How to play
Badugi is a four-card draw game with its own kind of hand: you want four cards of four different suits and four different ranks, as low as possible. Here you sit at a fixed-limit cash table with one to five computer opponents. Everyone starts with 1,000 chips, the blinds are 5 and 10, and a fresh 52-card deck is shuffled for every hand.
- Blinds and cards. The dealer button (D) moves one seat each hand; the two players to its left post the blinds. Everyone gets four cards face down.
- Four betting rounds, three draws. After each of the first three betting rounds, everyone still in the hand draws in turn from the left of the button: tap the cards to replace and press Draw, or keep them with Stand pat. Everyone sees how many cards each player took.
- Fixed limit. Bets and raises are 10 in the first two rounds and 20 in the last two, with at most four bets per round.
- Showdown. The best badugi hand wins the whole pot.
How badugi hands rank.
- Only cards of different suits and different ranks count. If two of your cards share a suit or a rank, only one of them counts.
- More counting cards is better. A four-card hand (a “badugi”) beats any three-card hand, which beats any two-card hand.
- Between hands with the same number of cards, the one with the lower highest card wins, then the next highest, and so on. Aces are low.
- The best hand is 4-3-2-A in four different suits.
For example, A♠ 2♠ 3♥ 4♦ is a three-card hand (4-3-A): the two spades can’t both count.
Side pots, the uncalled bet and split pots work as in other poker games. If the deck runs out during a draw, the discards and folded hands are shuffled and used. When an opponent runs out of chips, a new player takes the seat with 1,000 chips; if you run out, you can get 1,000 free credits at a new table. Your table is saved between visits.
Strategy
Start with three good cards. Three low cards of different suits and ranks are a strong start; draw one card for the fourth suit.
Any badugi is strong. A four-card hand beats every three-card hand, so even a high badugi like J-8-5-2 wins often. Very high ones (queen or king high) are worth breaking early in the hand if you have draws left.
Count the draws. A player who stands pat probably has a badugi. If you’re drawing one card to a three-card hand against a pat hand, the pot needs to be big enough to call.
Small cards matter twice. Your lowest cards decide ties between four-card hands, so keep aces and deuces when you can.
More poker. For five-card lowball, try 2-7 Triple Draw. For classic high draw, play Five Card Draw.
If you enjoy Badugi, try Balloon Pump or Ban Luck next.
