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Red Dog

Introduction

Red Dog is a variation of acey-deucey or in-between. The game is falling in popularity in the land casinos but many Internet casinos offer the game. I have heard from two sources that the game can be found at the Turning Stone Casino and Resort in Verona, New York. I also have an unconfirmed report that Foxwoods has the game, titling it "Acey Deucey."

The Rules

All cards are ranked as in poker, the suit is irrelevant, and aces are always high. First the player places a wager. Then the dealer places two cards on the table face up. If the two cards are consecutive then the hand is a push. If the two cards are equal a third card is dealt, a matching third card pays 11:1, otherwise the hand is a push.

If the two cards are neither consecutive nor equal the dealer announces the spread, or the number of card values in between the cards. For example a 5 and 10 would have a spread of 4. The player is then given a chance to increase the wager up to the amount of the original wager. Then a third card is dealt, if it is in between the first two cards the player wins according to the following payout table, if it matches or is outside the first two cards the player loses.

  • 1 card spread: Pays 5:1
  • 2 card spread: Pays 4:1
  • 3 card spread: Pays 2:1
  • 4+ card spread: Pays 1:1

Strategy

The following table shows the net return per unit bet on various spreads, assuming a six deck game. As you can see only spreads of seven or more are favorable. Thus the player should only raise on spreads of 7 or more, which is true regardless of the number of decks used.

Expected Gain by Raising
Spread Pays Probability
of winning		 Player's
edge
1 5 0.077419 -0.535484
2 4 0.154839 -0.225806
3 2 0.232258 -0.303226
4 1 0.309677 -0.380645
5 1 0.387097 -0.225806
6 1 0.464516 -0.070968
7 1 0.541935 0.083871
8 1 0.619355 0.238710
9 1 0.696774 0.393548
10 1 0.774194 0.548387
11 1 0.851613 0.703226

House Edge

The following table shows the probability and return of each possible outcome in a six-deck game.

Red Dog Return Table - Six Decks

Win Probability Return
11 0.005248 0.057733
5 0.010111 0.050553
4 0.018383 0.073532
2 0.139711 0.279422
1 0.094673 0.094673
0 0.211175 0
-1 0.457508 -0.457508
-2 0.063192 -0.126383
Total 1 -0.027978

The standard deviation in Red Dog is 1.60.

The following table displays the house edge and element of risk according to the number of decks used.

House Edge in Red Dog
Number of Decks House
Edge		 Element
of Risk
1 3.155% 2.672%
2 3.077% 2.609%
4 2.884% 2.447%
6 2.798% 2.375%
8 2.751% 2.335%

Written by: Michael Shackleford