Learning Badugi 2 - Tips From Greg Raymer

The Ante Up Poker Magazine had WSOP main event champ Greg Raymer on their pokercast to share his Badugi tips before the AIPS Badugi event. It's clear Greg barely scratch the surface of his Badugi knowledge, but he still provided some great tips. I've outlined some of the key points here, but I'd highly recommend you listen to the entire interview (the 2009-11-20 podcast) to get the most of it.

• The first key is to play only good starting hands. Greg stated there are only 3 hands you should play.
  
  1. Pat Badugi - You can usually play any 4 card Badugi you are dealt pat.
  2. 3 low cards - If you have 3 unsuited cards low cards (e.g. 7 or an 8) you can play it. Position matters so you need stronger hands in early position.
  3. 2 card draws when opening in late position, defending the big blind or playing short handed. Both cards should be 4 or lower. Sometimes you can expand to include a 5.
• If you are opening the pot, ALWAYS raise.
• An A-2 draw is a favorite over a 5-6-7 with 3 draws to come despite needing to draw an extra card.
• A rough 4 card king high Badugi is a slight dog (basically a coin flip) to a better 3 card draw (e.g. A,2,3)
• If you are drawing fewer cards then all other players, you should always be betting/raising while draws remain.
• If you are drawing more cards you should always be checking then you can fold, call or raise as appropriate.
• When playing short handed, you can play more 2 card draws as well as 8 or 9 high 3 card hands.
• You can consider breaking a Q-5-4-2 Badugi if other players start standing pat. If heads up you may just want to fold or grit your teeth and call your way down.
• Snowing is a type of bluffing in draw poker. It involves not drawing cards, even if you do not have a 4 card hand. This may fool other players into thinking you have a 4 card hand, then you can bet them off their better 3 card hand.
• If you hold a 2-3-7 Badugi, you would rather draw against a pat jack high Badugi, than an A-2-3. You are less of a dog against the jack high Badugi.

Anyway those are a few of the highlights from the I captured from the show. Be sure to listen to it to get all the details.

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