Rules Badugi
Edjon
Badugi is poker variant, which originated in Asia. In this game there are three drawing rounds and the lowest combination wins at showdown. Badugi therefore does have similarities with 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball, but there are some differences.
Each player is dealt 4 cards in Badugi
These cards are dealt closed, such that players can only see their own cards. Badugi is usually played with a small blind and a big blind and is mostly played in fixed limit.
3 Rounds of drawing in Badugi
Players have the opportunity to draw 3 times. Players are allowed to stand pat (in this case players don't discard any of their cards) to a maximum of 4 cards. The action sequence is as follows:
- 4 Cards are dealt to each player.
- First betting round.
- Draw 1.
- Second betting round.
- Draw 2.
- Third betting round.
- Draw 3.
- Fourth betting round.
- Showdown.
Of course not all actions have to occur and when all players fold to a bet, the betting player wins the pot.
Lowest combination wins in Badugi
The goal in this game is to make a badugi: 4 low cards of different suits and no pair. The best possible hand is 4-3-2-A (an ace always counts as low card), of different suits. Badugi hand are always ranked by their highest card. 8-7-6-5 (of different suits) is therefore a better hand than 9-3-2-A (also called a 9 badugi). And 6-4-3-2 is better than 6-5-2-A (6-4 badugi against a 6-5 badugi).
If at showdown no player can show a badugi, then the best 3-card hand wins. If a player has, for instance, 6h-4d-3c-Ah, the player has no badugi, because of the 2 hearts. In this case the highest heart is disregarded and is it a 4 high 3-card combination (4-3-A). In case no player has a badugi or a 3-card combination, then the best 2-card combination wins etc. As you may have noticed the low combinations in Badugi are different than the low combinations in lowball. Badugi is a variant of poker, which especially has become popular in recent years and which is played online mainly on Pokerstars.
