Badugi (card game)

solittle: Badugi is a card game found on some poker sites.

The goal in Badugi is to get one card of each suit, as low as possible (Ace is low), with no pairs.

It's a game that is so simple that many children could learn to play it and probably play better than many adults. People joining the game who have not first read the rules are sure to lose, because they simply have no idea what they're supposed to be trying for, and if they're poker players their natural assumptions of what makes a good hand are completely wrong.

Should badugi be classed as a form of poker? The betting structure is similar, but what makes a good hand is a bit different from most standard forms of poker, although most similar to Razz. I think Badugi could best be described as a "Rainbow Razz".

In Badugi you are dealt four cards. Usually you have three draws, sometimes only one draw, where you can discard unwanted cards to try to get a better card in exchange.

The best hand would be Ace, 2, 3, 4, each card of a different suit. If you have a pair, only one of those two cards will be counted. If you have two cards of the same suit, only one of those two cards will be counted.

The worst possible hand would be four kings. That hand would count as one King.
A flush is also a horrible hand. It would count as a single card, the lowest of the four. The best flush would count as a single Ace, the worst flush would count as a single 10. The worst flush would still be better than four Jacks.

Usually these worst hands would never compete with each other, except when you find yourself playing against someone who hasn't read the rules and is trying to guess what a good hand ought to be based on other forms of poker they know. It happens, especially in the Play Money games online.

I seem to have reached the limit of characters for a forum post, so I will end this post here.

solittle: Today I actually saw a player raise with four kings.
Obviously a new player who had not read the rules.
The worst possible hand.
Player was from Belgium.