Red Dog Poker Rules and Red Dog Poker Strategy
Red Dog Poker is a casino card game similar to Acey-Deucey and In-Between. The game is played on a blackjack sized table with two betting spots; "Bet" and "Raise". In this poker game a 52-card deck is used. Only three cards are played per hand. Card suits are not relevant in Red Dog.
Red Dog Poker Information
The popularity of Red Dog Poker is largely due to its simplicity. As the pros say, if you can remember the number seven and know how to subtract, then you can play Red Dog just as well as anyone in the world.
So far, it's too simple. This is where the "raise" bet comes in, and it's based on the "spread". Spread is the number of card values that lie between the two initial cards. The value of any card from 2 to 10 counts at face value, a jack counts as 11, a queen as 12, a king as 13, and an ace counts as 14.
A couple of examples: Let's say the dealer deals a 7 and a 10. What's the spread? Since 8 and 9 fall between the 7 and 10, the spread is 2. Ok, let's say the next hand plays a 4 and a 5. The spread? Since the cards are consecutive, no cards fall between 4 and 5, it's called a "tie", you keep your money and the hand is over.
The interesting part of Red Dog is betting on the spread. This is an optional second bet where you go for a bonus payout. The house sets the odds based on a simple principle: the narrower the spread, the higher the potential payout ("bonus").
If you do decide to raise, you're betting at the house odds as printed on the Red Dog table. If you win, you get your original bet at even money, and the raise bet at the odds indicated.
If the first two cards are a tie (consecutive cards) you keep your bet.
If the two cards are a pair, betting stops; but you'll get paid at 11:1 if the third card makes it three of a kind. Otherwise you lose your bet.
Finally, if the third card matches either of the first two, you lose your bet.
| Spread: | Payout: |
|---|---|
| 1 | 5-1 |
| 2 | 4-1 |
| 3 | 2-1 |
| 4 through 11 | 1-1 |
Okay, if you're still reading I'm assuming it's because you want a little detail. It's still pretty simple, but here it is: the player only gets an edge when the spread is 7 or more. This is actually quite obvious. At Spread 7, 7 cards will give you a winning hand. And since there are 13 cards from Deuce to Ace (2 ,3 ,4 ,5 ,6 ,7 ,8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A), that means that only 6 cards will cause you to lose.
Spread 7 gives the player about a 54% chance of winning; and it gets better from there on up, all the way to around 85% at Spread 11. So, the strategy is to only Double on the Spreads that give you an edge, namely 7 through 11. Spreads below 7 give the house an increasingly stiff edge and should be avoided.
