Badugi
A four-card draw lowball game from Korea where the best hand is four unpaired, unsuited low cards — a 'badugi.'
Coming soon — not yet playable
Rules
Each player is dealt four cards face down (not five, as in most draw games). A betting round follows the initial deal.
Draw: Like triple draw games, Badugi typically features three draw rounds, each followed by a betting round. On each draw, a player may discard any number of their four cards and draw replacements.
Hand ranking is unique: a qualifying "badugi" is four cards of four different suits and four different ranks (aces count low). If a player can't make a four-card badugi, their hand is ranked by the best three-card, two-card, or even one-card combination of unpaired, unsuited low cards, with unused cards ignored. A four-card badugi always beats a three-card hand, which always beats a two-card hand, and so on; among hands of the same size, lower ranks win.
Showdown: after the third draw and final betting round, the best-ranked badugi (or partial badugi) among remaining players wins.
Strategy notes: Because suits matter (unlike almost every other poker variant), players must track both rank and suit when deciding what to keep; a "three-card 7 badugi" with a bad fourth card is often still a strong holding, since completing the badugi with any low, live, off-suit card wins outright against most partial hands.
Common house rules
Single-draw Badugi
A faster home-game version uses only one draw round instead of three, which rewards starting hands with three or even four good cards already in suit-and-rank harmony.
Badeucey and Badacey mixups
Some tables split the pot between the best badugi hand and the best 2-7 or A-5 low hand from the same cards, for extra complexity — treat as a separate, more advanced variant rather than standard Badugi.
Ace always low
Standard Badugi always plays the ace as the lowest card, making A-2-3-4 of four suits the best possible badugi; confirm this before the deal since some house tables mistakenly play high-ace by habit from other games.
Related games
Based on shared category, origin, and rules that reference each other.
Badacey
A split-pot mixed game pairing Badugi with Ace-to-Five Triple Draw: the pot divides between the best four-card Badugi and the best five-card Ace-to-Five low hand.
Learn the rules →Badeucey
A split-pot mixed game combining Badugi and Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw: the pot divides between the best four-card Badugi and the best five-card 2-7 low hand.
Learn the rules →Razz
Seven-Card Stud played for low instead of high — the worst-looking five-card hand (Ace-to-5, straights and flushes ignored) wins the pot.
Learn the rules →Razzdugi
A split-pot mixed game combining Razz and Badugi: the pot divides between the best seven-card Razz low hand and the best four-card Badugi made from the same seven cards.
Learn the rules →