Red Dog (High Card Pool)

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Card ranks
3. Setup
4. Playing a turn
5. End of a hand
6. Winning the game
7. Tips for beginners
8. Variants

Overview

Red Dog, also called High Card Pool, is an old betting game. Everyone pays into a pot (the pile of chips in the middle) and gets five cards. Then, one at a time, each player bets against the pot that their hand holds a card of the same suit and higher than a card the dealer is about to turn up. Win, and you take chips out of the pot; lose, and your bet goes in.

• Players: 3–8.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck without jokers, and chips (or counters, matches). Play for chips only.

Card ranks

Cards rank from high to low: A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2. The Ace is high. Only a card of the same suit can beat another – a K♥ beats the Q♥, but not the Q♠.

Setup

1. Everyone starts with the same number of chips (for example 50). Choose the first dealer at random, for example by drawing cards. Afterwards the deal passes to the left each hand.
2. Agree on the ante – the starting bet everyone puts into the pot, for example 2 chips. It is also the smallest bet allowed.
3. Everyone, including the dealer, puts one ante into the pot.
4. The dealer shuffles and deals five cards to each player – four with 7 or 8 players – one at a time, face down. Look at your cards, but don't show them.

Playing a turn

Starting with the player on the dealer's left and going clockwise – the dealer comes last – each player has one turn:

1. Bet: place chips next to the pot – at least the ante, at most everything in the pot right now.
2. The dealer burns a card: takes the top card of the deck, shows it to everyone and puts it face up at the bottom of the deck.
3. The dealer then turns the next card face up in front of you.
4. Do you hold a higher card of the same suit? - Yes: show just that card, take your bet back, and take the same amount again out of the pot. - No: show your whole hand; your bet goes into the pot.
5. Your cards and the turned-up card are put aside face down, and the next player bets against whatever is now in the pot.

Example: The pot holds 16 chips. Ben holds K♠ 9♠ 7♥ 4♦ A♣ and bets 6. The dealer turns up the J♠ – Ben shows the K♠ and takes 6 chips from the pot. Had the dealer turned up the 8♥ or any ♦ above the 4, Ben would have lost his 6 chips to the pot.

If the pot is empty, or holds less than the ante, everyone at once puts in another ante.

If the face-down deck runs out during a hand, the dealer shuffles the burnt cards, the turned-up cards and the hands already put aside into a new deck and carries on.

End of a hand

When everyone, including the dealer, has had a turn, the hand is over. The chips stay in the pot, the deal passes to the left, and everyone adds another ante. If the pot grows too big, you may agree to share it out equally and start a new one.

Winning the game

There is no fixed end: stop whenever you agree, for example after everyone has dealt twice. Share out anything left in the pot equally. Whoever has the most chips wins.

Tips for beginners

• Count your high cards in each suit. An Ace wins against every other card of its suit; a suit you don't hold at all always loses.
• A hand with high cards in all four suits is worth a big bet; a hand with low cards and a missing suit deserves only the minimum.
• Watch the burnt cards and the hands shown by losers: they tell you which cards can no longer come.

Variants

Optional – agree before you start.

• Fewer cards: deal only four (or three) cards each, whatever the number of players.
• Dealer's bank: instead of antes, the dealer alone puts up the pot, and the others bet against it. If the pot is empty, the deal passes to the next player at once.
• Shoot: the dealer alone puts up the pot, between an agreed minimum and maximum, and deals three cards to each other player. You may only look at your cards just before your turn. Bets range from an agreed minimum to the whole pot. If the pot runs dry, the deal passes on at once; otherwise the same player deals again. After three deals in a row the dealer may keep the pot and pass the deal, or deal a fourth time and then keep what's left.
• Slippery Sam: as Shoot, but you bet without looking at your cards. The dealer turns cards up in the middle until a 6 or lower appears, and everyone bets in turn against that card.