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An Introduction to Badacey
There’s more to poker than just no limit Holdem. Although at times you might find this hard to believe given the lack of other poker variants available online.
Today I’m going to introduce you to a fantastic strategic poker variant called Badacey. Be prepared to get your brain frazzled, this game will take some time to get used to.
Badacey Rules
Badacey is a LowBall split pot Game. Not to be mistaken for a High-low game.
Half of the pot is awarded to the best Badugi Hand. A234 with four different suits is the best possible badugi hand.
And the other half is awarded to the best Ace to Five hand. A2345 is the nuts. flushes and straights do not count against you.
So the best hand you can make in Badacey is A2345 for the best A-5 with the A234 being rainbow to have the best Badugi as well. Always remember Ace plays low in Badacey
Just like Badugi and A-5 there are 3 Discard rounds, the betting is fixed limit although this could be adapted in Home Games, etc.
Example of a Badacey hand I played online
You can see I am the only player with a made Ace to five hand: 8654A. This gives me half of the pot. When working out your Hand strength start with your Highest card first. In my case, it is the 8 and work down towards the lowest.
Unfortunately, my opponent won half of the pot as well, as they had the best Badugi hand. 7 of Hearts, 5 Spades, three of Clubs, Ace of Spades.
You can try your hand at Badacey and many more mixed poker variants at SWC.
Use the sign-up code: badugiking.
TonyW4rriorz Top Tips
when a strong Badugi is made be aggressive in most instances you will be guaranteed to win half of the pot, and will be freerolling to win the entire pot.
Remember Straights And flushes do not count against you, so hand strengths are alot stronger. A seven low hand multi way is by no means a strong hand unless you have a good Badugi to go with it.
Badacey’s popularity has grown over the years. Mixed game enthusiasts get to witness it, or play it at the WSOP. It is quite often chosen in Dealer choice games. here’s an article featuring the Poker brat himself Phil Hellmuth playing it, back in 2021.
Want to learn more about other poker variants? check out My “Game Rules” category.