Recently, the world’s largest online poker room got a little bigger. PokerStars, which at the time of writing at 12:00 Noon ET on Wednesday has over 107,000 players online, has added Badugi, a popular Asian variation of Lowball. PokerStars offers both real money and play money Badugi for serious players of the game or those just looking to get their feet wet.
Like in Texas Hold’em or Omaha, Badugi features two blinds, a small blind and a big blind. Each player receives four cards that only they know and are allowed to use. A round of betting occurs and then players may draw between zero and four new cards. There are three draws in total during Badugi and the player with the lowest-ranked hand (the best possible low to have is A-2-3-4 rainbow) scoops the pot. Aces play low in the game and straights do not count against a player’s hand. Suits do count against players, so if no person has four cards of different suits, then the lowest three-card rainbow hand is used to determine a winner.
Badugi on PokerStars is fixed limit and is played eight-handed. At the time of writing, there were five active $0.25/$0.50 tables, one active $0.50/$1 table, two active $1/$2 tables, and four active $2/$4 tables. In addition, 10/20 play money tables are also available for those looking to learn the popular card game without risking part of their bankroll. The game’s name refers to holding four cards of four different suits, which is called “Badugi.”
Poker pro Chris Wallace, who is known in the online poker world as “Fox,” told Poker News Daily, “Badugi is being added to Stars because the Asian market likes it and the big name pros often jump into it.” He claimed, however, that he expects the game to remain in a similar state as Razz. Wallace explained, “Badugi being on PokerStars will make the game more of a fixture online. However, you still can’t find a Razz game in Las Vegas. While there was more Razz now than there was before, the game simply hasn’t taken off.”
As a point of strategy given on PokerStars’ website, the online poker room stresses the importance of position in Badugi, just as it would be critical in other variations of poker: “The player last to act is able to gain information on what hands their opponent may have, based on the number of cards they have discarded. If a player who acts before you does not discard any cards, it’s likely that they already have a strong hand.”
As the largest online poker room in the world, PokerStars offers its players a wide variety of games, including Hold’em, Omaha High, Omaha High-Low, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud High-Low, Razz, HORSE, Five Card Draw, 2-7 Triple Draw, and 2-7 Single Draw. According to online poker traffic ranker PokerScout, PokerStars has had a seven day average of 19,400 cash game players. That number is more than double the count on the second largest room, Full Tilt Poker, which had a seven day average of 8,300. The newly-formed CEREUS poker network, which was created when the player bases of Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet merged, ranks seventh with 2,300 cash game players over the past seven days.
Marquee poker tournaments on PokerStars in Hold’em include the largest weekly prize pool tournament held online, the Sunday Million. The $215 buy-in event actually sports a total purse of at least $1.5 million. Last week, twirlpro took down the hallmark poker tournament, pocketing $196,025 for his efforts. There were 8,001 entrants, which meant that the tournament broke its guarantee by $100,000.
