Category: Gambling and Casinos

Badugi, is the Asian variant of poker that has been gaining significant popularity among the card playing enthusiasts in the past few years. Badugi is usually reported to have come from Korea but there are also accounts of its Chinese origin. It is offered in many poker online sites as well as in big casinos. With its present status, there is no doubt that Badugi has ‘arrived” in the gambling scene. In Badugi, a hand is made up of four cards, where a player has three chances to draw or change the combination, to attain the lowest hand possible and win the pot.

A badugi is a hand made up of a combination four of cards of different suits and values. Since Badugi is a lowball game, the best badugi is the combination of the ace of club (AC), 2hearts(2H), 3spade(3S) and 4diamond(4D). The ace has a low value in Badugi and again, the lower the hand score, the better. To cite an example: AC 8D 3H 6S wins over 2C 9D 4H 7S, another badugi.

A player is not always lucky to have a badugi and there are other hand combinations like the:
1. 3-card hand where two cards either have the same value or the same suit. If a hand consist of the cards AS AD 5H 3C, there are only three active cards, AS, 5H & 3C because the two aces shall be counted as one card. Another combination may have two cards of the same suit like 2H and 5H in AS 2D5H 2H. In this case, the one with a higher value, 5H, shall be out and the three-card hand shall be AS 2H 2D.

A badugi wins over a three-card hand.

2. 2-card hand where there are three cards of the same suit or value. For example, the hand consisting of the cards AABB shall become AB while another hand with 5S2F4F5F shall become 5S2F. A three-card hand wins over a two-card hand.

3. 1- card hand which happens if a player is dealt with four cards that are one of a kind, that is, they are of the same suit or the same value. A combination like 5S5D5F5G shall be reduced to a one-card hand only.

A combination with two or more cards of the same value is also called a paired hand while that with two or more cards belonging to the same suit is called a suited hand.

Betting in Badugi.

Betting depends on whether you are playing the limit, pot limit, half-pot limit badugi. Yes, in Badugi a player must always aim for the lowest badugi but remember that a Badugi can be won even without a badugi.

There are a lot of card games to play, and I mean a lot, just like solitaire, poker has an ever growing number of variations, after a while some players can get bored of playing Texas Holdem and fancy a change. There are loads of games like Omaha, 5 card, razz and stud games to pick from. You could play all day infact just learning the new games, with the amount of free sites that are offering games today it’s all made to easy. Perhaps one of the many variations of poker have taken your interest and that’s why you want a change, why you are reading this article? Well Badugi is certainly a change from your normal game.

Poker, a game using playing cards which has previously attracted the interest of world through tournaments has many variations to pick from. Badugi is one of the newest variants to be found in a couple of casino sites and the game is slowly growing as people are taking interest. The game is thought to have originated somewhere in Asia where it is still widely played today. The game is only going to grow as more people gain internet access and find the enjoyment in multi player online games.

The game is completely different to Texas Holdem so you can forget all those pairs and flushes as they just won’t help you, for starters it is a four card game and secondly it is whats known as a “low ball” game where the object is to collect the lowest cards. Another important difference between this and the more common poker games is that pairs and flushes etc don’t count, in fact the best hand ,which is also called a badugi, would be an Ace, Two, Three and Four of all different suits. Sometimes this has been called rainbow hands due to each card been different suits. Because the cards are different suits badugi hands are sometimes called rainbows. Badugi is also a draw game where players can swap cards with cards from the deck. The drawing of the cards is done in between the rounds of betting.

Once the players agree to start the game play involves rounds of betting with draws separating them, players don’t have to draw new cards – this is optional, players still try to out bluff each other by betting more than they the hand is worth, this is part of the excitement and all games have newbies and sharks so play for a while and practice makes perfect.

As with any card game you read about the best way to actually learn for yourself is to play the game and experience it first hand for yourself. You may have to wait for a game because it’s not very popular yet but it is a change and you might enjoy playing a new card game. There is only a few sites with the game but I’m sure you can find a one and practice for free. The important part is remember, no pairs, different suits and low cards, you can always read the tutorials provided on the site your playing at.

As with any card game you read about the best way to actually learn badugi for yourself is to play the game and experience it first hand for yourself. You may have to wait for a game because it’s not very popular yet but it is a change and you might enjoy playing a new card game. The important part is remember, no pairs, different suits and low cards, you can always read the tutorials provided on the site your playing at.

