Tips for playing Red Dog

We have covered the rules of Red Dog/ Acey-Duecy or In-between and how to play the game in our “Casino Game Rules” section but here we would like to give you a few tips to increase your chances of winning and it is pretty simple. This is another game where we cannot influence the hand we are dealt nor change it by discarding or drawing cards so all that is left is for us to recognize how to maximize a good hand and how to minimize the loss on a poor hand and once again this is a game of odds and possibilities.

Remember the object of the game is to draw a third card that is between the two cards that you were dealt and if you do, you win at odds depending upon the spread of the first two cards. If you do not know what is being spoken about here then please read our “Casino Game Rules” section. The important feature is to balance the number of cards that coud give you a winning hand against the odds that are being offered. For example, if your hand has a spread of one then using a single deck of cards there are only 4 from the remaining 50 cards that will produce a winning hand or in other words, your chances of winning are 4/50 or 8% but the odds being paid are only 5:1 which is a pretty poor bet. Just out of interest many games use more than one deck which changes the chances of winning slightly; using the above example with 6 decks you have 24 cards to give you a winner out of 310 remaining which is 7.74% so hardly that much different.

Reverting back to a single deck game, if your cards have a spread of 2 there are 8 cards that could give you a winning hand from the 50 which is 16% chance but the odds are only 4:1 which again is pretty mean. You will by now have noticed that the casino would like you to go for these bets that offer higher odds. So does this ever turn in your favour? The answer is yes at a spread of 7. At this spread, your chances of winning are 28/50 or 56% but the bet pays 1:1. I think we all recognize that an even money bet on a 50/50 chance is OK. If you follow this logic through to a spread of 11 which means you have an Ace/2 there are 44 out of the 50 remaining cards that will give you a winner which is an 88% chance of winning and the odds are still 1:1 which is a very good bet.

The strategy therefore is simple, do not raise unless you have a spread of at least 7 and trust to luck that you get enough decent cards to cover you when you lose your ante. There are no guarantees but at least you can recognize what your chances are.