US Casino Games from The Good Gambling Guide






Main Menu
Casino
U.S Games







Let It Ride
Red Dog
Pai Gow

U.S. Casino Games

Over a period of time the casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City have introduced new table games to try and rebuild lost ground in dealer games. For the most part this has not worked and Slots march on, taking up more floor space. We will try and cover them on this page.

Let It Ride

BOX 1

BOX 2

BOX 3

This game is a simple adaption of poker where only the value of the players hand counts towards any possible payout. The player is not in competition with the dealer or another player. To avoid losing money the player must achieve a 5-card hand of at least a pair of Tens.

PLAY The player makes three identical bets, one in each box, and is dealt three face up cards by the dealer. The player now has the choice of retrieving the bet in Box 3 (because the hand looks weak). A fourth card is dealt and the player again has the choice of removing a bet, Box 3 if not before and Box 2 if yes. Then the last card is dealt.

HAND	ODDS
10s or better	1:1
Two pair	2:1
Trips	3:1
Straight	5:1
Flush	8:1
Full House	11:1
Four of a kind	50:1
Straight Flush	200:1
Royal Flush	1000:1

PAYOUT What ever money is left, one, two or all three bets, all of it is paid as one according to the payout schedule in the table to the right.

STRATEGY The optimal strategy for this game is as follows.

On the first three cards, take back a bet unless one holds:

-- a pair of 10s or better

-- three cards to a straight flush if

they are a run, 3-4-5 or higher

or have one "hole" and at least one card is 10 or higher

or have two "holes" and at least two cards are 10 or higher

On the fourth card, take back a bet unless one has:

-- a pair of 10s or better

-- a four-flush

-- an open-ended straight draw including a 10 or higher

The following bets are optional at 4 cards, i.e. Even money

-- an open-ended straight not including a 10 or higher

-- all cards 10 or higher (an inside A-to-10 straight draw)

EDGE The house edge is 3.5%.

Red Dog

"Red Dog" is also known as "Acey-Deucey" or "between the sheets". It is a card game that is usually dealt from a shoe containing four or five decks, although single deck games can be found occasionally, as can games with 6 or 8 decks.

PLAY After the players bet, two cards are dealt face up on the table. If the two cards are adjacent, it is a tie. If the two cards are not identical, the player is allowed to place a "raise" bet, up to the size of the original bet. If the third card drawn is between the first two cards, the player wins (i.e. a 6 is in between a 3 and a 7). If the first two cards are identical the player is not allowed to raise.

Spread	Payoff	Condition
pair	11:1	3rd card trips
pair	push	3rd card no trips
0	push
1	5:1
2	4:1
3	2:1
4-11	1:1

PAYOUT If the third card matches the first two, the player is paid 11:1. Payoffs are at even money unless the first two cards are a pair or the "spread" is 3 or less.

STRATEGY The number of players at the table is totally irrelevant, since all players win or lose simultaneously. The only strategy decision that the player is allowed to make is whether or not to double the bet. With these payoffs, the bet should be doubled only when the spread is 7 or greater.

EDGE The house edge for Red Dog is about 3%, and decreases slightly as more decks are used.

Pai Gow

This really is an interesting game for a casino to spread. You not only get to choose how to set two different hands from your seven cards but there is a Joker which can be wild, the dealer can make a mistake and the player can actually take over the bank and play the other customers!

PLAY Seven cards are dealt by the dealer to the player from a single-pack (+ 1 joker) hand held deck. The player must create a five card poker hand and a two card poker hand from the seven. The five card hand must rank higher than the two card hand. The single Joker can count as an Ace in high hands or fill in the gap to make a straight or flush. All poker values apply except that A-2-3-4-5 is the second highest straight, i.e. it beats K-Q-J-T-9.

Players are also given the right to become the banker. To do this they must put up an amount equal to the combined total of the other players bets.

PAYOUT To win your bet you must win both hands whereupon you will pay a 5% tax. Winning one hand and losing the other is a tie, your money is returned. Losing both hands forfits your bet. Hands that are tied go to the house. Bets are paid at even money.

STRATEGY The optimum strategy is really quite difficult but we present a simplified version that will achieve very close to optimum play. Stanford Wong created the words 'twocard' and 'fivecard' to mean putting your cards into a two card hand or five card hand. We'll use that so we know what we are talking about.

Hand	Meaning you have....	Strategy
High Card	7 odd cards	Twocard the 2^nd and 3^rd highest
Pair	a pair and five odd cards	Twocard the two highest singletons
Two Pair	two pairs and three odd cards	Aces or Kings - always twocard the lower pair Mid-range pairs - if you don't have a good Ace or King high then twocard the lower pair Lower pairs - if you can J-T high or better for the twocard then fivecard the two pair, else twocard the lower pair
Three Pair	three pairs and an odd card	Always twocard the high pair
Trips	three of a kind and four odd cards	3 Aces - twocard one Ace 3 Kings - twocard J-T or better if you can, else twocard a King 3 Queens or lower - fivecard the trips
Straight	a straight but no flush or pair	Fivecard the lowest possible straight
Straight + Pair	a five card straight that has paired	Fivecard the straight unless you have AKQJT and paired QJ or T. Then twocard AK.
Straight + 2 Pair	a five card straight with two cards paired	Twocard a pair to leave a straight if you can If not then treat the hand as two pair, exceptions are any combo of 4s, 3s and 2s. Then play the straight.
Joker Straight + Pair	a straight made with a Joker and a pair	Straight and Pair - if you can twocard a pair and fivecard a straight - do so! Pair is Ace-Joker - Fivecard the straight and twocard the Ace if possible Straight needs Ace-Joker - fivecard the Ace-Joker unless you have Joker-4-3-2-Ace, then fivecard the straight
Flush	a flush but no straight and no pair	Fivecard the lowest possible flush
Flush + Pair	a flush with a pair	6 card flush - fivecard the lowest flush 5 card flush - fivecard the flush unless the flush is A-Q or A-K high and you have 8s, 9s, Ts, Js or Qs - then fivecard the pair
Flush + 2 Pair	a five card flush and two paired cards	Twocard a pair to leave a flush if you can. Otherwise treat as two pairs unless you have a combo of 5s, 4s, 3s, 2s. Then play the flush.
Full House	trips, a pair and two odd cards	If you have a low full house and can twocard A-Q or A-K then fivecard the house. Else twocard the pair.
Full House + Pair	trips and two pairs	Twocard the highest pair.

EDGE
Copies, or tied hands, occur about 2.5% of the time and around half that time the other hand wins for the bank for a natural house edge of ~1.25%. The cost of the 5% tax in the game is muted because there is only tax on winning hands. Tax works out to be ~1.6%.

So, in total, the player is up against a 2.9% house edge.

STRATEGY
The player should aim to play as the bank if they can and use the best hand setting strategy to outplay his opponents. The tax will be offset by the natural edge of the bank and so any gain will come from playing correctly when others don't.