432A Badugi Poker

Ok I really want to talk about some hands but I need to come clean first. You might be asking yourself, who is this guy and what has he ever done that he thinks he can talk about badugi poker? I’m nobody from nowhere. The best things I’ve ever done with anything related to poker was being the 997th person eliminated out of an even 1000 entrants in the first ever Foxwoods casino employee poker tourney. I opened Foxwoods as a tablegames floorperson. (the non-poker games) If I remember correctly the person who put me out thought they had won with one hand, was told “no you have flush” and she sat back dejected because she thought that meant she lost. Tells you how that tourney played out. Not that every player was clueless, it’s just I don’t think there were any table set ablaze that day.

Aside from freerolls the only money poker games I’ve ever played were home games. I almost always left with more change in my crown royal bag then I walked in with but they were regular games where big losers were down $20-40. The only DIME I’ve ever won outside of a friend’s house was cashing in the Carbon poker PL badugi FR back when it was still $50. I placed 7th and won a whopping $2.50. The FRs at carbon are up to $200 bucks and the prize would be $10 for 7th now. I play that FR every chance I get. Pot limit badugi really is not my game but I’m learning and I think I do ok. I break into the top 100 regularly and I think I’ve gone 15th or so too. Maybe someone with stats could look it up for me I’m Badugi420 on Carbon poker. Went out 86th the other day.

Anyway, I don’t know nuttin. I’m not professing to be some pro in fact I’m nothing more than your garden variety, everyday, play money player. DUN DUN DAAAAA Yeah I know, play money games don’t play like real money and there are $.10/.20 badugi games on carbon and $.25/.50 running on stars so why are you not playing those??? Well the truth is…I can’t afford to at the moment. I had a heart attack last year and my health is not good enough for me to work. I had planned on playing in the SCOOP-L badugi event. I scraped $100 bucks together and planned on playing SCOOP and playing the rest in both the 8 man limit badugi SNGs and the limit MTTs at micro stakes naturally.

I asked someone to get me a pre-paid credit card assuming they would do what they have always done and picked one up at the bank. The same ones I’ve used in the recent past and KNOW they have no goofy restrictions/fees/hoops to jump. Long story short, I’m now stuck with a “hey…i can sell my own branded visa card too!” U.S. DOMESTIC USE ONLY credit card and I just can’t afford to put another hundred up to do an echeck. I’d been saving to put that hundred together for a couple of months. I was unaware of how hard it had become for U.S. players to deposit into poker accounts with a credit card and chances are, even if I had the real bank issued card I wanted it still would have been declined. With no bank account my options are severely limited.

I’m not trying to lay a sob story on anyone, eventually I’ll scrape some money together again and open an account just to make a deposit if I have to but I will take a shot at this. I think I could make a profit playing limit badugi SnGs and MTTs. Why would I think this if all I play is play money? Come to the 25,000+500 play money SnGs and play 20 games then tell me what you think. Yes they are a ton looser than ring games and yes they are looser than the real tourneys but not nearly as much as one might think.

I’ve been playing badugi on stars since they started running the game in Nov of ‘08. I don’t recall seeing any play money tourneys back then and the play on the “ring” games was, as it still is, jokerstars. There are some who play out there who have a clue but there are so many 8 players to the river capping all the way that it’s bingo. It’s generally russian players and some are capping at showdown with nothing. I’ve told friends badugi is korean for “russian bingo”…but the 25K SnGs are different. Forget any lower level buy in they get way too many slot players still.

The 25K games have a large group of regulars who are quite good. The games play MUCH closer to how a real tourney would go. I also watch a LOT of badugi being played, both ring and toruney and I’ve seen some of the real tourneys play worse than even a table of our most straight forward, “basic strategy” regulars. I’m not just talking micro stakes either some of the play at mid limit ring games is REAL suspect. I also think I’m good enough to hang with anyone but as you know if you play poker for cash scared money never wins and unless I have enough money tucked away for the benjamins to feel nice and cozy I wouldn’t attempt straight cash games. There is a psychology involved in tournament play where the chips demonetize the money. It’s part of the reason casinos use cheques (chips. chips at poker, cheques at all other tablegames).

People don’t see chips as money, even though you can use real casino cheques at some businesses in both Vegas and Atlantic City. (its actually against the law in NJ but I have seen local AC shops that will take chips, idk about vegas) Most people are unwittingly looser with casino chips than they would be with cold hard cash. The same thing happens in poker tournaments.

People are much more willing to toss chips around with less than the nuts than they would be if they had twenty dollar bills in their hands. Think about it, all the money for the last two spots at the WSOP has been sitting at the table since there were 10 players but everyone gets all “ooh aah” and nervous or whatever it is they feel when the cash is brought to the table. Yet those chips that have been sitting at the table do represent the actual cash even if they are only worth 30 cents each. Some level of “play money” is always involved in tournament poker play and some of the people who play for fun do play it just like they would if it was cash.

When I first started playing the 25K SNGs I PWND! HARD! Play was still better than the average game in the zoo but the good players were basic strat at best and for a while I was winning (finishing 1st) more often than I finished OTM. Then we got some new regulars and the game got a bit harder for a while and then all of a sudden I saw a HUGE change in how good the play was. It was literally night and day. I was cleaning up one night and the next day I was asking myself when did all these regulars get so damn good? This was a very good thing for my game because at the time I was only playing as well as needed to make the money (top 3 spots). I’m sure some of you understand what I mean by that, if you don’t get what I’m saying think of it like just doing enough homework/studying to pass in school. I’ve worked hard to become a dominant player again in that game and I think I’ve learned a lot along the way. At last check I was in the money 48% in over 200 games.

Please keep in mind that unless I say otherwise I’m talking about LIMIT badugi here and most of what I have to say applies specifically to 8 man SNGs. I do not profess to be a good player of any other form of badugi. Obviously anything I talk about can be applied in other forms of the game such as full table play would apply to any MTT early and mid stages and as the game shortens up it will play like a final table. One of the areas where I have been able to gain an advantage is shorthanded and HU play. I know how to adjust my game as the tourney progresses. Just like DeathDonkey talks about in his great badugi video about the two stages or a hand within a hand in badugi where its one game while everyone is drawing and a different game once someone declares a pat hand there are different stages to a badugi (or any) SNG. 8 players, 5 players, bubble play, 3 handed and HU.

Did I mention the two spots I finish in the least are 4th and 8th?

I’m going to do some badugi articles and discuss hands, maybe do some videos if I’m not laughed off as some play money foo. I’m doing this for a few reasons. One I love the game. I’d like to see more people playing badugi. I know nobody cares, but I do. If I can help generate some interest in the game and learn or teach something along the way that’s great. And if some reader likes what they read, believes in me and would be willing to stake me for some low limit SNGs and MTTs that would be awesome. I would absolutely be willing to work out stake terms if someone is interested, please feel free to contact me. I wish I had done this before SCOOP but like I said I had it planned…

I’m doing this in a blog here instead of in the forums because I don’t want any of the pros to get upset I’m wasting their time with play money analysis or anything like that so I’ll do it here and you can tune in or not it’s up to you. Laugh if you want but I’ve spent 40 years cracking jokes trying to make people laugh, if you think I’m going to take the heat cause you’re laughing at me…the joke is on you brutha.