The 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) is getting ready to debut a brand new event!

Tomorrow, Wednesday, June 7 at 2 p.m., Event 20: $1,500 Badugi will get underway at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, June 7, but if you don’t know how to play, fear not as we’ve put together this primer to get you up to speed and ready to compete.

Badugi is a four-card triple draw lowball poker variant that isn’t as well-known as other games, but those who learn and play it often characterize it as a fun alternative poker game filled with action.

A lot of players enjoy Badugi because it has a fairly simple objective and, because the format and goal differ from many other variants, there are different strategies employed.

Although the exact origin of the game is unknown, many believe it originated in South Korea in the latter half of the 20th century, while others claim it was popularized in Canada in the 1980s where it was called “Off Suit Lowball”.

The name allegedly comes from the Korean word baduk or badug which refers to a black and white pattern, with badugi a common name for a black and white spotted dog. The board game Go was called baduk in Korean.

How to Play Badugi

The goal of Badugi is to make the lowest “badugi” – a four-card hand of different ranks and suits. Aces are low and the best possible hand in the game is A-2-3-4 rainbow.

It’s usually played as a fixed-limit game and, like other triple draw lowball games, it has four total betting rounds and three draws.

Four cards are dealt face down to each player before the pre-draw betting round commences. After the initial betting round, each player can choose to discard between zero and four cards.

This is followed by a second betting round before another draw occurs, and then a third betting round before the third and final draw. After the final draw, there is a fourth and final betting round before players turn their hands over.

At showdown, the lowest four-card badugi wins the pot. If no player has a four-card qualifying hand, the pot goes to the player with the lowest three-card hand, and so on. The highest card in the hand determines the strength of the hand so, for example, a 7-6-4-2 badugi would beat a 9-3-2-A badugi.

Badugi Strategy

Like other poker games, there is a button, a small blind, and a big blind, and position is a key part of the strategy. It allows you much more information as you get to see how much your opponents are drawing and betting. It can also allow you to decide whether to bluff by drawing zero cards and standing “pat”, or if you want to put in an extra raise.

Getting dealt three cards of different suits under five is a very strong starting point and can be played from any position. Strong two-card badugi hands can often be played from late positions. Of course, the number of players in a hand will also change the number of starting hands that can be played.

Although the rules are simple, it can be more difficult to make a badugi than what one might initially think. If a player has a three-card badugi in the first round, the probability of making a four-card badugi by the final draw is 51%.

You can learn more about the different strategies in this exciting lesser-known variant by checking out the Badugi strategy article as part of a series on Mixed Games strategies.

First-Ever WSOP Badugi Event

The 2023 World Series of Poker will feature the first-ever WSOP Badugi event – Event #20: $1,500 Badugi. The three-day event will begin on June 7 with one re-entry allowed and late registration open for the first nine levels.

The first time Badugi was played in a WSOP event was in 2011 when it was part of the 10-game mix. Chris Lee took down that tournament for $254,955 and his first bracelet. Since then, it’s also been featured in Dealer’s Choice events and Triple Draw Mix, but this will be the first running of a standalone tournament.

Phil Hellmuth was eliminated on a Badugi hand in the 2021 WSOP Event #36: $10,000 Dealer’s Choice Championship when Adam Friedman denied him a record-breaking 17th bracelet. Both players stood pat on all three draws and Friedman tabled a 9-6-5-2 of different suits for a “nine-dugi” to claim the bracelet in that event for a third consecutive year.

There are also other variants of Badugi such as Badeucy and Badacey, which are five-card split pot games in rotation at Dealer’s Choice events. The Poker Brat had an encounter with one of these variants recently when he accidentally slow-rolled eventual winner Chad Eveslage in Event #5: $1,500 Dealer’s Choice 6-Handed.

Now, Badugi is sure to be the final hand of a WSOP tournament once again and someone, perhaps even Hellmuth, will soon claim the first-ever WSOP Badugi bracelet.

The 888poker XL Spring Series Main Event has reached its final table, and only nine players remain in contention to claim the lion’s share of the $500,000 prize pool. Leading the finalists back into battle is “IxiltxZtKQn” with 4,331,409 chips; “IxiltxZtKQn” is one of four Brazilians at the final table.

