[CurryLover]

This game is played a lot in England. It is always played Pot Limit, and we spell it padooki or paduki. The hand rankings are different in England and it is consistent throughout the country because the game is played so much. The way the hand rankings work in England creates a much greater depth of strategy, as I will explain:

A padooki is obviously 4 unpaired card all of different suits (A234 is the nuts, KQJT is the worst padooki)

Any padooki will beat any flush (A234 with, say, the 2 and 3 of spades is a flush)

Any flush beats any paired hand

If you have a flush, it does not matter whether you have only 2 cards of the same suit. The 'nut flush' is A234 regardless of whether you have only 2 cards of the same suit or all 4 cards of the same suit.

Unlike in the rules in the USA, all 4 cards in your hand play.

The reason why this adds a huge depth of strategy is because a good flush can sometimes be a strong hand. One common play is to hit a good flush on first or second change, bet the pot, and stand pat. As long as it is not a big multi-way pot this often allows you to win the hand when your opponents fail to make their padookis. The pot limit nature of the game in England makes this play more effective.

Another (well-known and over-used) play occurs when you are all-in heads up against a guy who you suspect has been playing a pat big padooki (maybe a J, Q or K) fast. This play is made when there are still draws to come and you are ot of position. Basically, you draw a card and he stands pat. You find you have missed your padooki but hit a good flush. So you then stand pat. This puts huge pressure on opponent to break his J or Q or whatever and take a card to improve his padooki. Chances are though that he will fail to make it and will either pair up or make a worse flush than yours. So you are bluffing even when all-in!

It seems to me that the US rules where you might only use 3 cards from your hand takes many of the moves out of the game. Padooki is a highly skillful game if it is played Pot-limit and the stacks are very deep. When players have only 100 or 200 BBs it is a game of relatively shallow strategy and you must 'hit to win' (I imagine this is the case when played at limit as well). When players have over 1000 BBs padooki is a totally different game. There are so many moves to be made and it is a game that requires a huge amount of skill.