The deck used to play Red Dog is the standard, fifty two card variety. The game may be played with anywhere from one to eight decks, with an increasing number of decks decreasing the house edge — the house’s advantage begins at 3.155% with one deck, but falls to 2.751% when eight decks are used. This is in contrast with some other casino card games, such as blackjack, where a higher number of decks used will increase the house edge.

The game only uses three cards at a time, which are ranked as in poker, with aces high. Suit is irrelevant. A wager is placed, and two cards are placed face up on the table, with three possible outcomes:

• If the cards are consecutive in number (for example, a four and a five, or a jack and a queen), the hand is a push and the player’s wager is returned.
• If the two cards are of equal value, a third card is dealt. If the third card is of the same value, then the payout for the player is 11:1, otherwise the hand is a push.
• If the two cards difference is greater than one place (for example, a three and an eight), then a spread is announced which determines the payoff, pending the outcome of a third card which will be dealt. If this third card’s value falls between the first two, the player wil receive a payoff according to the spread, otherwise the bet is lost. Before dealing the third card, the player has the option to double his bet.

Okay, if you’re still reading I’m assuming it’s because you want a little detail. It’s still pretty simple, but here it is: the player only gets an edge when the spread is 7 or more. This is actually quite obvious. At Spread 7, 7 cards will give you a winning hand. And since there are 13 cards from Deuce to Ace (2 ,3 ,4 ,5 ,6 ,7 ,8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A), that means that only 6 cards will cause you to lose.

Spread 7 gives the player about a 54% chance of winning and it gets better from there on up to around 85% at Spread 11. So the strategy is to only Double on the Spreads that give you an edge, namely 7 through 11. Spreads below 7 give the house an increasingly stiff edge and should be avoided.