Signature: This is an easy, fast-paced banking game that also goes by the name high-card pool.
Objective: The goal is to beat the top card of the pack (undealt cards) in the same suit.
How It Works: Red dog, ideal for 2 to 10 players, uses a 52-card deck and poker chips or a similar substitution. Aces have the highest value.
Five cards are dealt to each player; in the case of more than 8 players, each is dealt only four cards apiece. Then each player antes a decided amount to form a pool.
The first player to receive cards in the deal goes first. He either bets or doesn’t.
No Betting: If he doesn’t bet, he forfeits one chip to the pot then discards his hand without revealing it.
Betting: If the player does bet, he wagers one or more chips, up to the number in the pot. The dealer turns up the top card of the pack.
If the player can show a higher-ranking card in the same suit, he/she does and takes back the number of chips bet. The dealer gives the player the same number of chips from the pot.
If the player cannot show a higher card, the dealer adds the player’s bet to the pot. The player shows their entire hand face up then discards it face down. The next player, to the left, takes a turn.
If at any time the pot becomes empty or contains less than the initial amount, every player antes the initial stake, and the game continues. After everyone has bet, the turn to deal passes to the next player.
Current Status: This card game, once popular in the American West, seems to have died there. Confusingly, what American online casinos now call red dog or red dog poker is actually another game from the past — acey-deucey or ace-deuce. It also was called yablon, in between or between the sheets.