Badugi (1 Viewer)

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Some friends of mine and I Play in a online poker league on stars. The first tournament is Badugi.

I know the rules but can give anyone here some strategy adivses?
 
Big mistakes?

Paying money to draw three or four.
Drawing rough, say drawing to :9h: :7c: :6d:
Not watching the other player's draws
Not betting when drawing best / not folding when drawing way behind
Folding to the last bet with an acceptable bluff catcher (assuming limit poker here)
Not bluffing with missed draws sometimes.
 
What are the beginners mistake in badugi, which should be really avoid?

  1. Playing too many starting hands
  2. Chasing with losing draws
  3. Being sticky when not improving
  4. Not paying attention to opponent draw numbers

These and also overvaluing bad badugis to start. I see a fair number of first time players betting a Q high badugi into multiple players only to check call after the third draw and they are never, ever good. Generally the breaking point is a J high badugi heads up. If you start with a J high badugi, you're a very slight favorite over a 3 card hand to start.

I was trying to look up a precise number for something and didn't find it and don't have time to look around right now, but the guy on this thread here says he wrote a script to return the numbers for all dealt pat badugis. Assuming his numbers are correct, you can draw plenty of inferences just looking at this chart:

CjS said:
715 badugis in total
4 high: 1, 0.1% of tot. Cum 1, 0.1% of total
5 high: 4, 0.6% of tot. Cum 5, 0.7% of total
6 high: 10, 1.4% of tot. Cum 15, 2.1% of total
7 high: 20, 2.8% of tot. Cum 35, 4.9% of total
8 high: 35, 4.9% of tot. Cum 70, 9.8% of total
9 high: 56, 7.8% of tot. Cum 126, 17.6% of total
10 high: 84, 11.7% of tot. Cum 210, 29.4% of total
J high: 120, 16.8% of tot. Cum 330, 46.2% of total
Q high: 165, 23.1% of tot. Cum 495, 69.2% of total
K high: 220, 30.8% of tot. Cum 715, 100.0% of total
 
Another thing to note about Badugi is that position is extremely crucial. You're going to be facing up to 4 rounds of betting and 3 draws, and being in best position allows you to see what everyone has done first. That's essentially 7 points at which position gives you an advantage (or a disadvantage), way more than a typical flop or stud game.
 
Some friends of mine and I Play in a online poker league on stars. The first tournament is Badugi.

I know the rules but can give anyone here some strategy adivses?


We play Badugi about once a week on stars with the PCF home game group. Tournaments are usually $10-$15 by paypal, you should jump in with us for a game sometime for some practice.
 
Another interesting feature of Badugi (and draw games generally): There is basically no such thing as slowplaying.

When you catch :ah::2c::4s::5d: in middle position, there's no sense in check-calling because everyone will see you rap pat in a moment.

Even check-raising a pat badugi is a tricky play, since you'd better be certain someone will bet behind you. If it checks through, everyone sees you go pat, and your window of value opportunity closes.
 
Another interesting feature of Badugi (and draw games generally): There is basically no such thing as slowplaying.

When you catch :ah::2c::4s::5d: in middle position, there's no sense in check-calling because everyone will see you rap pat in a moment.

Even check-raising a pat badugi is a tricky play, since you'd better be certain someone will bet behind you. If it checks through, everyone sees you go pat, and your window of value opportunity closes.

Good point.

I love the game. I'll start playing a regular Monday night Badugi/2-7 Triple Draw game a week from tonight, so hopefully I'll have something to offer at some point.
 
(Slightly off-topic)

I can't hear the name of this game without thinking of the Rolling Stones "Shattered". The second half of the song, where the background vocals sound like "Shattered! badugi. Shattered, shattered. Badugi."

</jack>
 
I see weak passive players check/call then rap pat when they make a bad badugi.

The thing about this play is that it screws you all-around. If you have a weak one—say a jack-high badugi—going into the last draw, you're failing to get the money against drawers and stifling action with weaker badugis. The drawers will only give you action on the end if they make their hands, and a badugi weaker than a jack may not pay you off on the end either, even if he might have called a raise before last draw. You lose in basically all cases when you're ahead.

You do potentially save money when you're beat, which is probably the rationale behind this play, but it mostly goes to show that you shouldn't have been drawing to such a weak hand, or should have drawn the bad card instead of rapping. And scared money don't make money, of course.

The alternative play is raising, but if you're multi-way against reasonable 3-card hands, you're bloating the pot with a weak hand that is unlikely to hold up (unless, perhaps, you can thin the field).
 
A three card hand drawing once vs a jack high badugi is roughly a 5-1 dog. You absolutely do want to "bloat the pot" under those conditions even out of position.
 
A three card hand drawing once vs a jack high badugi is roughly a 5-1 dog. You absolutely do want to "bloat the pot" under those conditions even out of position.

One 3-card hand drawing against one jack-high badugi is a big dog, no question. I was speaking of a pot with multiple 3-card hands drawing.
 
I'd be happy to let all of the other five players at the table draw at 5-1 after paying a bet. Hero will still be getting the best of it (Hero wins about 3 times in 8 but only puts in 1 of the 6 bets.)

And what is the alternative? Letting the villains draw for free doesn't seen like the best choice.
 
Thanks guys. As I said earlier I've played maybe 2-3 orbits of this game. I had little to no idea what I was doing. FWIW I did mostly play as stated with a few exceptions. I believe this thread will be helpful for me the next time I play it.

Great community :)
 
Agree with above. You can open up a lot in position. 976x on button first to open is a big hand. Play tight in blinds and EP to start and you will be fine.
 

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