Badugi Poker Hand Rankings

 

The hand rankings in badugi poker are not quite like anything else, but they do resemble lowball rankings, To start with, throughout the game you are trying to form a ‘badugi’. This means you have four cards of different suits and ranks. There are two criteria for ranking hands. The first is the number of cards each player can play. Not every player will play a four-card hand, because they must discard any cards with duplicate suits or ranks after the last round of betting. In the end, no matter what cards you are holding, the more cards you have, the better. If one player has more cards than all of the other players, then that player automatically wins.

In the example above we can see what four cards each player ended with, and what hand they played after discarding duplicates. Jane, Bob, and Lisa did not have any duplicate cards (suits or ranks) so they kept all four cards for their final hand. Tom’s 4clubs and his Jclubs are of the same suit, but since low cards are better, he discarded his Jclubs and was left with a three-card hand. Charles had duplicate queens, so he discarded one of them. He also had A spades and 9spades which are of the same suit. Because you want low cards, and aces are low, he discarded his 9spades, leaving only 2 cards for his final hand. Jane, Lisa, and Charles are tied for having the most cards, so Tom and Charles are out.

If two or more players are tied for having the most cards in their hand, which is quite common, then you use traditional lowball rankings to determine the winner. Quite simply, the player with the lowest hand wins. To determine who has the lowest hand, you start by comparing only the players’ highest cards. If these are tied, then you compare their second highest cards. You may have to compare all four cards to determine the winner, but if at any point, one player’s card (first, second, third, or fourth) is lower than the other player’s corresponding card, then the lower card wins the hand. Remember, just like in other lowball poker games, aces are low!

Out of the three players that had ‘badugi’ (four-card hands), we need to find the lowest hand. When we compare their highest cards, Jane and Lisa are tied with 8’s, but Bob knocked out with his Threats. Jane and Lisa also have the same second card (7’s) so we go straight to their third card. Jane’s 5spades is beaten by Lisa’s 3diamonds, so Lisa wins the entire pot.온라인카지노