Criss Cross Poker Strategy
Three decisions decide the hand. Learn when to raise 3x, stay at 1x, fold or skip.
Three decisions Across, Down, MiddleAcross
Judge your two hole cards
Raise 3xDown
Reuse the Across rule
Raise 3xMiddle
Press strong made hands and draws
Raise 3xAcross
Judge your two hole cards
First decisionDown
Reuse the Across rule
Second decisionMiddle
Press strong made hands and draws
Third decisionThe Across Bet
Your first decision. You only know your two hole cards.
Why the fold line sits so low
A pair of 5s or lower is a losing hand on this pay table. So a holding like 4♦ 2♣ has no cheap way to win. It needs two pair or better, built from two useless cards. Everything with a 6 or higher, or any two suited cards, still has a route.
The Down Bet
Use the same base rule, now with two exposed Across cards.
Helpful blanks · Raise 3x
Low, offsuit and nothing you were drawing to.
Rank already gone · Bet 1x
These pair the cards you were hoping to pair.
Playing the Down decision perfectly, accounting for every exposed card, is worth roughly 0.15% over simply reusing the Across rule. Real, but small.
The exposed cards belong to the other hand, but they still remove cards from the deck.
The Middle Bet
Four community cards are visible. The Middle pays on whichever hand finishes higher.
Rule of thumb
Folding the Middle is almost always wrong.
It has no ante, it sees the most information of any bet in the game, and it pays on the better of your two hands. Only about 4.5% of hands are a genuine Middle fold.
The Whole Strategy in One View
- You already made a 3x bet
- Pair of 6s or better
- One card from a straight or flush
Bankroll and Variance
Playing this game correctly means pushing a lot of money in.
Maximum exposure: 11 units
Two antes, plus 3x on Across, Down and Middle. Add the optional Five Card Bonus and it is twelve.
A $25 ante is up to $275 in one hand
Ante Across, Ante Down, then 3x on each of the three bets.
Size the ante, not the raise
Pick an ante you would be comfortable putting in five times over, because on your best hands you will.
Do not shade the 3x
Betting 1x where the strategy says 3x is the most common leak. The raise is where the pay table's value lives.
Treat the bonus as entertainment
The Five Card Bonus runs a 3.53% house edge. Cheap as side bets go, but still a side bet with no decision attached.
Four Common Mistakes
Folding the Middle bet out of caution
It is the cheapest, best-informed wager at the table and it pays on the better of your two hands. Skipping it is usually a straight donation of expected value.
Betting 1x with a pocket pair
A pair in the hole is a made hand in both directions before anything turns over. That is a maximum raise in every published strategy for the game.
Folding because there is no dealer to beat
There is no dealer, but there is still a fold line: unsuited, unpaired, nothing above a 5. Folding wider than that costs you antes on hands that had real equity.
Forgetting the centre card plays twice
One card completes or kills both hands at once. When you are drawing, count the outs that help both directions. Those are the ones worth pressing on.
Practise it with the strategy coach turned on
See the recommended action before every decision, and the reason behind it.
The rules on this page are a simplified reading of the published optimal strategy for Criss Cross Poker; the full solution accounts for every exposed card at each decision. House edge 4.33% against the ante, 1.48% element of risk. Analysis reference: Wizard of Odds.