Bankroll Requirements?

I'd say it depends on what format of Badugi we are talking about. I have been grinding PL Badugi MTTs for close to eight years with remarkably consistent results (though they have been deteriorating a little in the last 1-2 years), playing a tight-aggressive style.

On the whole, I would still say it's a high variance game, because you will be in many way ahead/way behind situations, draws are hard to make in general (a draw on each street has less than a 25% chance to hit, since you are always drawing to one specific suit and prefer to avoid the higher cards if possible), and you will typically be in many coinflip situations, which commonly occur if you have a high Badugi and you are playing against an opponent with a lower 3-card hand across three draws - or vice versa.

The good news is that if you do hit a good hand after waiting patiently for it, it really is pretty tough to beat. Any 6-high Badugi, for example, is a 71% favorite against any lower 3-card hand across three draws - for two or one remaining draws, it would be 80% or 90%, respectively. You may even be able to put your opponents in situations where they are drawing completely dead. I also found that opponents tend to have more trouble to let go of losing hands than in many other forms of poker.

I haven't played a lot of Badugi cash, which is usually played in a FL format, but in my limited experience, the variance is a lot higher in there than in PL, and I assume this applies to FL tournaments too. One of the reasons may be that you are not able to put as much pressure on your opponents in bad reverse implied odds situations like the high Badugis I mentioned earlier. Or maybe I was simply ill-equipped to handle these games with my strategy, which was tailored towards PL tournaments, and therefore had to rely on more guesswork.

As for bankroll requirements, MTTs are usually not offered in stakes higher than around $4.40 on Pokerstars anyway, aside from special events, so this has never been a point of concern to me, and most decently sized bankrolls should be able to handle it too. Cash games, meanwhile, are typically FL, which is also a little easier on the BRM, but I can't really comment on that, because FL cash games have never been a serious grind for me.

Thanks for your reply Harrier88 and it is FL I am asking about the lowest stakes are 25c/50c and I thought it might be a nice follow on from 5 card draw that I very much like and seem to win at easily.

Originally posted by Muscledude
Thanks for your reply Harrier88 and it is FL I am asking about the lowest stakes are 25c/50c and I thought it might be a nice follow on from 5 card draw that I very much like and seem to win at easily.

FL 5-Card Draw is easily winnable — just know the odds, and make plays where you're favoured to win.
Badugi is somewhat different even playing fixed limit, since snowing (standing pat with air) is an even bigger part of the game.

Thanks VorpalF2F but do you know what the bankroll requirements are and what the variance is like please.