Criss Cross Poker: Rules and Winning Startegies

Criss cross poker is a poker-style table game that is becoming increasingly popular. It’s a variation of poker, with a few extra gimmicks and a bonus wager. Beating the house at table games typically involves finding the greatest possible odds, sticking to a few short odds wagers, and getting the benefit of game restrictions wherever available.

This tutorial will explain to you how to practice Criss Cross Poker and how to win.

2. What Is Criss-Cross Poker?

Criss Cross Poker is a table game based on the principles of Mississippi Stud, but with a unique card arrangement and additional betting choices. It was also inspired by informal games conducted in the online poker community in which a cross-shape was utilized to conceal two sets of communal cards. Criss Cross Poker video, which was released as an official game in 2014, is growing in popularity and is now accessible in dozens of major online casinos around the country.

Aside from the criss cross poker layout, which I will discuss in more depth below, the game is notorious for requiring players to wager on two poker hands at the same time, utilizing a mix of hole and community cards to construct the greatest possible hand. Players can win on one or both hands, or they can lose on one or both hands.

3. How Do You Play Criss-Cross Poker?

This is when the game becomes a bit hard, so pay close attention to this phase. When the first betting round in Criss Cross poker is over, the dealer must take five cards face down and create a cross with them. 

You’ll end up with two lines of three cards that form a cross sign, and it’s critical that you arrange the cards in this manner, or you won’t be able to play the game properly. Once the dealer has completed the cross sign with the community cards, he or she must flip over one of the cards in the cross, excluding the center card.

You should always save the middle card until the very end of the hand, and we’ll explain why later. In Criss Cross poker, once the dealer flips over the first card, there is a round of betting before the dealer turns over another card. 

This process is repeated until there is just one player remaining in hand or until all of the cards have been flipped over save the center card. The middle card in the cross is usually a wild card; therefore, you can play it as such.

If you have the same card in your hand, you can use it as a wild card as well. For example, if the wild card is an 8, every 8 in the deck is wild for that hand. Players must build the greatest 5-card poker hand possible by utilizing two cards from their hand and three communal cards. However, you are not permitted to select any of the community cards. You must select between the three horizontal cards and the three vertical cards.

Hand Rankings in Criss Cross poker

The hand rankings in Criss Cross poker are the same as they are in other poker games like Texas Holdem. If you’ve never played poker before, make sure you read a hand rankings chart, or you’ll be absolutely clueless. Criss Cross poker isn’t a poker game you’ll find in any online poker rooms or casinos, but you could play it with your pals if you wanted to.

4. Criss Cross Poker Rules

Criss Cross Wild is a variant of Wild Hex in which fewer community cards are used. As a result, there will be fewer insane hands in Criss Cross Wild. That isn’t always a terrible thing. Criss Cross Wild is a fun poker variation with reasonable rules.

Because Criss Cross Wild has six betting rounds, pots can develop much larger than in other poker versions. The wild cards are revealed at the conclusion of the hand, and they have the potential to affect everything. Nothing is ever certain in Criss Cross Wild. That’s part of what makes this game so enjoyable. 

Setup

The dealer deals five cards face down in the middle of the table at the start of each round. These cards are organized in a cross pattern, with one card in the center and four cards around it.

Blinds

Wild employs the same blinds structure as Texas Holdem. The two players on the left of the dealer must collect the blinds at the start of each round. Every player at the table, much as in Texas Holdem, must take turns paying the blinds.

Round One

Each participant is dealt four hole cards. To make their final poker hands, the players will employ any five-card combination of these hole cards plus the community cards.

the second round

The cross’s top card is revealed. Then there’s another round of betting.

Round Three

The right cross card is revealed. Then there’s another round of betting.

Round Four

The cross’s bottom card is revealed. Then there’s another round of betting.

The fifth round

The cross’s left card is revealed. Then there’s another round of betting.

Showdown

Any remaining players may now disclose their cards. The pot is won by the player with the best five-card poker hand. Any five-card combination of hole cards and community cards can be used to construct a poker hand. The pot is won by the player who has the better hand.

Anyone who hasn’t folded their hands by the end of the final betting round flips their four hole cards. The pot is won by the player who can build the highest ranking poker hand out of their four cards and either the vertical or horizontal line of the cross.

It is critical to note that while determining his or her hand, a player must select either the vertical or horizontal line. A player cannot utilize both sets of cards.

Criss-Cross is sometimes played with a high-low split. This implies that the money is shared between the players with the best and worst hands, comparable to Omaha hold’em. Because there is a wildcard in every hand for everyone to use, Criss Cross poker is a fantastic casino game.

People frequently stay until the conclusion of the hand to check if the wild card is one of the cards they have in their hand. This means that you’ll be playing for a lot of big pots while also having a great time with your friends.

5. Criss Cross Poker Strategy

According to the best game tactics, you should only ever fold, make a little raise (1x), or make a maximum raise (3x). A 2x increase makes little sense in terms of probabilities.

The Down hand has two more cards than the Across hand, but the optimal approach is the same. The greatest approach for the Middle Bet is to avoid folding following a max raise. The Middle Bet, according to criss cross poker strategy, should only be folded around 4.5 percent of the time, and technically, you have a positive expectation on this half of your gamble, as it pays out approximately 10% in the player’s advantage.

That’s because, by the time you come to the final card reveal, you’ve gathered a wealth of knowledge to assist you in making an informed decision. However, this is offset by the poor probabilities of winning either the Across or Down hands. In the end, it all adds up to a pleasant nearly-even prospect.

Placing the Five Card casino bonus bet requires no technique. Because the payments do not meet the odds, it is a losing proposition regardless of how you play it. Criss Cross Poker is not a sophisticated game, and the majority of the strategy is determining whether to fold or play.

6. Criss Cross Poker Payouts

Criss Cross Poker is a decision-making game. There are 975 possible possibilities for the game, with players having two sets of probable hands to play, four unique combinations of raises, and a few distinct opportunities to fold. To suggest the rules are difficult is a disservice to the game.

In terms of fast withdrawals and odds, this makes it a reasonably good game. At around 70 hands every hour, anyone staking $20 on their first antes will lose about $60 per hour. That puts it on par with many other table games and around the same price as a great meal for two in Vegas.

7. Criss Cross Poker Games

Criss Cross is a unique poker version that is not based on any other sort of poker. However, in the manner that community cards work, it is comparable to games like Texas Hold ’em and Cincinnati. This makes Criss-Cross a relatively simple game to play, and anybody who is familiar with fundamental poker hands and betting methods should be able to take up the game quickly.

8. Conclussion

Criss Cross Poker’s reputation is obvious given its unusual features and layouts, as well as its modest house edge. People enjoy poker because it is less stressful than head-to-head play, the rules are easier, and you may have fun while playing without thinking too much about tactics. 

Criss Cross Poker contains all of these characteristics, and the fact that it is new adds to the novelty. It’s not one of the worst-odds bets on the table, and if you go on a strong winning run, there’s no excuse you can’t walk away with a victory.