Red Dog Rules and Strategy

If you have ever played “Acey-Duecy” or “In-Between”, then you know how to play Red Dog. If not, it is a very easy game to learn and play properly.

Red Dog Rules

All cards are ranked according to their face value, with Aces always being high. Suites are irrelevant in Red Dog.

After a wager is placed, the dealer will deal 2 cards face up. If the 2 cards are consecutive (i.e. 3,4 or K,Q) then the hand is automatically a push. If the 2 initial cards are matching, then a 3rd card is dealt face up. If the 3rd card matches the first 2, the player is paid 11:1 on their wager; otherwise the hand is a push.

If the 2 dealt cards are neither consecutive nor matching, then the number of card values between the 2 cards becomes the “spread” for the hand. For instance, if a 3 and a 10 were dealt, the spread for that hand would be 6 (4,5,6,7,8,9). After the spread has been established, the player is then given the opportunity to raise his wager up to the original bet amount. After the player has had a chance to raise, a 3rd card is dealt. If the 3rd card is in between the first 2 cards, then the player wins according to the table below. If the 3rd card is outside of or matches either of the first 2 cards, then the player loses.

Red Dog Strategy

Playing perfect Red Dog strategy is very simple. Players should raise on all spreads of 7 or more, and stand on all other hands.

Red Dog House Advantage

The house advantage in Red Dog is between 2.7% - 3.1% depending on the number of decks used by a particular casino. However, house advantage is always calculated as the expected loss to the original wager amount. Since players will be raising a fair percentage of the time with all spreads of 7 or more, we need to calculate this action into the equation to get a better view of our expected long term outcome playing Red Dog. This is accomplished by calculating the Element of Risk, which takes into account the expected loss to average wager. See the chart below for the house advantage and element of risk depending on the number of decks used.