About Badugi Poker
Badugi is usually labelled the Asian Poker. It is reported to have originated from Korea or China. The name is sometimes spelled Badougi, other times, Padooki.
Badugi shares many characteristics with other draw poker games. The main differences are in the hand rankings. To help us understand Badugi here are some features of this card game:
1. There are betting rules for each kind of Badugi played, which can be limit, pot or half-pot limit. The pot’s winner is the player with the best hand during the showdown or end of the game. There are rules for the evaluation to determine the best hand. A tie is possible where the winners will divide the pot.
2. It is a 4-card poker. The players are dealt four cards at the start of the game. Like in the other poker varieties, the players hide their hands and apply strategies to win. To win the game, the players aim to have the best hand or card combination. The best hand is the lowest possible badugi, or a combination where all the four cards are from different suits and have different values. An example of the lowest badugi is a hand with As,1c.2k,3q. The suits and values could interchange provided that no two cards are of the same suits or values.
3. There are three rounds of card drawing and betting. In each drawing round, the player may change all four or nothing of his or her cards. In each betting round that follows each drawing round, the player may choose to call, raise, check or fold depending on the hand or card combination.
After drawing cards hoping to improve the card combination, a player may have a badugi, a 3-card hand, a 2-card hand or the worst combination that would result to a 1-card hand. Without considering the card values, a badugi wins over a 3-card hand, which in turn, wins over a 2-card hand. A 1-card hand can only lose against the other types of hands.
4. There are no community cards in Badugi
Although know how of the other poker games would probably help many playing card enthusiasts to understand Badugi faster, the rules are easy to understand even for the non poker players. Why don’t you try Badugi the next time you play poker?
