How to Play Red Dog

Objective

Finish with more chips than you started with. Every bet is a simple question: when the dealer turns the next card, do you hold a higher card in the same suit? Your skill is in judging how much your hand is worth before you see the card.

Setup

Agree on the ante, which is also the minimum bet. Everyone antes into the pot before the deal. Deal five cards to each player, one at a time. With nine or ten players, deal four cards each so the deck goes around. The rest of the deck stays in the dealer’s hand as the stock.

Cards rank from ace (high) down to two (low).

How to play

Starting with the player to the dealer’s left, each player in turn looks at their cards and places a bet. The bet must be at least the ante, and it can be anything up to the whole pot.

Once you have bet, the dealer turns up the next card from the stock and places it in front of you. Many dealers burn a card first, showing it to the table and sliding it to the bottom of the deck.

If you hold a card of the same suit that ranks higher, show just that one card. The dealer pays you the amount of your bet out of the pot, and you put your cards aside face down. If you don’t, you show your whole hand to the table, and your bet goes into the pot.

After every player has bet once, the deal passes to the left. The pot carries over from deal to deal.

1. 1Ante, then deal five cards to each player
2. 2Bet from the minimum up to the whole pot
3. 3Dealer turns up the next card in front of you
4. 4Show a higher card of that suit to win; otherwise lose your bet

Scoring

Red Dog is played for chips, and every bet is settled the moment the card is turned.

Play for an agreed number of deals or an agreed time. Whoever has the most chips at the end wins.

Variations

Casino Red Dog: in American casinos the name now belongs to a different game, also known as Acey-Deucey or In-Between. Two cards are turned up and you bet that a third will land between them in rank.

Smaller hands: dealing four or even three cards each lets more people play and makes every bet riskier.

Banker game: one player acts as banker and covers every bet, and the bank passes on when it runs out of chips.

Tips from the table

Count your suits. Five cards rarely cover all four suits well. If you hold an ace or king in three suits and nothing in the fourth, your odds are good and a bigger bet makes sense.

A hand full of low cards is a minimum bet, every time. The pot will still be there next deal.

Watch the losing hands. Every player who loses shows all their cards, and every card you see is one that can’t come off the deck against you.

Frequently asked