Visit most online poker rooms and you’ll see one common theme: the majority of action is centered on Hold’em and Omaha games. Sure most poker sites offer a few Stud games on the side, but the tables are completely empty. Carbon Poker, on the other hand, runs a variety of poker games that aren’t commonly seen at other sites. Badugi is one of these games, and many people who try it eventually end up loving this draw game.

Badugi hands start off with each player being dealt four cards, and a betting round happens afterward. Once the first round is over, there are three drawing rounds with a betting round following each draw. During draws, players can discard as many cards as they want in order to form the lowest possible four-card hand.

Of course, there’s more to the equation than this because qualifying hands cannot contain pairs or have two cards of the same suit. For example, if you have Ac-2s-4h-6h, this hand wouldn’t qualify because the 4 and 6 are both of the same suit. Assuming you can make a four-card hand with all unpaired and unsuited cards, you’ll have a “Badugi” hand.

If two or more players have a Badugi, the person with the lowest hand wins the pot. The lowest hand is determined by how low the highest card is; for example, a 2s-4c-5h-6d hand beats a 2c-4s-5d-8h hand. If the two highest cards of both Badugi’s are of equal rank, then the second highest card (kicker) determines who wins the pot. Assuming nobody makes a Badugi, the top three-card hand will take the pot; in the event that nobody has a three-card hand, the best two-card hand wins.

Now that we’ve covered the basics of the game, it’s worth mentioning that Carbon Poker was the very first online poker site to run Badugi games. You can still find Badugi tournaments at Carbon today if you sign up at the site and look through the lobby. If you do sign up at Carbon, you’ll be eligible for a signup bonus by following the instructions on our download page. This page will make you eligible for the maximum bonus of 150% up to $750.