Free Red Dog
Two cards from a six-deck shoe and a bet on whether the third falls between them, played for chips that are worth nothing, with every raise checked against the correct rule.
Play chips
1,000
No real money, no prizes, nothing to buy.
6-deck shoe · 312 left
Place a bet and deal.
- Spread pays, to 1:
- 1 pays 5 · 2 pays 4 · 3 pays 2 · 4 or more pays 1
- Pair, then a third:
- 11
Session coach
Last round
Nothing played yet. After each of your hands the coach says what the round cost and what decided it.
Decide the cost before you start
Gambling is entertainment with a price, like a concert ticket. The useful question is not how much you might win but how much the evening is allowed to cost. Pick that number first, and treat reaching it as the end of the session. You can set one below and the coach will hold you to it.
Next bet
No bet lined up. Once there is one, its expected cost shows here before you play it.
- Hands played
- 0
- Chips bet in total
- 0
- Bets raised after a loss
- 0
Where the result came from
- House edge, on average
- 0
- Decisions on strategy
- None yet
- Your off-strategy plays
- 0
- Luck
- 0
- Result
- 0
The report fills in as you play.
Set a session limit
Your leaks
None recorded. A spot you play off the best strategy is listed here so you can practise it, and drops off once you get it right three times running. The list is kept in this browser only.
This table is for practice and entertainment only. How to keep gambling safe
The spread, priced
- Chance the third card falls between
- No spread
- Pays
- No spread
- A raise is worth
- No spread
Every raise or stand is checked against the rule the odds make correct: raise on a spread of 7 or more. The third card decides whether a hand wins. The decision is the part you control.
| Spread | Wins | Pays | Per chip raised |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7.74% | 5 to 1 | −0.54 |
| 2 | 15.48% | 4 to 1 | −0.23 |
| 3 | 23.23% | 2 to 1 | −0.30 |
| 4 | 30.97% | 1 to 1 | −0.38 |
| 5 | 38.71% | 1 to 1 | −0.23 |
| 6 | 46.45% | 1 to 1 | −0.07 |
| 7 | 54.19% | 1 to 1 | +0.08 |
| 8 | 61.94% | 1 to 1 | +0.24 |
| 9 | 69.68% | 1 to 1 | +0.39 |
| 10 | 77.42% | 1 to 1 | +0.55 |
| 11 | 85.16% | 1 to 1 | +0.70 |
This session
- Hands played
- 0
- Decisions on the rule
- None yet
- Net chips
- 0
- Expected at 2.80%
- 0
- 0 in opening bets
- Given up off the rule
- 0
- Cost of the bet lined up
- 0
- Chips a hand on average
Expected is the house edge taken on your opening bets, with every decision on the rule. Decisions off it cost more, and that extra is counted on its own line. A short session swings well away from both in either direction.
Built by Alexander Korsager · last updated October 3, 2026 · corrections
- House edge on the opening bet, raising by the rule
- 2.80%
- The narrowest spread worth a raise
- 7
- Chance a spread of 1 wins, paid 5 to 1
- 7.74%
- Hands dealt wide enough to raise
- 17.81%
01 / 03
A table that grades every raise
Red Dog deals two cards face up and asks one question: will the third card fall between them?
The gap between the two cards is the spread. A narrow spread rarely wins and pays more, and a wide one wins often and pays even money. Before the third card you may double the bet or leave it, and that is the only decision in the game.
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- Winning third cards, of 310 left
- 96
- Chance the third card falls between
- 30.97%
- What the bet pays
- 1 to 1
A third card that matches either card, or falls outside them, loses the whole bet.
It has a correct answer for every spread, and the table shows the working.
A raise is a second bet at the same price, so it is worth making only when the bet itself is, which turns out to be a spread of 7 or more. The panel beside the table gives the chance of winning at the spread in front of you, what it pays and what the raise is worth in chips, and each decision is graded against the rule, whichever way the third card then falls. Played by that rule the game costs 2.80% of the opening bet.
| Spread | Wins | Per chip | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7.74% | −0.54 | Stand |
| 2 | 15.48% | −0.23 | Stand |
| 3 | 23.23% | −0.30 | Stand |
| 4 | 30.97% | −0.38 | Stand |
| 5 | 38.71% | −0.23 | Stand |
| 6 | 46.45% | −0.07 | Stand |
| 7 | 54.19% | +0.08 | Raise |
| 8 | 61.94% | +0.24 | Raise |
| 9 | 69.68% | +0.39 | Raise |
| 10 | 77.42% | +0.55 | Raise |
| 11 | 85.16% | +0.70 | Raise |
Per chip is what one chip riding on the spread wins or loses on average. A raise is exactly one more such chip, so it is made only where that figure is above zero.
