432A Badugi Poker

Ok so maybe aliens brought you here…idk…but if you’re reading my blog and asking yourself WTF is badugi? well here ya go…

Badugi is a 4 card, triple draw lowball variant of poker with a bit of a twist. Two twists really. A is low, not very twisty but then it’s not one of the twists smart guy, pairs are only counted as one card and SUITS MATTER. If you’re totally confused here is the simple version I give at a table when someone asks how to play.

It’s lowball
A is low
You don’t want any pairs
You DO want one card of each suit
a 432A rainbow is the stone cold nuts

That’s it. The game is simple. Deceptively simple. It’s very easy to grasp how to play badugi but it seems that with sheer lack of information published about the game that MANY people have a tough time really grasping the game. (read-fish ahoy!)

A ‘Badugi’ is a 4 card hand meaning it has one card from each suit with no pairs
4h 3d 2c As for instance is the best badugi you can get. Kd Qh Js Tc is the worst. You don’t have to have a 4 card hand to win if you have say 32Ax and the only other person in the hand is drawing you’re in good shape. I’ve seen 2 card hands win at heads up (4Axx for example) but that’s because nobody had anything and it was checked all the way down.

One, two and three card hands happen when you have more than one of the same suit or paired cards. 6h 3c 2d 9h is a 632x the nine does not count since its the same suit as the six and its a higher value card. 3h 3s 3c Ah = 3Axx and a flush Qh 9h 4h Ah = Axxx

The showdown works like this first are there any badugis. Any 4 card hand beats every 3 card and less hand. If you have two 4 card hands you compare the highest card in each hand, lowest card wins. If the cards are the same like in this example

VS

the 954A wins

If there are no 4 card hands it goes to 3 card hands…then 2 card hands…

32Ax beats 42Ax
52Ax beats 532x

I keep forgetting to add currently PokerStars and Carbon Poker are the only two rooms I know online spreading badugi poker.