Card counting is a method in which players can track the ratio of tens to fours or fives, i.e. smaller cards, which are still available in the deck. It is through this method that the dealer can get bust when he hits. Smaller cards cause less damage to the dealer while tens cause greater harm.

To count the cards, you need to watch each move very precisely and calculate the card’s value from the running count. The basic advantage is that you can raise the bets if there are a lot of tens. While you don’t usually bet when there are smaller cards.

Though this strategy is fairly good enough and not illegal, it is not encouraged by casinos. They even dismiss players from the casino if they find the players counting cards. There are people specifically employed to catch people pursuing this strategy.

Even though this strategy is a no-no in casinos, players do count – but carefully so that they are not caught. They evade getting caught by keeping the bet size constant. But this technique can reduce the results expected from card counting.

Card counting is not the only means to win a game. If you are focussed and intuitive, you can still win games without going for advanced skills such as counting cards. It is just that card counting can make your life easy if only you master it well.

Now even after saying all this, if you wish to pursue card counting strategy, just go ahead. But ensure that it is done carefully and you are good at numbers.

If you see a player staying focussed on the game and thinking about the various strategies in mind, then don’t feel that he is apprehensive about luck. He does believe in luck. But, more important to him is how to manage luck carefully. It also shows that he has detached himself from emotions and can play the game more objectively.

If he does not play logically, he would not be able to take good decisions during the game. Luck-favoured results should not in any way hide your sloppy moves or ruin your objectivity in the long run.

Luck is also an important factor to judge your opponent’s winning potential. If you feel that you have made mistakes, correct them. If you feel that your opponent is extremely lucky and not that good a player, patiently wait for your turn. You would surely win.

If luck favours you, use it to your benefit. Be aggressive and play quality game. You’d like the way you played and would also be happy with the results. As noted philosopher, Machiavelli had said some time back that we can control luck by being ready for the consequences.

So, if you feel that you have no luck in your favour, you have no chance at all. If you wait to be lucky, you have no chance here too. Though it is true that luck is needed to win a big tourney, it is also true that you don’t win if you play like a novice even with luck favouring you all the time.

In short, have faith in your skills and even out luck in the long run.

In case the two cards dealt are consecutive such as a queen and a king card, a 5 and a 6 card, the player’s hand is declared to be a push and the bet he has posted is returned to him. If the two cards turn out to be a pair, the third card is dealt to the player. If the third card’s value is also the same as the other two cards, the player is entitled to a huge payout of 11:1. If the third card has a different value the hand is again considered as a push.

The excitement of the game of Red dog poker mounts when the difference in value of the two cards dealt to the player happens to be greater than one, for example when he gets a 5 and a jack card. This results in a spread that will give a payout to the player after the third card is dealt. The spread operates such that if the difference between the two initial cards is one the payout is 5-to-1, if the gap is of two payout is 4-to-1, for a difference of three the payout is 2-to-1 and in case the gap is for four or more, payout value is 1-to-1. After the third card is dealt, if its value lies in between the first two cards, the player is entitled for the spread. Otherwise the player loses the bet. To make the payout more alluring, players can chose to double their bet size before the third card is dealt.

Red dog poker game is played with luck and no strategy and even when eight card decks are used, no effect on luck is observed.

The game of Red dog poker is played with a standard deck of 52 cards and the number of card decks used in this game may vary from one to eight. Interestingly, more the number of card decks is employed in the game lesser becomes the house advantage, as borne out by the fact that when played with one deck house edge is around 3.155% but falls to approximately 2.751% when the game is being played with eight decks. This feature of the game of Red dog poker is in contrast with some other casino gambling games played with cards such as blackjack where it has been observed that the house edge increases when more decks of cards are introduced in the game.

The game of Red dog poker is very easy to play and employs only three cards at one time. The ranking of the cards are same as that in any poker game and the ace cards are always assigned the high value. However, in the Red dog poker game the suits of the cards are never important. The game play, which follows closely the format of the acey-deucey game, consists of a player being dealt two cards with their faces up in front of him on the game table and a bet is posted. The use of the third card in the game and also the result of play depends on the two cards that are initially dealt to the player.

In the next round, player B receives a 9 as his second up card, followed by another 3 for player C, a 4 for player D and a 2 for player A. Player D with a 4 and an ace has the lowest hand and bets $5 which is called by player A with a decent low hand of 4 and 2. Player B with a high hand of jack and 9, folds making player C with a pair of 3 the highest hand. Since he has the chance to improve his hand with subsequent cards, he also calls. The next round gives him an ace, player D a king and the dealer himself an 8. Player A now has the lowest hand with 8, 4, 2. He bets $10 which is raised $10 by player C whereas the player D folds. With player A calling player C, this round ends. In the next round, player A gets an 8 and player C is dealt a 6. Now player C’s pair of 3 is lower than player A’s pair of 8. He bets $10 and is called by player A. When the final hole card is dealt, player C again bets $10 and is again called. Now player A’s hole cards are 7, jack and ace which makes his low hand of 8, 7, 4, 2 and ace. This is bettered by player C’s low hand of 7, 6, 4, 3 and ace, his hole cards being 4, 6 and 7. So, player C wins the pot.