Day 2 saw 376 players return to the action, each hoping to capture the largest mystery bounty on offer, one weighing in at $50,000. Two players opened mystery bounty envelopes containing $15,000. “HaxiLife” crashed out in 238th and missed out on an in-the-money finish but won a $15,000 bounty. “MARIMBONDO1” also clinched a $15,000 bounty before falling in 12th place.

Twenty-second place finisher “Lokiape” of the United Kingdom collected $1,175 from the main prize pool but reeled in $51,079 from the bounty prize pool! Although they were obviously disappointed not to win this event, taking home more than $52,000 for their $250 investment will go some way to numbing the pain.

$500,000 Gtd XL Spring Series Main Event Final Table Chip Counts

None of the nine players at the final table will take home less than $3,450 from the main prize pool, and as much as $36,525 for their efforts. As mentioned, Brazil’s “IxiltxZtKQn” is the player to catch, their 4,331,409 stack is the equivalent of 62 big blinds.

Malta’s “luttekikker” returns in second place with 3,410,413 chips (49 big blinds), with another Brazilian “betsoares” occupying third spot courtesy of their 2,256,110 stack (32 big blinds). “betsoares” is already quids in thanks to helping themselves to more than $8,500 worth of mystery bounty payments!

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The action has the potential to be fast and furious from the moment the first cards are pitched because the chasing pack outside the top three are tightly packed; there is only an 11 big blind difference between ninth and fourth place.

Brazilian dup “Rochinh2011” and “Hiisoka93” sit down with 1,709,180 (24 big blinds) and 1,543,594 (22 big blinds), respectively, while “xxBanioNxx” of Ireland has an arsenal of 1,512,311 chips (22 big blinds).

888poker regular “ckb4714” is armed with 1,296,043 chips (19 big blinds), Romania’s “buicanalex” has a stack of 1,220,939 chips (17 big blinds), while Sweden’s “r4ndomr4gs” occupies last place with 930,001 chips (13 big blinds).

The final table action gets underway from 7:00 p.m. BST and you can follow all of the action in text format right here at PokerNews. It is also possible to watch cards-up coverage on a 30-minute delay by tuning into the 888poker Twitch stream. Whatever way you get your updates, be sure to return to PokerNews on June 7 for a full recap of the final table.

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The inaugural WPT Global Spring Festival Main Event has crowned its worthy champion, and it is “yifors” who wrote their name into the history books by outlasting 204 opponents, and banking $23,476 of the $104,550 prize pool.

It took only 45 minutes of play on Day 2 for the money bubble to burst, with the unlucky 33rd-place finisher being the last player to go home empty-handed. There was a flurry of eliminations from the moment the bubble popped, each busted player taking home at least $721 for their efforts.

By the time “pollozayas” busted in ninth-place to set the final table, nobody would win less than $2,633.

WPT Global Spring Festival Main Event Final Table Results

“TForce15” was the final table’s first casualty. First, they lost with suited ace-queen against suited jack-ten to be left with only a handful of big blinds. The short stack of “TForce15” went into the middle holding queen-nine of hearts only for it to lose to the eight-six of hearts of “yifors,” who turned a full house.

“陶雲” bowed out in seventh after a clash with “Banjaxed” did not go to plan. Down to ten big blinds, 陶雲 moved all in with pocket fours only to run into the pair of queen of Banjaxed. The latter improved to an unnecessary full house on the river to rub salt into the busted player’s wounds.

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Sixth place and $4,880 went to “谁来neng死我” who can count themselves unlucky. “sersuperior” open-shoved from the cutoff for 25 big blinds with what turned out to be jack-nine of hearts, “谁来neng死我” called all-in with a pair of black tens in the hole, only for a jack to land on the river.

The final five became four with the untimely demise of “craimeariver.” They looked down at pocket sevens, and decided to open-shove for 13 big blinds from under the gun. Everyone folded to “yifors” in the small blind, and they snap-called with pocket aces! The five community cards provided no drams, and “craimeariver” was gone.

“sersuperior” bagged the final four-figure prize after coming unstuck in a hand against “yifors.” “Banjaxed” min-raised to 70,000 on the button, “yifors” moved all-in from the small blind for 1,811,687, “sersuperior” called all-in for 865,061 from the big blind, and “Banjaxed” folded. It was ace-queen of hearts for “yifors” and the dominated ace-jack for “sersuperior.” In the end, the queen-kicker of “yifors” played, and the tournament was down to only three players.

