How to Select Best Starting Hands in Badugi

Badugi, a variant of draw poker popular in Asia, is a simple and increasingly popular game of chance in casinos and online. As with any kind of poker an understanding of the odds of any particular card being dealt is important to successful wagering and winning.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Understand that an ace, two, three, four with each card being a different suit is the strongest hand in Badugi. To be a Badugi a hand must be made up of four cards, one from each suit.

2. Keep in mind that even the highest Badugi beats any three card hand, which is a hand where only three cards of different suits or values are unique. If you are dealt a pair or triple of any card then you may only use one of the cards.

3. Get rid of face cards in the early drawing rounds. None of the top 50 Badugi hands contain a face card.

4. Fold often, good players who are dealt a weak hand will fold early on rather than trusting their chips to luck. A high card Badugi is not a very safe bet as there are plenty of low ball combinations still out in the deck.

5. Bet cautiously on hands where everyone stays in until the second round of betting. Even if you have a mid to low hand there are still a lot of cards and someone could beat you with a slightly lower hand.

6. Stay positive, a negative attitude will cloud your judgment so, remember it is only a game and that a positive attitude will help you to think clearly.