Badugi Strategy.

I know that Badugi is getting ready to take off on Pokerstars pretty soon. So, I decided to write a strategy blog about it to give you guys an edge over the competition. If you wanna get some pratice in, in the mean time there's a few other websites that have it. Feel free to pm me and I can tell you which ones. Even some that are U.S. friendly.

Game Overview

Badugi is poker variant sometimes referred to as, "Asian Poker". It's a fairly new lowball game offered online and offline as well. It's a simple game to play especially if you already know how to play poker and has many similarities as well as difference. So, it's important to focus on the Badugi part of the game.

How The Game Is Played

Badugi is a four card poker game where the ultimate goal is for the player to have the lowest badugi. A badugi is a hand that has no cards in it matching in value and no cards of the same suit. The best hand being...

If there are two or more cards of the same value or suits, only the card with the lowest value shall remain and the rest are discarded. Then, the hand may become a 3-card, 2-card or even a 1-card hand. The game is played in Limit, Half -Pot Limit or Pot Limit and can be played with up to six players. The blind structure is chosen prior to the start of play.

Each player is dealt four cards face down.

There are four betting rounds. The first round follows the initial dealing of four cards to each player. The second, third and the fourth or final rounds follow the first, second and third card drawing rounds respectively and the betting rounds start with the player to the left of the big blind, going clockwise.

Badugi is also referred to as triple draw poker because the players have three rounds or opportunities to change or draw cards. To achieve or maintain a winning hand, the players may choose not to draw any card or draw from one to four cards. In drawing cards, the players take turns staring from the one at the left of the dealer going clockwise. After a card drawing round is completed, the play proceeds to the next betting round.

If there's more than one player remaining in the hand after the last betting round, or the fourth betting round then you have a showdown. Any hand wins over another hand with less number of cards. So, a badugi, with 4 cards , wins over the 3, 2 and 1-card hands. Between hands with the same number of cards, the one with the lower value wins. That might sound a little more confusing than it seems, so let's look at an example. The hand we had before of...

is a four card badugi. Obviously, a four card badugi is the best.

is a three card badugi. The king doesn't matter because it's the same suit as the ace.

is a two card badugi. The second ace doesn't matter cause it has the same value as the other ace and the five has the same suit as the two.

is a one card badugi. because there all the same suit.

Hopefully, you now have a general idea of how the game is played.

General Strategy

The best strategy is to play four cards 7 or below, not of the same suit or value, or play atleast two cards 5 or below, not of the same suit or value. So, a hand like...

would be a good starting hand.

or

would be a decent starting hand. (Though not great.)

When you have a good starting hand early, bet strong to eliminate drawing hands, or those that might be bluffing. Just like any other poker game, position is very important. Don't let someone use there position against you by being weak in the pot. The only exception to this is in a limit game because you will always being getting the right price to pay to draw to you hand. Anything less than a 8 and lower badugi probably isn’t worth taking to the showdown.

Advanced Strategy

Use your position to your advantage. When you see them chasing and they continue to draw, BET!! Make pot size bets when you already have a badugi. Make them pay!! More often then none, if you have 7 or below badugi then you have the best hand!!

Hope this blog has been helpful. Good luck on the felt!!