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Heads-up was set when “Banjaxed” lost in a battle of the blinds against “而奋斗擦嗄.” “Banjaxed” held queen-ten of diamonds against ace-eight, and bust in third despite flopped a diamond flush draw.

“yifors” went into the one-on-one battle with a substantial chip lead, and they never looked back. The final hand saw “yifors” check on the turn before quickly calling the check-raise all-in from their opponent. “yifors” had turned a full house with their pocket kings, while their opponent had improved to a queen-high diamond flush at the same time. The river was inconsequential because “yifors” had become a WPT Global champion.

Join WPT Global Today

The launch of WPT Global means that poker players around the world now have the chance to win their way to WPT events, win prizes and enjoy exciting games such as Poker Flips. As one of the world’s largest cash game poker networks, WPT Global is available in over 50 countries and territories worldwide.

WPT Global offers a large deposit match bonus: 100% on deposits up to $1,200 (using any payment method). New players depositing a minimum of $20 automatically receive this match bonus which is unlocked in $5 increments (credited straight to the cashier) for every $20 of rake contribution.

Both tournaments and cash games count towards bonus unlocking; new players have 90 days from the date of first deposit to unlock and claim their full bonus amount.

Swiss poker player Anton Heinrich was crowned the champion of the 2023 The Hendon Mob Championship Liechtenstein Main Event. He turned his CHF 300 buy-in into CHF 36,000, over 100 times what he had put up.

Heinrich had a massive chip lead throughout the vast majority of the day, and he used it well in order to be the final victor. He bested Liechtenstein’s very own Karim Frick during heads up play. Frick had big aspirations to keep the trophy in the European microstate but ultimately failed to do so.

The two players played for a while heads up before they decided to both take CHF 30,000, leaving CHF 6,000 to play for, as well as the trophy. Before that, six other players had been eliminated from the Swiss-dominated final table.

The only outsiders who attempted to conquer the trophy from the normally ever-neutral country fell short, as Turkey’s “Alladin” would be the first one eliminated in eighth place (CHF 4,430), while David Wintersberger from Germany would fall not much later in sixth (CHF 7,600).

THMC Liechtenstein Final Table Results

* denotes a heads-up chop.

Day 3 Action

The day started with a total of 14 players returning to Grand Casino Liechtenstein from the entire field of 601. Everyone had high hopes to seize the biggest portion of the CHF 200,000 prize pool, but after about half an hour of play Remini Camel was the first to bow out when his ace-nine could not improve against Manfred Mueller’s pocket queens. Alessandro Morales would soon join him at the rail after a clash with Heinrich, and not much later, the field saw only ten players still remaining when “83-83” and “DG” were both knocked out in the same hand.

The very short-stacked “Braveheart” would then be the next victim before Greek grinder Symeon Alexandridis finally fell in ninth place as the final table bubble, when his inferior ace could not hit against the ace-ten of Wintersberger.

“Alladin” could only enjoy the spotlights of the streamed final table for a few minutes. He led the river all-in as a bluff but would falter when Heinrich comfortably called with trips. Heinrich would consequently also claim the next knock-out, busting “Kairi” in seventh place in a preflop flip. It would take nearly 90 minutes before Wintersberger followed in “Kairi”s footsteps when he jammed his ace-six for less than ten big blinds and could not defeat the ace-jack of “Kaspar Schmid”.

Mueller would not much later fall in fifth, being pipped with ace-nine against ace-ten preflop. The four remaining players then discussed a deal for a while, but that ultimately fell through, and play went on. Two hours later, it was Daniel Schwitter who would regret that the most. Schwitter had gathered the chip lead all the way back on Day 1a, but with a lost preflop flip against Heinrich, he could not translate it all the way into a victory. Heinrich then went on to add another stack to his tally, when he busted “Kaspar Schmid” with queens against king-jack, preventing a Swiss heads up as the quiet Frick from Liechtenstein had profited from all the bust-outs and made it to the final two.

Frick started off hot in the duel, doubling up the very first hand via a preflop all-in and even taking the chip lead from Heinrich for the first time all evening. However, that only lasted for one hand, as Heinrich found aces the next hand and won the preflop all-in against Frick’s pocket fives.

