How to Play

A Korean lowball draw poker where the ideal hand is four unpaired cards of four different suits; the lowest qualifying badugi beats any shorter hand over three draws and four betting rounds.

Badugi is a lowball draw poker of Korean origin. Each player gets four hole cards and tries to make the lowest four-card hand where every card is a different suit and no two cards share a rank. The ultimate holding is A-2-3-4 'rainbow' (one card of each suit), called a perfect badugi. Between four rounds of betting there are three draws; on each draw you may discard any number of cards from 0 to 4 and replace them. At showdown, a qualifying four-card badugi beats any three-card hand, which beats any two-card hand, which beats any one-card hand.

Players

Playable with 2 to 8 players, although 6 is the practical maximum because heavy drawing burns through the deck quickly. Best with 4 to 6 around a fixed-limit table; heads-up Badugi is a tight technical duel.

Card Deck

• One standard 52-card deck, no jokers. If cards run low during draws, shuffle the discards back into the deck (keeping the top burn card separate) and continue.
• Aces are always low in Badugi (rank 1).
• Card ranks from best (lowest) to worst: A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K.A♠2♠3♠4♠5♠6♠7♠8♠9♠10♠J♠Q♠K♠
• Suits have no value of their own; they matter only for the rainbow requirement of a badugi.

Objective

Win the pot either by forcing everyone else to fold during betting, or by showing the lowest qualifying badugi at showdown. Your hand's value is determined by how many of your four cards can be kept after striking out duplicates (same rank or same suit); the fewer duplicates and the lower the remaining cards, the stronger the hand.

Setup and Deal

1. Agree on stakes. Badugi is most often played fixed-limit: a small bet in the first two rounds, a big bet (double) in the third and fourth.
2. Post blinds: the player to the dealer's left posts the small blind and the next player posts the big blind. In some home games, every player antes a fixed chip instead.
3. Deal 4 cards face down to each player, one at a time clockwise.
4. Action opens on the player to the left of the big blind (or the dealer in ante games).

Gameplay

1. Step 1 (opening bets): First betting round. Each player in turn may fold, call the big blind, or raise in small-bet increments. Typically three raises are permitted per round unless only two players remain, in which case raises are uncapped.
2. Step 2 (first draw): Starting with the first active player to the dealer's left, each remaining player may discard 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 cards and receive replacements from the deck. The dealer burns one card before each draw to discourage marked-deck play.
3. Step 3 (second betting round): Bets now double to the big-bet size. Fold, call, or raise as in Step 1.
4. Step 4 (second draw): Players may again discard 0 to 4 cards and draw replacements.
5. Step 5 (third betting round): Another round of big-bet betting.
6. Step 6 (third draw): Final chance to discard and replace cards. After this draw, hands are locked.
7. Step 7 (final betting round): Last round of big-bet betting.
8. Step 8 (showdown): If two or more players remain, the last aggressor shows first; other players show or muck in clockwise order. The lowest qualifying badugi wins the pot. If no one has a badugi, the best three-card hand wins, and so on.

Hand Rankings

• Badugi (4-card hand): All four cards are of different suits and different ranks; no duplicates to strike. Any badugi beats any 3-card hand. Compare two badugis by the highest card first, then the next highest, and so on.
• 3-card hand: Two of your four cards share either a rank or a suit; drop the higher one (or one of a pair if ranks match) and play your remaining three.
• 2-card hand: Exactly two of your four cards can be kept after striking all duplicates of rank and suit.
• 1-card hand: Rare; only one card survives the strike. A 1-card hand loses to any 2-card, 3-card, or full badugi.
• Nut badugi: A-2-3-4 rainbow is the best possible hand, also called 'the wheel' or 'perfect badugi'. Next best is A-2-3-5 rainbow, then A-2-4-5 rainbow, and so on.

Winning

The pot goes to the single player who has not folded, or to the owner of the lowest qualifying hand at showdown. Ties (two identical hands) split the pot. Cash Badugi ends when players leave the table; tournament Badugi ends when one player holds all the chips.

Common Variations

• No-Limit Badugi: Any player can bet any amount up to their stack. Much rarer than fixed-limit Badugi.
• Pot-Limit Badugi: Maximum bet equals the current pot size; popular in European cardrooms.
• Badacey: A split-pot mixed game: best Badugi hand wins half, best A-5 lowball hand wins the other half.
• Badeucey: Split pot between best Badugi and best 2-7 lowball hand.
• Progressive Badugi: Hands must meet a qualifying low (for example all cards 9 or lower) to be eligible; used for home-game challenge variants.
• Triple Draw Lowball: Similar drawing structure but without the rainbow-suit requirement.

Tips and Strategy

• Play tight from early position. Only open pots with three rainbow cards all 7 or lower (a '7-low draw') or with a complete badugi already in hand.
• Count live cards before drawing. If opponents' discards suggest your remaining draws are 'dead' (required low suits already gone), drop weak three-card draws rather than chase.
• Snow occasionally. Pat (draw zero) with a weak badugi when everyone else is still drawing two; the sudden strength represented often wins the pot outright.
• Do not break a made 8-low badugi lightly. Redrawing even one card to chase a better low can easily knock you back to a 3-card hand.
• Read draw counts. A player who draws two cards is unlikely to catch a strong badugi; a player who draws one and then stands pat almost always has one.

Glossary

• Badugi: A hand with four cards of four different suits and four different ranks; the strongest category.
• Pat: Drawing zero cards on a draw round; usually signals a made badugi.
• Snow: Betting a weak hand as if it were strong, often by standing pat on bluff.
• Rainbow: A set of cards all of different suits.
• Live card: A rank or suit not yet visible in a discard or known opponent hand.
• Nut low / Wheel: A-2-3-4 rainbow, the best possible badugi.