The History of Criss Cross Poker
How a game built in a gaming lab found its way onto casino floors, and why the players who found it first kept coming back.
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How Criss Cross Poker began
In the hushed corners of casino floors, where high rollers chase fleeting fortunes and dealers shuffle the deck with practised precision, a new game began its quiet ascent. It wasn’t Texas Hold’em or blackjack, nor was it part of the old guard of gambling staples. It was Criss Cross Poker, a game whispered among seasoned players looking for something different and fresh.
Criss Cross Poker didn’t emerge from the smoky back rooms of underground card houses or the daring minds of rogue gamblers. Instead, it was carefully crafted in a gaming lab, built not for rebellion but for reinvention. Created by In Bet Gaming, the game made its first appearance in casinos around 2014 as part of a wave of specialty poker variants designed to diversify gambling floors.
Who makes it today
Criss Cross Poker was developed by Ron LaDuca and In Bet Gaming, and is distributed to casinos by AGS (PlayAGS). It is a licensed proprietary table game, which is why it turns up in clusters of properties rather than everywhere at once. Where to find a table.
The first Criss Cross Poker tables
At select venues, dealers unfolded the felt, laid out the new rules, and watched as gamblers eyed the setup with curiosity. The structure was innovative: two five-card hands crossed at the centre, creating a web of potential wins.
The betting mechanism was equally appealing. Players could wager on both rows and columns, creating more opportunities than traditional poker games had offered before.
Some players hesitated, sceptical of the unfamiliar format. Others dove in, eager to crack the probabilities and decode the game’s secrets before the rest of the room caught on. In those early days, Criss Cross Poker was a hidden treasure, a niche offering tucked away between more prominent poker tables. But that was about to change.
Why players were drawn to the game
For gamblers drawn to Criss Cross Poker, the thrill was not just in the wager. It was in the strategy. With multiple ways to win, a criss-crossing matrix of possibilities and a delicate balance between risk and reward, the game attracted players seeking more than luck. It appealed to those chasing mastery.
Unlike games driven purely by chance, Criss Cross Poker rewarded players who could read the patterns, adjust their bets and play the long game.
That balance still holds. Played well, the game runs at roughly a 1.48% element of risk: the expected loss measured against everything you actually put on the felt. Played carelessly, it is a great deal more expensive than that. The three decisions are here.
Casino expansion and player adoption
Casinos looking to freshen up their poker repertoire saw potential in this hybrid creation. The game spread beyond its origins, making its way into tribal and commercial casinos, particularly in the eastern United States.
While it did not replace the biggest poker titles, Criss Cross Poker found its niche. A growing group of players saw something special in its mechanics, its strategic depth and its distinctive table layout.
The future of Criss Cross Poker
Though still considered a specialty offering rather than a mainstream poker staple, Criss Cross Poker is no longer a fleeting experiment. It has solidified its place in casino rotations, with its steady adoption serving as a testament to its engaging mechanics.
As word spreads and more players gather around the table, the game that once sat in the shadows may yet find itself on the verge of something bigger.