The games · Coolhand Poker

Badacey

Badugi and A-5 lowball in one. Five cards, three swap rounds, and the pool splits between the two counts.

18+ · Nothing to win but the hand.

Players: 2 to 6
Family: Draw
App: Coolhand Poker · iOS and Android, soon

How it goes

You're dealt five cards and get three swaps. The pool splits in two. Half goes to the best badugi: four low cards of four different ranks and four different suits. The other half goes to the lowest five cards counted the A-5 way, where runs and suits are ignored. Aces are low in both, and every hand competes for both halves. Before each swap there's a round of offers: put tokens in the pool, match what someone else put in, or pass. After the last swap there's one more round, then the reveal. A hand that's best on both counts takes the whole pool.

A good hand

Low cards in different suits work for both halves at once. Four low ranks in four suits plus one more low card can take the whole pool: the four make the badugi and all five make the low. That's the hand to hope for. An ace is welcome, since it's the lowest card on both counts.

The usual mistake

Playing for one half only. That wins you half the pool at most, while a hand whose cards count both ways is chasing all of it. When you choose what to swap, pick cards that help both: a low card in a new suit helps the badugi and the five-card low, and a low card in a suit you already hold helps only one of them.

Played differently where you are?

Card games change from table to table, and we researched some of these games instead of playing them. If Badacey goes differently where you play it, tell us. That's one of the things the closed beta is for.

The closed beta is by invitation. How to ask to join.