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How to Play Red Dog

Red Dog is a popular card game involving wagers and chips in a pot. Here's how to play:

Number of players: 2 to 10

Object: To win your wager during your turn.

The cards: Standard 52-card deck. Poker chips or counters are needed. Cards rank from ace (high) to 2.

Dealing: Each player draws a card, with the high card determining the first dealer. The dealer shuffles the deck and deals cards one at a time to each player, facedown and clockwise, beginning with the person to the dealer's left until each player has five cards. If more than eight people play, each player receives four cards. The rest of the cards are placed facedown on the table to serve as the stock. For every subsequent hand, the deal moves one player to the left from the previous dealer.

Playing: Each player antes one chip to the pot. Whenever the pot is empty at any point in the game, all players must ante up another chip to fill it. After checking his or her hand, the first player wagers any amount that is a part of or equal to the pot. The wager may not exceed the number of chips in the pot. If the player chooses not to wager, that player must still put a chip into the pot. Once the wager is made, the dealer turns the top card faceup from the stock.

To collect from the pot the player must have a higher ranked card of the same suit as that which the dealer turned up. If the player doesn't have a higher card, that player must display his or her entire hand and add the number of chips wagered to the pot. Each player, in turn, wagers, and the dealer turns up the top card from the stock for that player until everyone has had a chance to bet.

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