Badugi Rules

The object of the game is to win the pot, either by holding the lowest hand at showdown under the Badugi ranking in Articles 2 and 3, or by making a bet that no other player calls.

The game is played with a standard 52-card deck with no jokers. Suits have no rank, but they matter to the value of a hand.

Each player is dealt four cards, face down. There are no community cards.

Between two and eight players may take part. Six is typical, because players may replace up to twelve cards each over three draws.

Aces are low. The ace is the lowest card, and the king is the highest. Straights do not exist in Badugi and have no effect.

A badugi is a four-card hand in which all four cards are of different suits and different ranks. Every card in a badugi counts.

A hand that is not a badugi is valued by the largest group of its cards that are all of different suits and different ranks. Cards outside that group do not count. Where two cards share a suit or a rank, only one of them may count.

2.3(a) A three-card hand has three counting cards.

2.3(b) A two-card hand has two counting cards.

2.3(c) A one-card hand has one counting card. This arises only when all four cards are of one suit or of one rank.

Where there is a choice of which card to discount, the hand is valued using the choice that gives the lowest, best hand.

A hand with more counting cards always beats a hand with fewer. Any badugi beats any three-card hand; any three-card hand beats any two-card hand; any two-card hand beats any one-card hand.

Between hands with the same number of counting cards, the hand with the lower highest counting card wins. If the highest cards are equal, the next-highest are compared, and so on.

If all counting cards are of equal rank, the hands tie and the pot is split equally. Suits never break a tie.

A dealer button marks the nominal dealer and moves one seat clockwise after each hand.

The player directly to the left of the button posts the small blind and the next player posts the big blind. Blinds are live bets, and the big blind has the option to raise if no one else has.

In fixed-limit Badugi, the big blind is equal to the small bet, and the small blind is usually half of it.

Heads-up play. With two players, the button posts the small blind, acts first on the first betting round and last on every later round.

The big bet is twice the small bet. In a 100/200 game, bets and raises on the first two rounds are 100, and on the last two rounds 200. Each round is commonly capped at one bet and three raises. See betting structures.

After each of the first three betting rounds, starting with the first active player to the left of the button, each player in turn may discard any number of cards from none to four, face down, and receive the same number from the deck. A player who keeps all four cards is said to stand pat.

Once replacement cards have been dealt to a player, the number drawn may not be changed. Discards are dead and may not be retrieved.

Until there has been action after a draw, a player may ask how many cards an opponent took on that draw, and the dealer or that opponent shall answer.

If all but one player folds at any point, the remaining player wins the pot at once and need not show their cards.

If more than one player remains after the final betting round, the last player to bet or raise on that round shows first. If there was no bet, the first active player to the left of the button shows first.

The cards speak. Hands are read from the cards shown, whatever a player declares. Players should show all four cards and let the dealer read the hand.

A player with more or fewer than four cards at showdown has a dead hand.

When a pot cannot be split evenly, the odd chip goes to the first player in the tied hand to the left of the button.

The last card of the deck shall not be dealt. When the remaining cards cannot complete a draw, the dealer gathers the discards, the burn cards and the last card, shuffles them, has them cut, and completes the draw from the new stack. The discards of the player currently drawing are not included.

A card exposed by the dealer during the draw may not be taken by the player. It is placed with the discards and replaced. Venues differ on whether the replacement is dealt at once or after every other player has drawn.

A misdeal is declared, and the hand redealt, if the first or second card of the deal is exposed by the dealer, if two or more cards are exposed during the deal, or if a player is dealt the wrong number of cards and this is discovered before substantial action.

Players are responsible for protecting their own hand. A hand that touches the discards and cannot be clearly identified is dead.