Nine-Game Mixed Rules
Nine-Game Mixed is one of the most complete mixed-game formats in poker. It cycles through nine different variants, changing the game every orbit, so a single session moves through draw, stud, community-card, high-only, split-pot, and lowball poker in turn. It is the entire Eight-Game rotation with one more game bolted on — Badugi — and mastering it means being competent in nearly every family of poker at once.
What the rotation is
A mixed game is not a single poker variant but a schedule of them. In Nine-Game the table plays one variant for a set period — usually a full orbit, so everyone deals each game once — and then advances to the next in a fixed order before looping back to the start. Nobody specialises: the format rewards the all-round player who is never lost when the game changes, and it punishes anyone who only knows Hold’em. Because the same nine games always appear in the same order, you can see what is coming and prepare for it.
The nine games
Here is every game in the rotation, in order, with a one-line summary. Each links to its full rules page if you want the complete walkthrough.
1. 2-7 Triple Draw →
A limit draw game where the lowest hand wins, straights and flushes count against you, and aces are high. Three draws to build the best 2-3-4-5-7.
2. Limit Hold'em →
Texas Hold'em played with fixed betting limits. Two hole cards, five community cards, and standard high-hand rankings.
3. Omaha Hi-Lo →
Four hole cards, exactly two plus three, with the pot split between the best high hand and the best qualifying eight-or-better low.
4. Razz →
Seven-card stud played for low only. The best five-card ace-to-five low wins the whole pot; the wheel A-2-3-4-5 is the nuts.
5. Seven Card Stud →
The classic stud game: no community cards, five streets, and the best five-card high hand from seven cards takes the pot.
6. Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo →
Stud with a split pot. The best high hand and the best qualifying eight-or-better low share the pot; scooping both is the goal.
7. No-Limit Hold'em →
The same Hold'em deal, but you can bet any amount up to your entire stack on any street. The one big-bet round in the mix.
8. Pot-Limit Omaha →
Four hole cards, exactly two plus three, high hand only, with bets capped at the current size of the pot. The second big-bet round.
9. Badugi →
A four-card triple-draw lowball game. The goal is the lowest four-card hand with all four suits different and no pairs -- a "badugi". Aces are low, and a four-card badugi beats any three-card hand.
The game that makes it nine: Badugi
Badugi is a four-card triple-draw lowball game. The goal is the lowest four-card hand in which all four cards are different suits and no two share a rank — a hand called a "badugi".
Aces play low, so the best possible badugi is 4-3-2-A with one card of each suit. Any pair or any two cards of the same suit shrinks your hand: if two cards clash you play only the other cards, so a four-card badugi always beats any three-card hand no matter how low. You get three draws to break pairs and duplicated suits, discarding and replacing cards each time. It is the one game in the rotation with its own unusual hand-evaluation, which is exactly why adding it turns Eight-Game into a sterner all-round test.
For the full deal, the draws, and worked examples, see the dedicated Badugi rules page.
How it extends Eight-Game — and why it is the most comprehensive mix
Nine-Game is built directly on top of the Eight-Game rotation. Every one of the eight games in that format appears here in the same form, and Badugi is simply added as a ninth. If you already play Eight-Game, the only new material is Badugi; if you are coming from HORSE, you are adding both the draw and big-bet games as well as Badugi.
What makes Nine-Game the most comprehensive of the common mixes is its coverage. It spans limit and big-bet betting, high-only and split-pot showdowns, community-card, stud, and draw dealing, and both ace-to-five and badugi-style lowball. Very few players are genuinely strong in all nine, which is why the format is prized as a test of complete poker skill.
Betting across the mix
Seven of the nine games are played fixed-limit: 2-7 Triple Draw, Limit Hold’em, Omaha Hi-Lo, Razz, Seven Card Stud, Stud Hi-Lo, and Badugi all use small-bet and big-bet increments with capped raises. The rotation then breaks that rhythm twice. No-Limit Hold’em lets you move all in on any street, and Pot-Limit Omaha caps each bet at the size of the pot but still allows very large wagers. Those two big-bet rounds put far more of a stack at risk than the limit games around them, so the swings in a Nine-Game session are not evenly spread — they cluster on the NLHE and PLO orbits.
How a session flows
Say the table sits down and the indicator opens on 2-7 Triple Draw. You play an orbit of limit lowball draw, hunting for smooth seven-low hands. The game then advances to Limit Hold’em, then Omaha Hi-Lo, where suddenly half the pots are being split. Razz and both stud games follow, so for three orbits there are no community cards at all and the betting order is set by the up-cards.
Then the tempo shifts. No-Limit Hold’em arrives and stacks can go in on a single hand, followed by Pot-Limit Omaha with its fast-growing pots. Finally the rotation reaches Badugi, the four-card triple draw, before looping back to 2-7 Triple Draw to begin again.
The skill the format tests is not any single game but the reset between them: dropping the reads that worked in the last variant and picking up the right ones for the next before you have to act.
On SPN
SPN runs the full Nine-Game rotation, with Badugi handled by the same draw engine as the other draw games. The game indicator always shows which variant is live and the rules that apply to it, so you are never guessing about betting structure or hand rankings. There is no rake — SPN uses a tick-fee model instead of taking a cut of the pot — dealing is provably fair across every game in the mix, and the tables are bot-free.
Frequently asked questions
What is Nine-Game Mixed?
Nine-Game Mixed is a rotating mixed-game format that cycles through nine different poker variants, changing the game every orbit. It is the full Eight-Game rotation plus Badugi, which makes it one of the most comprehensive mixed formats you can play.
How is Nine-Game different from Eight-Game?
Nine-Game is Eight-Game with one extra game added: Badugi, a four-card triple-draw lowball game. Everything else — the other eight variants and the orbit-by-orbit rotation — is identical, so if you already know Eight-Game you only need to learn Badugi.
What is a Badugi?
A badugi is the strongest hand in the game of Badugi: four cards, all of different suits and all of different ranks, as low as possible. Aces play low, and any four-card badugi beats any three-card hand, so the best possible holding is 4-3-2-A of four different suits.
Are all nine games played with the same betting limits?
No. Seven of the nine are fixed-limit games, including Badugi and both stud games. The two exceptions are No-Limit Hold’em and Pot-Limit Omaha, which bring big-bet rounds into the rotation and change how much of a stack is at risk.
How do the games rotate?
The variant changes on a set schedule, typically each orbit, moving through the nine games in a fixed order before starting over. On SPN the game indicator always shows which variant is live and the rules that apply to it.