CoolhandThe games · Coolhand Poker
Badeucey
Badugi and 2-7 lowball in one. Five cards, three swap rounds, the pool splits between the two counts, and aces are high in both.
18+ · Nothing to win but the hand.
- Players
- 2 to 6
- Family
- Draw
- App
- Coolhand Poker · iOS and Android, soon
How it goes
Five cards, three swaps, and a pool that 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 2-7 way, where a run or five of one suit counts against you. Aces are always high in both halves, so the deuce is the card everything builds on. There's a round of offers before each swap (put tokens in the pool, match, or pass) and one more after the last, then the reveal. A hand that's best on both counts takes the whole pool.
A good hand
Two-three-four-five in four different suits is the perfect badugi and most of a perfect low at the same time. Start from the deuce and add low cards in mixed suits, and you're chasing both halves at once. Hope for the deuce early, then low cards in suits you don't hold yet, with no run forming among the five. A hand that's best on one count and close on the other is worth playing on.
The usual mistake
Holding an ace. It's high in both counts here: an ace-high badugi loses to a king-high one, and the same ace sits on top of your five-card low. The card that's best in Badacey is worst in Badeucey. Swap the ace, even if the rest of the hand looks thin without it.
Played differently where you are?
Card games change from table to table, and we researched some of these games instead of playing them. If Badeucey 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.