Badugi

From LowballWiki

Badugi is 4-card triple draw played with a nonstandard hand ranking.

The game has many alternate spellings, such as Paduki, Badoogi, etc.

[edit] Hand Rankings

The best hand is A234 of different suits, such as A23‎4. Any unpaired hand with four different suits is referred to as a "badugi" and beats any hand with a paired suit or rank. Badugis are compared in A-5 style, with the ace low and lowest high card winning.

In American badugi games, if no badugi is present, then the best "three-card hand" wins. Players make the best hand from three unpaired cards of different suits, and the lowest high card wins. So, for example, A25K makes A25 and beats 2367 (236). If necessary two-card hands or one-card hands could be compared (the latter would be something like A24K or AAAA.)

In U.K. badugi, suits are ignored if no badugi is present and the four-card hands are ranked in A-5 style, with any unpaired hands beating paired hands. For example, in American badugi A23‎3 beats 789T since A23 is lower than 789. But with U.K. rankings these hands are interpreted as A233 and 789T, and the latter wins because it is unpaired.