Play Badugi Poker Online

The first thing to know is that badugi poker is not the most common and popular game around, so not all poker rooms actually have this game available for players to play. Also, not all rooms accepting the game are reputable, reliable or safe. So we will go through and explain in a sort of review about two of the most reputable and highly popular online poker rooms. Also, these rooms accept and allow US players to play.

Play Badugi Online at PokerStars.com - The Most Famous Poker Room

The most popular place to play any online poker is at PokerStars.com. They have the most players and the biggest betting stakes around, so you always have people to play against. Also, they usually have the greatest variety of different tournaments, freerolls and ring games available at all times of the day, especially with sit and go's. The only drawback is with their cash/ring games as we will explain below.

The minimum stakes for playing badugi with real money is $0.25/$0.50 blinds. Although this might not seem like much, it is a lot for players who frequent the penny games. The second poker room we will talk about has much lower stakes. Although, Poker Stars lets people play the high limit and high stakes badugi games where the blinds go as high as $200/$400. These are the highest known stakes on the internet for badugi. Also, there are between 100-500 badugi players playing at all times of the day online. Also, almost all of the ring/cash games are fixed limit (FL). Most tournaments are pot limit (PL), but you will rarely see half-pot limit (HPL), at least at the time of this writing.

Besides the ring games, there are satellite tournaments for badugi and even possible entry into the WSOP (World Series Of Poker) for their main badugi event. WSOP buy-in's can be won online but you can actually have a chance to win a trip to the actual televised tournament shown on ESPN. This will surely impress your friends! Also, there are free games available so you do not have to have any money to practice these games. Otherwise you can win money without having any by winning freerolls or making it into the top positions.

PokerStars is also offering 100% match bonus up to $600 (as of April 2010). Their promotions and bonuses just keep getting better so I would recommend visiting the PokerStars homepage to view their current bonuses if you are interested. Also, they have frequent player points and a VIP status program with multiple levels. So players can win these sort of comp points (more frequent with fixed limit badugi), and exchange them for prizes, cars and even instant buy-in entry to the WSOP. There are also some very serious and massive prize tournaments for badugi besides the WSOP and they are exclusive to PokerStars.

Play Online Badugi Poker at Carbon Poker Room

The second most popular place to play badugi is at Carbon Poker. Unfortunately, Full Tilt, the second most popular card room of them all, does not have the game available but they may in the future. Carbon is another highly reputable and safe place, but their major disadvantage is not having as many players and the average stakes are much lower. This is also an advantage because players can play on the penny tables with $0.02/$0.04 blinds, which are not available over at PokerStars. Their highest stakes are $10/$20 blinds.

Another advantage is that fixed limit, pot limit and half-pot limit badugi is equally available in the ring games. You will also find that they are available in tournaments, but they do not have as many tournaments. Also, the cash games allow a maximum of 5 people to play, which reduces the high variance and improves each person's chance of winning. If you read our strategy guides, you will see why the 5 player tables are excellent when playing badugi online and how skilled players can win much more money by having smaller tables and fewer competitors.

Besides the regular online card games, Carbon has other casino games like video poker, blackjack, roulette and etc. This is very unique for an online poker room and another benefit of signing up here. They also have massive "bad beat" jackpots that regularly grow up to $100,000 or more and are awarded to any random player who gets a bad beatduring their time playing.

Lastly, their bonuses are the same as PokerStars at the time of this writing, which is a 100% match up to $600 on your deposit. If you are interested in them, check out Carbon Poker and read about their bonuses and games.