Baduci
Baduci, also spelled “Badeucey“, is a variant of Badugi that adds some more poker elements to the game. Players compete to put together the best hand incorporating not only the best Badugi hand, but also the best lowball poker hand. Baduci is often played as an alternate to Badugi to keep the game fresh.
Object of Baduci
The object of Baduci is to create the best possible hand that includes both a) a four-card hand with the lowest cards possible, without duplicating either ranks or suits, and b) a five-card deuce-to-seven lowball poker hand.
Setup
Baduci uses one standard 52-card deck of playing cards. You should know by now that Denexa 100% Plastic Playing Cards are the way to go.
All players ante or post blinds, if necessary (see “Blinds and antes“). Shuffle and deal five cards to each player. Place the deck stub in the center of the table, where it becomes the stock.
Game play
Rank of hands
In Baduci, there are two ways that a hand is evaluated—as a Badugi hand, and as a poker hand. In both cases, aces rank high and therefore are not very valuable.
The Badugi hand uses a subset of the hand and is evaluated the same way that a hand in basic Badugi is evaluated. A Badugi hand cannot duplicate ranks or suits; any duplicates are disregarded, meaning that the Badugi hand can include as many as four cards (such a hand is called a badugi) or as few as one. Badugis outrank three-card hands, which outrank two-card hands. If two hands with the same number of cards are compared, the lowest card in the hand breaks the tie. If the lowest card of each hand is the same, then the next-lowest card would be compared, and so on. If two hands have exactly the same composition in number of cards and ranks, then they tie.
The poker hand is a deuce-to-seven lowball hand. This means that the lowest poker hand as conventionally ranked is considered the best; the “deuce-to-seven” part means that because aces are high, the best possible hand is 2-3-4-5-7 (since 2-3-4-5-6 would form a straight).
Play of the hand
Other than the addition of the lowball hand, the game proceeds exactly as Badugi does. After the hands have been dealt, the game proceeds to the first betting round, which follows the same rules as normal betting in poker. After that, each player may, in turn, discard any number of cards from their hand and be dealt new ones from the stock.
After getting a chance to exchange cards, there is another betting round. This repeats until a total of four betting rounds and three drawing rounds have occurred. The active players then proceed to the showdown, where hands are evaluated. The player with the best Badugi hand takes half the pot, with the other half going to the player with the best lowball hand. If one player has the best hand in both categories, they take the entire pot; if two players tie for best in one of the categories, that half of the pot is split between the two of them (each receiving a quarter of the original pot).
Badugi
Badugi is a betting game that became popular in the United States around 2004. Badugi uses the same betting structure as poker, but a good Badugi hand is almost the opposite of a good poker hand. As a result, Badugi has become popular with poker players, and is often used as a brief respite from poker in dealer’s choice games.
Object of Badugi
The object of Badugi is to form a four-card hand with the lowest cards possible, without duplicating either ranks or suits.
Setup
Badugi uses one standard 52-card deck of playing cards. Denexa 100% Plastic Playing Cards are, in fact, where it’s at.
If playing with blinds, the two players responsible for the small and big blinds post them; otherwise, all players ante (see “Blinds and antes” for more information). Shuffle and deal four cards to each player.
Game play
Rank of hands
The end goal in Badugi is, like in poker, to have the best hand. However, Badugi does not use standard poker hands. Instead, Badugi hands favor variety in suits and ranks.
A Badugi hand cannot include two of the same rank or suit; if it does, one of the duplicates is disregarded, yielding a three- or even two- or one-card hand. A full four-card hand is called a badugi. Badugis outrank three-card hands, which outrank two-card hands.
If two hands with the same number of cards are compared, the lowest card in the hand breaks the tie. If the lowest card of each hand is the same, then the second-lowest card would be compared, and so on. If two hands have exactly the same composition in number of cards and ranks, then they tie, splitting the pot.
Play of the hand
After everyone has received their cards, the first of four betting rounds occurs. Betting follows the standard rules of betting in poker.
After the betting has concluded, players are given the opportunity to draw new cards. The draw works much like that in Five-Card Draw—each player, starting with the player to the dealer’s left and proceeding clockwise, discards any number of cards face-down into the discard pile, and is dealt an equal number of cards face-down in front of them to add to their hand. Players may also decline to exchange any cards, which is known as standing pat.
When all players have had a chance to exchange cards, another betting round follows. This pattern continues until a total of three drawing rounds and four betting rounds have taken place. All remaining players then expose their hands, and the player with the best hand takes the pot.
See also
