cards. If two or more players remain after the final betting round, a showdown occurs. On the showdown, the player with the lowest ranked hand wins the pot.

Badugi, like Triple-Draw, Lowball, and Razz, is a Poker game played for low. It is played like "Ace-to-Five" except it is only a four card game, meaning that the best possible hand is a rainbow of A,2,3,4. What makes this game different from other forms of Lowball is that in Badugi, the highest calibur of hands contains one of each suit - a rainbow hand. A Badugi, any hand with one of each suit, beats any hand that only contains three different suits. Examples:

A♠2♠3♣4♥ is actually an A34 because the 2♠ is not used.

K♣K♠Q♠Q♥ beats A♣2♠3♠4♠ because it becomes a three-card hand, KKQ which beats any two-card hand, in this case, A2.

A♣A♠K♦Q♥ beats 2♣2♠3♦4♥ because a pair of aces is considered lower, not higher, than a pair of twos.

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