The pair then decided that they had had enough of the variance that comes with heads up poker, and decided to chop the prize pool evenly. With a small amount of cash and the trophy left to play for, the 30 million chips in play would not much later get all in the middle for the final time. Heinrich had pocket sixes versus the ace-jack of Frick in the final preflop clash, and the latter would see no help arrive on the board. Thus, Heinrich secured his by far largest ever live cash of CHF 36,000 and, maybe more importantly, the grandiose THMC trophy.

That concludes the PokerNews coverage of the 2023 The Hendon Mob Championship Liechtenstein. A successful week of poker has been had in the Alps, and the THMC organization is hopeful to see the same happen at their next stops at Thunder Valley (20-23 July) and Malta (24-30 October).

BetMGM, a leading sports betting and iGaming operator, will be headlining the 2023 ARIA Poker Classic for the second consecutive year with the BetMGM Poker Championship, which PokerNews will live report.

The $3,500 buy-in tournament features two starting flights and will take place June 9-13 at ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. The final table will be played on Tuesday, June 13th and will be live-streamed from PokerGO Studio.

“It’s great to bring BetMGM players back to Las Vegas during one of poker’s most exciting times of the year”, said Director of BetMGM Poker Luke Staudenmaier. “For a second straight year, ARIA is delivering a Championship event and we are happy to continue to build on our relationship with MGM Resorts, while connecting BetMGM online players to the best poker rooms in the United States.”

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$2 Million Guarantee Doubled from Last Year

2022 was the first time the BetMGM Poker Championship ran and a $1 million guaranteed prize pool was offered in the inaugural event.

This year, the guaranteed prize pool has doubled, and at least 100 qualifiers will be making their way to ARIA to battle it out on the felt for a piece of the $2 million guarantee after winning their way in from BetMGM Poker markets including New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Ontario, Canada.

“Partnering with BetMGM for another summer championship is a tremendous opportunity for us to offer poker players a one-of-a-kind experience”, said MGM Resorts Director of Poker Strategy Sean McCormack. “ARIA has doubled the guarantee from last year to $2 million, giving the competitors the chance to win one of our industry’s top prize pools.”

Win Your Way In

There will be live satellite opportunities the two days prior to the start of the tournament including two $400 satellites with ten seats GTD on June 7th, and a $400 turbo satellite with five seats GTD on June 8th.

BetMGM ambassador Darren Elias took to Twitter recently to choose a lucky winner who would receive a $6,500 package to the upcoming festivities, which includes a $3,500 entry to the BetMGM Championship and an entry to the $800 NLH Mystery Bounty tournament on June 8th, as well as hotel and travel expenses.

Other notable events on the 2023 ARIA Poker Classic series include several Mystery Bounty events, a couple of Senior events, a Ladies event, and multiple mixed games events.

Previous Winner

In the inaugural BetMGM Poker Championship, 343 entrants generated a prize pool of $1,097,600. Joey Weissman claimed the trophy and the $224,236 first-place prize after he defeated Paul Hoefer in heads-up play.

Others who made a deep run in that event include Michael Wang (4th - $65,856), BetMGM Poker qualifier Benji Felson (5th - $51,587), Jake Daniels (17th - $14,269), Michael Gathy (22nd - $10,208), and Ankush Mandavia (25th - $8,781).

In that tournament, 68 players qualified for the event by playing online at BetMGM Poker in either Michigan, New Jersey, or Pennsylvania.

2022 BetMGM Poker Championship Final Table Results

Check out the ARIA Poker Room review here on PokerNews!

2023 ARIA Poker Classic Full Schedule

A full schedule of the upcoming 2023 ARIA Poker Classic is available in the table below.

Executive Editor U.S.

Executive Editor US, PokerNews Podcast co-host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.

Event #3: $1,000 Mystery Millions of the 2023 World Series of Poker at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas is now in the history books. After 48 levels of grueling play, battling through the monstrous field of 18,188 players and a final eight-handed feature table in the spotlight, Tyler Brown is the champion taking home a cool $1,000,000 and a coveted WSOP bracelet.

Those lucky enough to make it through one of the four day-one flights were eligible to win the mystery bounties that were put into play on Day 2. For every knockout earned, a player had the opportunity to draw for one of the many bounties on offer ranging in value from $1,000 to $1,000,000. With an overwhelming amount of entries this year generating a massive bounty prize pool, the WSOP was able to offer not one but two $1,000,000 bounties to play for.

