Badugi Poker – an Old Game That Is Gaining Popularity Online

Badugi Poker – an Old Game That Is Gaining Popularity Online

Badugi is an old poker game from Korea whose name refers to a dog with different colored spots (symbolic of the fact that in Badugi poker, having different suits is beneficial).  It’s different from traditional poker in a couple of significant ways, although the betting structure (including blinds) remains the same.

In Badugi, hands consist of only 4 cards, and the game is played in three rounds during which the player can exchange between zero and four cards for new cards from the deck.  Lower cards are better in Badugi, with the best possible hand being Ace-two-three-four.

At the end of the game, the player with the best hand wins.  A hand can be anywhere between one and four cards (made from the cards in the player’s hand).  Duplicates of suit or number are disregarded.  A four-card hand beats a three-card hand, which beats a two-card hand, which beats a one-card hand.

After any cards of the same suit or same number are disregarded, if the two players’ hands then have the same number of cards (for example, if each player has a three-card hand), then the hands are compared and whoever has the lowest high card wins.  For example:

Player 1:
2, 4, 5, 6

Player 2:
A, 2, 4, 9

In this case, Player 1 wins because they are both four-card hands, but Player 1′s highest card (6) is lower than Player 2′s highest card (9).

Here’s another example:

Player 1:
5 (diamond), 7 (club), King (club), King (heart) —> the King (club) is disregarded since its suit is a duplicate –> reduces to 5, 7, K

Player 2:
2 (spade), 3 (diamond), King (spade), King (diamond) –> both Kings are disregarded since there are already spades and diamonds in the hand –> reduces to 2, 3

In this case, Player 1 wins because he has a three-card hand but Player 2 has a two-card hand.

Please visit this link to learn more about how to play Badugi.