Baccarat is possibly the easiest game to learn and play. The main object is very simple. The player has to assemble a hand of two or three cards. The value of the hand must get as closer as possible to nine.
The perfect baccarat hand is a hand that has the total of nine in the first two cards, without to use a third card.

Everyone agrees that baccarat is a game of chance, but like many other games of chance, an experience player can have better chances to win than a novice player. Why is that? Because there are certain things than can influence the outcome of a betting round and experienced player know how to make better decisions that will maximize their chances to win the hand. The luck factor plays the most important roll in the game, but when a player knows his chances, knows what could be the outcome of each of the optional moves- he has better chances to win in the long run.

And this is exactly why serious casino players, who search for bigger prizes, invest their time in practicing and reading about baccarat. By doing so, serious players develop their own playing strategy that will allow them to make smarter decisions when they play baccarat.

Baccarat, as we wrote before, is a very simple game. All you have to do is to bet on whether you think the banker will beat the player, the player will beat the banker or if the both hands will tie.
This leads me to the most important baccarat tip you’ll ever receive: Always bet either on the banker or the player. Do not waste your time and money on betting on a tie. The chances are always greater that either the player or the banker will win.

Another important tip that I can give to players who want to maximize their winnings (and, obviously, minimize their loss) is to pay more attention to managing their money.
Some players use money managing systems like the Martingale system in order to have some sort of a pattern to follow during their game, but you don’t have to use a strict system like that. A good way to manage your money is to decide how much you are going to invest in the game and to set a limit. If you’ll decide in advance what are your goals and how much you can allow yourself to lose, you’ll have more chances to play reasonably and your game will be much more profitable.

If you are reading this article, you probably interested in money aspect of casino gambling, but it doesn’t say that you cannot enjoy your game while playing it in the best online casinos.

The most important tip that I can give you is to pay attention and to manage your money correctly, to use gaming strategy and to use your experience and the advices of other experienced players when you’re playing, but more than this, if you’re not enjoying the game, maybe it’s just not worth it. Make sure that the prime target of your casino time is to provide you with exciting gaming experience, because luck will always come and go, and exciting experiences stay forever in our memories.

Did you know that Baccarat is James Bond’s favorite casino game? Neither did I, but apparently it’s true! Unfortunately I wasn’t able to discover if it is traditional baccarat that 007 likes or if it is one of the many variations. Anyway; just so that every-one is aware of the types of baccarat in existence and on offer, here’s a brief overview of some of the variations:

Mini Baccarat

This is the most commonly found form of Baccarat in American Casinos and online casinos; it is very similar to traditional baccarat but with lower limits to enable wider accessibility. Other variations include: a smaller table, only the dealer handles the shoe, and the table is worked by one dealer only.

Chemin-de-fer

If the name wasn’t enough of a give away, this is a French variation of the originally Italian game, Baccarat. It’s translation ‘railroad’ doesn’t sound quite so romantic but quite fitting due to the main difference between Chemin-de-fer and traditional baccarat; namely that the French variation insists on the passing of the shoe from one player to the next when the first player has lost his hand; this ensures a railroading of the shoe around the table.

Super Pan Nine

This is a slim lined version of traditional baccarat; the decks are reduced by having the 7, 8, 9, and 10 cards removed from the decks. To compensate for the low numbers present three cards are dealt rather than two, with an option for drawing a fourth. In this version a hand of 3 or 4 only will result in the banker drawing a fourth card.

Private Baccarat

This is an unusual variation of baccarat in which the banker may choose whether to deal one or two hands to the player. Should he choose to deal the player two, the player then has the choice to play them both or to pick which one to play. If he picks one the game is as a traditional baccarat game. If however he choose to play both hands he must win both of them in order to beat the dealer; winning one and loosing one results in a tie.

Baccarat en Banque

In this French variation the player is dealt two hands, whilst the dealer is dealt one; betting on the dealers hand is prohibited in this game, and the shoe does not pass from player to player but rather stays with the dealer constantly.

Those are all the variants I know of; I’m sure that 007 could probably enlighten me as to some more, and maybe if I was lucky give me a little tutelage. For the most part it is traditional baccarat or mini-baccarat that you will find; however, it’s always good to be prepared.