Badugi Poker Rules

Widely believed to have arrived from Asia, Badugi is a lowball poker game now gaining vast popularity in casinos all across the globe. Interestingly enough, the game is especially popular among online poker players. Badugi is a draw poker game played almost like triple draw. While the betting structure of this poker variant and its overall play are more or less the same as traditional poker's, there are some tangible distinctions. The most evident difference is the fact that, instead of the standard five-card hand, Badugi players seek to make a four-card winning hand.

Badugi Poker Rules of Play

Each active player receives two face-down cards into their pocket. The game kicks off with a 'pre-draw' round of betting, starting with the player seated to the left of the Big Blind. Play continues in a clockwise direction. Each game participant is required to either call the Big Blind bet, raise it or fold their hand. The drawing part of the game comes only after all the players have either invested an equal amount of cash in the pot or folded. Starting with the first active player seated to the left of the dealer, each player is allowed to discard any number of cards and receive the same number of new cards from the deck.

A second round of betting comes after the first draw. At this point, in addition to the 'call,' 'raise' and 'fold' options, players are also allowed to 'check.' Checking players do not invest any money in the pot but still remain in the game. The betting action continues until all players have placed the same amount of money or folded. After the second betting round ends, another draw takes place followed by a third round of betting. Thereafter, the final draw is staged, followed a by a fourth betting round. The showdown comes after the fourth round of betting ends.

If only one single player remains in the game after everybody else folded, he nabs the jackpot. If there is more than one player still in the game at showdown time, the remaining players are expected to reveal their hands and establish the winner. Much like in Texas Hold 'em, Badugi players holding loosing hands are allowed to muck instead of showing. The player with the weakest possible hand wins. The best Badugi poker hand is Ace, two, three and four of different suits.

Badugi Poker Hand Ranking System

The game of Badugi poker features a hand ranking system different than the traditional one. While initially receiving four cards into their pockets, at showdown, the game's rules require players to remove certain cards in order to form a one, two, three or four card Badugi hand. Players must discard one of any two suited cards and any paired cards from the four they hold. Additionally, any four card hand is superior to any three card hand, a three card hand is superior to a two card hand, and a two card hand is superior to a one card hand.

Two Badugi hands with the same number of cards are compared based on the highest card in each hand. Since, Badugi is a lowball hand the weakest card is the best one. A tie is established only if the ranks of all cards in two hands are the same. As with standard poker games, suits play no role in comparison of two hands in Badugi.