02 / 03
Rules at this table
| Opening | Pays | Third card hits |
|---|---|---|
| A pair, then a third card of the same rank | 11 to 1 | 7.10% |
| Spread of 1 | 5 to 1 | 7.74% |
| Spread of 2 | 4 to 1 | 15.48% |
| Spread of 3 | 2 to 1 | 23.23% |
| Spread of 4 to 11 | 1 to 1 | 30.97% to 85.16% |
Chances are counted over the 310 cards left in a full shoe once two are on the table.
- 6 decks, 312 cards, dealt from a shoe and reshuffled when it runs down to the cut card.
- Two cards are dealt face up. Aces are high and suits do not matter.
- If the two cards are consecutive, such as a 7 and an 8, the hand is a push and the bet is returned.
- If the two cards are a pair, a third card is dealt at once. A third card of the same rank pays 11 to 1. Any other card is a push.
- Otherwise the spread is the number of ranks strictly between the two cards. You may raise, which doubles the bet, or stand. Then the third card is dealt.
- If the third card falls strictly between the first two, the whole bet wins: a spread of 1 pays 5 to 1, 2 pays 4 to 1, 3 pays 2 to 1, and a spread of 4 to 11 pays 1 to 1. If it matches either card or falls outside them, the whole bet loses.
The bet takes up to 500 chips. The table holds back a second bet from your balance, so a raise can always be covered. Your bet stays down for the next hand until you clear it.
FAQ
- Is this Red Dog game played for real money?
- No. The table uses play chips that have no value, cannot be bought, and cannot be cashed out or exchanged for anything. If you run out, you are handed another stack for free. There is no account and nothing to download.
- When should you raise in Red Dog?
- Raise on a spread of 7 or more and stand on anything narrower. At a spread of 7 the third card falls between 54.19% of the time at 1 to 1, so each chip raised wins 0.08 of a chip on average. At a spread of 6 it falls between 46.45% of the time, and each chip raised loses 0.07.
- What is the house edge in Red Dog?
- With six decks and the raise rule above, 2.80% of the opening bet. Never raising costs 7.97% and raising on every spread costs 21.71%. On a 100-chip bet played by the rule, that is about 2.80 chips a hand on average.
- Do the bigger payouts make narrow spreads worth a raise?
- No. A spread of 1 pays 5 to 1 but wins only 7.74% of the time, so each chip riding on it loses 0.54 of a chip on average. A spread of 4, the narrowest paid at even money, wins 30.97% of the time, and each chip added loses 0.38. The payouts on narrow spreads are well short of the true odds.
How this game works
The table deals from a shoe of 6 decks shuffled in your browser so that every ordering is equally likely. The odds are counted, not estimated. Once two cards are on the table, 310 cards are left, and every rank strictly between the two is untouched, with 24 cards each. So a spread of 1 has 24 winning third cards in 310, a chance of 7.74%, and the widest spread, 11, has 264, a chance of 85.16%.
A chip riding on a spread is worth the chance of winning times the payout, less the chance of losing. A raise is exactly one more such chip for every chip of the bet, so the raise is correct when that value is above zero and wrong when it is below. It is below zero on every spread from 1 to 6 and above it from 7 to 11. That is the rule the coach grades against: it is derived from the counts and not assumed.
The house edge takes every opening into account. Of the 97,032 ordered ways to deal the first two cards, 14.25% are consecutive and push, 7.40% are pairs, and 78.36% make a spread, with 17.81% of all hands wide enough to raise. A pair is matched by 22 of the 310 cards left, 7.10% of the time. Adding up every opening with every third card, and doubling the bet where the rule raises, gives 2.80% of the opening bet.
The site's tests check all of this by dealing every ordered pair of opening cards from a real six-deck shoe with every one of the cards left as the third card, and by pricing every other possible raise rule to confirm that none costs less. The expected value calculator works the same sum for any chance and payout you give it.
The expected cost of a hand is the house edge multiplied by the opening bet. The session figure is the same sum over every hand you have dealt, and what decisions off the rule gave up is counted separately.
Limits
- The figures are for a full six-deck shoe. They move very slightly as cards leave it, by far too little to act on.
- The number of decks changes every figure here, and some tables pay the spreads at different prices. Those games are priced differently and are not dealt here.
- The edge is quoted against the opening bet. A raise doubles the chips at risk on the hand, so the swings are larger than the edge alone suggests.
- Play chips do not feel like money. A losing run that is easy to sit through here is harder with a real stake.
This is a practice game for adults. It has no real-money play and links to none. Red Dog played for money has a house edge on every hand, and the correct raise rule lowers it without removing it.
Gambling can cause serious harm. The National Problem Gambling Helpline is free, confidential and open 24/7, call or text 1-800-MY-RESET (1-800-697-3738), or chat at ncpgambling.org/chat.
03 / 03
Go deeper
- Expected Value Calculator The sum behind the raise rule: a chance, a payout, and what the bet is worth.
- House Edge Comparison What every common casino bet keeps, and what its pace makes that cost per hour.
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