How to Play Red Dog

Red Dog is a classic casino game. I remember when I first played Red Dog. It was at the Dunes in Vegas. It’s not there anymore—like most of our history here—but the memory lives on. Red Dog is also known as Acey-Duecey.

I’m going to show you how to play at Red Dog. To say it’s simple is an understatement of epic proportions. Red Dog is basically a guessing game. There isn’t any thought behind it, but just like the show “Deal or No Deal,” it can be fun.

The first piece of info is that Red Dog can be played with one to eight decks of cards. This is something you want to know. It will affect how you play—more on this in a moment.

Surprisingly, Red Dog’s house advantage can be stomached. It’s only 3.15% and if you play Red Dog with eight decks, that advantage drops down to 2.75%.

Red Dog’s layout is simple. There is a spot for your wagers and three card spots. After you wager, the hand begins with the dealer dealing two cards—one of the left spot and one on the right spot. The middle spot is left open for now.

Once the two cards are dealt, the “spread” is announced. At this point you can either keep your wager as is, or double it.

So, what’s this spread? Okay, let’s slow down for one minute.

The idea of the game is to get the third card dealt to fall in-between the two other cards. So, let’s say the first two cards are a 5 and a 9. To win, the third card needs to be a 6, 7 or 8.

The spread is the number of possible winning cards there are. In the example above, there were three possible winning cards, thus the spread is three, which pays 2:1. As the spread decreases, the payout increases.

Red Dog Spread Payout Chart:

• - Spread of 4 or more pays even money.
• - Spread of 3 pays 2:1.
• - Spread of 2 pays 4:1.
• - Spread of 1 pays 5:1.

When the first two cards are dealt, if there is no spread—like a 7 and 8—the hand is a push and your money is returned.

Earlier I talked about the decks used for Red Dog. Here’s why you need to know. Let’s say the first two cards are 7 and 9. The spread is 1, which pays 5:1. If Red Dog is using one deck, you only have four winning cards left (four 8’s). However, if eight decks were being used, you’d have 32.

While it’s still proportional, because there’s also eight times the other cards, you do have a lot more cards in the shoe that could pay out 5:1 now.

That’s all there is to Red Dog. It’s an easy game to learn and play.

Oh, there is a bonus pay on Red Dog. If you get three cards of the same rank (like three 7’s), your wager is paid 11:1.

If you want to play Red Dog, you’ll probably have the best chance online. I know finding it in a Las Vegas casino is tough.