Take Red Dog Poker For a Walk
By Playa for JoeCasino.com · December 14, 2009
Red Dog is a form of poker that has been developed and adapted for casino play. It boasts a variety of nom-de-plumes, among them In-Between, Yablon and Acey-Deucey.
It is played in land casinos at a table similar to the familiar Blackjack format, with a house dealer who does not participate in the hand.
Each player at the table places an ante bet, and then is dealt two cards, which are face-up. Working in a clockwise direction, from left of the dealer, each player then decides to raise the bet or not, with the maximum raise being even money.
If the player feels that there is a strong hand with a chance of improving it, the bet can be pushed. In doing so, they are entitled to draw another card. If they are already holding a pair, and their hand improves by drawing three of a kind, they are paid out at generous odds of 11-1. If they have two cards from the same suit, and they draw another, then they have a flush and get paid out at the same odds. Even a running flush, where the cards are the entire same suit and are consecutive, get paid out at 11-1.
Players, whose first two cards are neither paired, consecutive or flushed, can then take part in what is known as the “spread”.
The dealer calculates the spread by subtracting the value of the numbers between each player’s two cards. For example, if a player’s cards are a three and a nine, then he is holding what is known as a five-card spread, since the five numbers 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 fall between these cards. The best odds are paid on a one-card spread (5 to 1) and the lowest odds are paid on a five spread upward (even money).
At this stage a third card is dealt which, if it matches either of the first two card, or is not within the spread, results in the player losing the hand.
There are no set rules regarding the number of packs with which the house plays. However the odds increase in favor of the player with the fewer the number of packs in play, for obvious reasons.
Red Dog poker again is a game where not too much strategy is required, yet can produce some interesting action and attractive payouts. The online version is proving increasingly popular, mostly because of the steam-rolling popularity of any form of online poker, and secondly because Red Dog is almost always played with one pack online, increasing the already favorable online odds for the player.
