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To prepare for the SCOOP Badugi event I watched the badugi videos here on DC and started playing a bit in the cash games. The problem I still have is playing dealt bad badugis pre. Do I get as much money in as possible or am I actually a dog against good draws?

Poker Stars $0.50/$1.00 Limit Badugi - 7 players - View hand 1755852
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

Pre Draw: (1.5 SB) Hero is MP with A K 8 6
UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, Hero raises, CO folds, BTN folds, SB 3-bets, BB folds, Hero caps!, SB calls

First Draw: (9 SB) (2 players)
SB stands pat, Hero stands pat
Hand: A K 8 6
SB checks, Hero checks

Second Draw: (4.5 BB) (2 players)
SB stands pat, Hero stands pat
Hand: A K 8 6
SB checks, Hero checks

Third Draw: (4.5 BB) (2 players)
SB stands pat, Hero stands pat
Hand: A K 8 6
SB checks, Hero checks

Final Pot: 4.5 BB
SB shows A K 9 7 (Badugi: K,9,7,A)
Hero shows A K 8 6 (Badugi: K,8,6,A)
Hero wins 4.3 BB
(Rake: $0.20)


Poker Stars $0.50/$1.00 Limit Badugi - 7 players - View hand 1755855
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

Pre Draw: (1.5 SB) Hero is UTG with K Q T 5
Hero folds, UTG+1 folds, MP folds, CO folds, BTN raises, SB folds, BB folds

Final Pot: 1.25 BB
BTN wins 1.25 BB



Poker Stars $0.50/$1.00 Limit Badugi - 7 players - View hand 1755856
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

Pre Draw: (1.5 SB) Hero is UTG+1 with K Q 5 3
UTG folds, Hero raises, MP folds, CO folds, BTN calls, SB folds, BB calls

First Draw: (6.5 SB) (3 players)
BB draws 2, Hero stands pat, BTN draws 1
Hand: K Q 5 3
BB checks, Hero bets, BTN calls, BB calls

Second Draw: (4.75 BB) (3 players)
BB draws 1, Hero stands pat, BTN draws 1
Hand: K Q 5 3
BB checks, Hero bets, BTN calls, BB raises, Hero calls, BTN calls

Third Draw: (10.75 BB) (3 players)
BB stands pat, Hero draws 2, BTN draws 1
Hand: K 7 5 3
BB bets, Hero folds, BTN folds

Final Pot: 10.75 BB
BB wins 10.35 BB
(Rake: $0.40)

I don't know much about badugi (or in general), but I'm pretty sure you don't want to be patting a K pre pretty much ever.

Check out Greenstein's "book" (it's really short so I hesitate to really say book) called The Badugi Chapter. It's cheap and a quick read and will help a lot.

+1 on not patting a K pre.

If you haven't already, check out these articles by Matt Flynn:

http://www.deucescracked.com/articles/1562-I-Love-Badugi
http://www.deucescracked.com/articles/1564-Wasting-Away-in-Badugiville

He also talked Badugi strategy when we had him on Badugi All-Stars. I think it's mostly in this episode.

My general approach with dealt king badugi's would be to call a 3bet and then see if opponent is pat or not and then decide whether to break a hand (if possible) or not depending on quality of draw, number of opponents and number of cards they draw.

am I actually a dog against good draws?

A king badugi is about 50-50 against a good one-card draw.
But against two good one-card draws you'll only win 1 in 4 (because they each have a 50-50 chance of beating you). Against three good one-card draws you'll win just 1 in 8. And so on. So against multiple opponents your K is certainly a dog.

In all of those hands you should fold pre. It's just too likely you'll be facing multiple opponents, at least one of whom will probably hit. BTW I don't think I've ever won a hand with K8 against another badugi

There are times when you can pat K badugis pre. On the button as a steal, or in the SB v BB as a steal. Or if an aggro button opens, you can 3-bet a K from the blinds. Basically if you play a K, you want to get heads-up with it. The good thing about K's is that they're easy to play - if you get raised you can simply fold. And your opponent doesn't know/expect that you'll have a K (especially if you don't often play pat K's) so you have some fold equity too.

In the last hand you should just fold to the raise on the turn. You haven't got anything like the odds to hit a two-card draw (you're about 10% to make a badugi and half of those contain paint).

PS - I came second in the low SCOOP badugi two years ago.
PPS - I made 50x more in that tournament than in any tournament before or since!

Hand 1: is ok to open because you have an emergency 3-card hand if the pot does come off multiway, in which case I would break immediately. I guess only situation I wouldn't break this 3-w is if SB & BB called and they both drew 2. Your really hoping to just steal the blinds or get it heads up with one of the blinds who is drawing and win a small pot.

Once heads up, I think capping predraw is fine too, if he breaks something or only has a 3-card hand we can pat this and try to get to showdown cheaply. Once he pats, you should break. As pluto said your probably a little less than 50/50 with your draw against his pat range, but a reasonable dog with your Pat K. You also get to raise when you hit your hand when you draw, but tend to put in bets bad when you pat.

Hand 2, good fold, I think folding bad Js in this spot is fine.

Hand 3 is a fold pre. Unlike hand 1, you don't have a 3-card hand you can fall back on if the pot does become multiway. As played, I think you have to just pat and hope your hand holds up. Definitely fold on the turn facing a raise as pluto said.

Just logged into Stars. Chillolini (who used to post here) has made the final three in the low ($27 buy-in). Payouts 10 grand, 7 grand and 5½ grand.

He's just finished in third place. Not a bad payday.

Thanks for all the comments, links etc. (I didn't know there was actually a book about this game) .. this thread alone has improved my Badugi game tons!!

I finished in the money .. nothing to write home about, but not bad for my first Badugi MTT. I kind of like this game .. and the cashgames seem super soft once you have a tight fundamental strategy down (I've made more money in the badugi cashgames the last 2 days than in the SCOOP event).