Introduction to red-dog poker
Red dog (also known as yablon or red dog poker) is a card game of chance resembling a variation of acey-deucey or in-between. Its popularity has declined, somewhat, in land-based casinos but has grown significantly in popularity in online casinos. Confusingly, there are other card games of chance that go by the same name – but are unrelated to the game described here.
The game was introduced to casinos in Nevada in the 1980s and is played on a blackjack-sized table with a 6-8 deck card shoe (standard 52 card deck). The game is played with one dealer and up to 16 players.
The game can be played with anywhere from one to eight decks, with an increasing number of decks decreasing the house’s edge.
The house’s advantage begins at 3.155% with 1 deck, but drops to 2.751% when eight decks are used. Interestingly, this is in contrast with some other casino card games, such as Blackjack, in which a higher number of decks will, conversely, increase the house edge.
CARD VALUES
The card values for the game are as follows:
2 through 10 are worth their face value
Jacks are worth 11
Queens are worth 12
Kings are worth13
Aces are worth 14
Play begins when players place their bets and the dealer takes 2 cards from the shoe, placing them face up on the table. Players can decide to raise the bet, at this point. The dealer deals the 3rd card and if the value of this card falls between the values of the previously dealt 2 cards, the player wins. The player’s original bet is paid out at even money and raised bets are paid out accordingly (the closer the 2 cards are together, the bigger the payout):
The payouts for different spreads are as follows:
1 card spread will pay 5:1
2 card spread will pay 4:1
3 card spread will pay 2:1
4 to 11 card spread will pay even money
A push (no win) results when the dealer deals 2 consecutive cards or a pair. When a pair is dealt, the dealer will immediately deal a 3rd card. If the result is a three of a kind, the player is paid out 11:1.
