Badugi

Badugi (also known as badougi, paduki or padooki) is a draw poker variant similar to triple draw, with hand-values similar to lowball. The betting structure and overall play of the game is identical to a standard poker game using blinds, but, unlike traditional poker which involves a minimum of five cards, players' hands contain only four cards at any one time. During each of three drawing rounds, players can trade zero to four cards from their hands for new ones from the deck, in an attempt to form the best badugi hand and win the pot. Badugi is an often gambling game, with the object being to win money in the form of pots. The winner of the pot is the person with the best badugi hand at the conclusion of play (known as the showdown). Badugi is played in cardrooms around the world, as well as online.

There is some controversy over the origin of this game, which has been played at least since the 1980s. Bill Rosmus reports that in the 1980s in Winnipeg, Canada it was played under the name Off Suit Lowball in the back room of pool halls and back room poker clubs. Bryan Micon says he has been told by several Korean players that it was also played in South Korea in the 1980s. Another ancestor of badugi is displayed in a game played in Toronto in the 1970s and 1980s, "off on high low", and its variant" leapfrog." In both games the objective was to make a 5 card hand, with a pair being mandatory. Either an "off" hand (all 4 other cards different suits), or an "on" hand (all 4 other cards of one suit). "Leapfrog" made this much more difficult with stipulation that the cards must not "touch" each other, in terms of pip value. Oftentimes, the pot would "stay," making for a juicy start to the next hand.

Nick Wedd reports that the Korean word baduk, or badug refers to a black and white pattern—a black and white pet dog may be called "badugi"—which gives rise to the Korean name baduk for the board game Go, played with black and white stones.

Play begins with each player being dealt four cards face down. The hand begins with a "pre-draw" betting round, beginning with the player to the left of the big blind (or the player to the left of the dealer, if no blinds are used) and continuing clockwise. Each player must either call the amount of the big blind (put in an amount equal to the big blind), fold (relinquish any claim to the pot), or raise (put in more money than anyone else, thus requiring others to do the same, or fold).

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