Badugi Poker Gaining Speed At PokerStars

PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker room, has a lot to boast about these days, but topping the list for many online poker players is the ability to play Badugi Poker online. In mid-2008, PokerStars introduced Badugi poker to the already massive game variety, and it’s taken of like wild fire ever since.

Badugi Poker is a game Triple Draw Lowball game that has drawn a great deal of attention due to its unique rules. In Badugi, players are given only 4 cards, with three draw phases in which to develop the lowest possible hand.

Unlike most Lowball games, simply drawing low cards isn’t the goal. You are seeking the lowest card, with Ace being the lowest, and no Pairs of course, but you also want no matching suits. When a final hand has two matching suits, or a Pair, you must remove the highest matching suit or one of the paired cards from your hand. In Badugi Poker, a 4 card hand will always beat a hand with 3 or less cards, regardless of the strength of those 4 cards.

The intriguing rules of hand development seem to have attracted a multitude of players with a desire to take on this new challenge. Since PokerStars introduced Badugi Poker in the online poker game line-up, players immediately took interest, and the numbers simply keep rising.

Seeing the incredible reaction to online Badugi, PokerStars.com didn’t just offer this new variant in ring games, but added it to the SNG and MTT schedules; a smart move on their part as these draw a lot more players than normal cash games.

A quick glance at the PokerStars Badugi lobby – and this is not even peak hours by the way –currently reveals 67 real money cash players at 11 tables, with Fixed Limit stakes ranging from $.25/$.50 up to $5/$10. The highest stakes, $10/$20, will surely be open as peak hour traffic comes along. For those who wish to get acquainted with the game, there are 37 play-money players at 8 tables.

Over on the Sit’n’Go tournament side, we’re looking at 18 open SNGs, including both FL and turbo style tournaments. Two full tables are running, with a third gaining entries rapidly. Buy-ins at PokerStars Badugi SNGs range from $1+$.20 to as high as $200+$15.

The multi-table Badugi tournaments at PokerStars get the most action, no matter the time of day. A quick glance at the roster shows 3 Badugi tournaments running, with barely under 4,000 players overall, including a very populated Badugi Freeroll.

If you want to learn how to play Badugi, your best bet is to try it out for free first at PokerStars.net before playing for real money.

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