Red Dog Poker Strategy

Well the strategy for this game is extremely simple; the only time the players should raise is when the spread is seven or more. The end!

And the reason for this simple strategy is that the only time the player gets an edge over the house is when the spread is seven or more. Because it is not until the spread of seven that a total of seven cards will actually give the player a winning hand, and since there are thirteen cards from a Deuce to an Ace, only six cards will make you lose. So the edge will not switch to the players favour until the spread is seven or more. The house edge lies somewhere around 2.8% on average.

If you take the raise bet on spreads one to six, the edge will be heavily in the house favour. At the spread of seven however the house edge has dropped to -12% making it a very nice bet. At the spread of eleven the edge has dropped to an incredible -76% making it an extremely good bet. So the strategy is basically to only raise the bet when the chances of winning are in the players favour. Spreads below seven should be avoided like the plague.

A table showing the odds

Spread odds House edge

1 5:1 52%
2 4:1 20%
3 2:1 28%
4 1:1 36%
5 1:1 20%
6 1:1 4%
7 1:1 -12%
8 1:1 -28%
9 1:1 -44%
10 1:1 -60%
11 1:1 -76%

The numbers in bold mark player advantage.

Red Dog strategy tips
Only raise when the spread is seven or more.

Look for six deck Red Dog, the game has the lowest house edge when it is played with six decks