Where Badugi Poker Comes From

Tribeca Tables Poker Network may have recently created a compelling online version, but Badugi poker has been played in Asia for decades, particularly in South Korea. There are many variations, and many different spellings (padooki, badoogi, paduji), but Tribeca’s creation is based on its most popular form. And now that badugi poker has made its way to the United States, it’s creating thousands and thousands of fans for this brain-teasing, action-packed form of America’s favorite game!

How To Play Badugi Poker

Tribeca’s version of badugi poker is easy to play — it’s much like seven-card stud. But the big difference in badugi poker is that it’s strictly a low-card game. Aces and twos are the best cards to hold in badugi poker, and it’s best to hold cards of different suits (in badugi poker, all suits are equal).

What’s Different About Badugi Poker

Another difference in badugi poker is that the hand you play at the end of the badugi poker deal contains only four cards. So winning hands in badugi poker usually contain four different suits, one card of each. Putting the low-card aspect together with this, you can see that in badugi poker the best hand of all is ace-two-three-four of diamonds-hearts-spades-clubs — in fact, it’s called a “Badugi!” And Tribeca Tables Poker Network brings it to you, 24/7.

What Are The Hands In Badugi Poker?

Most important in badugi poker is that you have four cards, all of different suits and different values. That kind of badugi poker hand is called a “four-card hand.” If you happen to have two cards of the same suit or the same value, then you’ve got a three-card hand. When you have three cards of the same value or suit, it’s a two card hand. If you happen to have all four cards of the same suit, or four of a kind, it’s a one-card hand. In badugi poker, that’s poison — get out fast! Warning! Disaster! (This alert courtesy of Tribeca Tables)

The Deal In Badugi Poker

At the start of each badugi poker hand, each player is dealt four cards face down. After a round of betting, you’re dealt another card face up. Another two rounds of betting follow, and two more face-up cards. The badugi poker hand ends with a final round of betting according to the “rules of the house.” See Tribeca’s Badugi rules.

How To Bet In Badugi Poker

Tribeca players will recognize some of these rules. Before the cards are dealt in badugi poker, two of the players bet “blind” — without seeing the cards. The player to the left of the dealer bets half the “limit” — he’s called the “small blind.” The player two seats to the left of the dealer bets the amount of the limit — he’s called the “big blind.” After that, badugi poker can be played as a limit, pot limit, or half-pot limit game.

Badugi Poker "Limit" Game

As in other Tribeca games, the limit in badugi poker is described in small blind/big blind terms. That is, the badugi poker limit may be $1/$2. And four rounds of bidding are allowed. In the first two rounds of a “limit” game, badugi poker players can bet the lower limit. In the last two rounds, they can bet the higher limit.

Badugi Poker "Pot Limit" Game

In a pot limit game, any player at a Tribeca badugi poker table can bet any amount up to the limit of the pot, which is the amount of the small blind plus the big blind plus whatever other players at the badugi poker table have bet. In other words, that’s $3 and up. In the “half limit” game, the most any badugi poker player can bet is half the amount of whatever is in the pot.

Strategies For Winner At Badugi Poker

The strategies for winning at badugi poker are the same as winning any poker game. As experienced Tribeca players know, you’ve got to know when to bet and when not to bet. In the words of the song, you’ve got to “know when to hold and know when to fold.” This is largely a matter of knowing who you’re playing against. Is the player on the other side of the table conservative or daring? When he bets, does it mean he holds a good hand, or could he be trying a bluff?

Another key winning point in badugi poker — like all poker — is cash management. Whether you’re playing Tribeca’s badugi poker or Texas Holdem, you need to ask yourself, "Do I have enough in reserve to sustain me through a long losing streak?" Poker depends to a great extent on the luck of the deal. So don’t look forward too optimistically. It’s not at all unrealistic to imagine yourself going through a string of twenty-five — or even fifty — losing hands. Make sure you have enough cash to keep going until your luck turns.

And the closing tip from Tribeca’s badugi experts: When you bluff, make sure you bluff with your head in badugi poker. If you bluff too often, players will catch on to your tactic, and probably they’ll call your bluff more often than not. And don’t try to bluff bad players — their roaring optimism will ride roughshod over your bluff.

But in badugi poker the best thing of all is, sit back and wait for that BADUGI.

Where To Play Badugi Poker

At any of the poker brands in the Tribeca Tables Poker Network.