Shant Marashlian was the first player to become a millionaire after pulling the first grand prize bounty early on Day 2 of the event.

Patrick Liang shortly followed as he secured a combined total of $1,025,000 across two bounty pulls from the chest. Rather generously, Liang also decided to gift $1,000 to every player at his table when he won the million.

Other notable bounty recipients included Klint Tevaearai and Eric Baldwin who were the winners of the $500,000 and $250,000 bounties respectively.

Many notable players in the field who busted included Matt Glantz (49th), who was the recipient of the $1,000,000 bounty in 2022 and former WSOP Main Event champion Martin Jacobson (532nd) who both made it through to Day 2. Chris Hunichen (14th) also had a deep run busting well into Day 3 of the event as well as Dan Shak (seventh) who reached the final table.

Mystery Bounty Payouts

Day 3 was played down to one table of ten players who battled it out until only eight remained, and the official final table was decided. The players were moved to the feature table, and the livestream covered the play down to a winner and their bracelet presentation.

Event #3: $1,000 Mystery Millions Final Table Results

Not long after the final table kicked off, the first elimination came in the form of Tam Ho exiting in eighth for $121,683 as he lost the most crucial flip of his tournament journey. The pocket fours of Steven Thompson held against his ace-ten, providing the first bust out of this final table.

In seventh place fell Dan Shak, the most celebrated player left in the field. Shak found himself all in holding pocket eights against the pocket jacks of Guang Chen. While Shak managed to flop more outs as he held the eight of hearts on a monotone board, the turn and river did not oblige, and Shak was eliminated for $154,940.

Tauan De Oliveira Naves was the sixth-place finisher at this final table as he got the chips in front holding ace-jack against the ten-nine of Thompson. However, Thompson pulled ahead on the turn and remained that way, sending Naves to the rail for $198,320.

Out in fifth place was Rhian Fineis, who landed on the wrong side of a coin toss as his ace-jack came up against the pocket tens of Tyler Brown. Failing to connect to the board, Brown’s tens held, and Fineis exited in fifth with $255,210 for his efforts.

Exiting in fourth was Thompson, whose queen-six couldn’t get there against the ace-five of Chen, sending him home for $330,150. Upon Thompson’s exit, the Horseshoe got a little quieter as his energetic rail left alongside him, celebrating Thompson’s deep run.

Ryan McKnight departed in third place for $429,360. Chen was the beneficiary of his chips as McKnight got it all in with queen-six dominated by the queen-ten of Chen. This got the heads-up match underway.

The heads-up battle between Brown and Chen only lasted three hands. The majority of chips fell into the hands of Brown after a life-changing hero call with just ace high gave him a dominating chip lead and setting him on the home straight for his first WSOP bracelet.
It was not long after that the heads-up match was settled. Brown’s queen-seven pulled ahead of Chen’s ace-jack to win $1,000,000 and the bracelet.

Winner’s Interview

Brown clearly has an extensive background in Pot Limit Omaha, as five of the six live cashes he has to his name included some form of PLO. In regards to his newfound success in No Limit Hold’em, Brown humbly stated, “I’ve played tournaments here and there, I’ve got, ya know, some idea of what I’m doing, but obviously, I’m a lot stronger PLO player. There were a lot better Hold’em players than me in this field, I obviously got insanely lucky with 18,000 people”.

Although, luck can’t be the only factor to attribute to Brown’s success: “A lot of my study came four or five years ago,” Brown commented, “I took almost two years off poker, decided to come back at the end of last year, early this year, and it’s been unbelievable in these last six months”.

With a huge, tournament-defining hero call under his belt, Brown simply commented, “It was good for the live stream”.

Having made two WSOP final tables in succession, the first being the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha event, Brown was pleased to remark, “These are the only WSOP events I’ve ever played”.

This certainly won’t be the last we hear from Brown in the 2023 World Series as he continued, “Given where I am now, Player of the Year seems like a decent opportunity, so I could see myself firing a lot”. With his eruption onto the live poker circuit in 2023, this certainly confirms speculation that Tyler Brown is one to watch.

That concludes PokerNews‘ coverage of this event, but the 2023 WSOP is far from over. Be sure to tune into PokerNews each day, as we bring you all of the action from every one of the bracelet-awarding events.