Dragon Tiger
Dragon tiger strips a card game down to a single comparison. A card is dealt to the Dragon spot and a card to the Tiger spot, both face up, and the higher card wins; an ace is the lowest and a king the highest. You bet on Dragon, on Tiger, or on the two cards tying, and the round is over in the time it takes to turn two cards. There is no drawing, no hand to build and no decision after the chips are down.
With nothing to play, the whole cost of the game sits in two rules about the tie: how much of a main bet a matched pair of cards takes, and the figure the Tie area prints. The how-to-play guide runs the round and the side bets, and the odds page gives the price of every bet for every common rule and deck count.
Dragon Tiger Guides
The three main areas, how a round is dealt and settled, the tie rule, the side bets and the words on the layout.
Every bet priced for one, four, six and eight decks, the tie at each payout, the suited tie, and the odd, even, big and small bets.
Every dragon tiger table here, open on play credits with nothing to register.
Dragon, Tiger and Tie: Chance, Pay and House Edge
Eight decks, the common shoe. Dragon and Tiger are the same bet under two names, and the tie rule printed beside them is what sets their price. The odds page prices the tie at every payout from 7 to 12 to 1 and the main bets for one, four and six decks as well.
The Tie Sets the Price
Dragon and Tiger each win 46.27% of rounds from an eight-deck shoe, and on every one of the remaining 7.47% the two cards match. If a tie simply returned the main bets, the game would cost nothing. It does not: on most tables a tie takes half of each Dragon and Tiger stake, and that half, on one round in 13.39, is the 3.73% the game keeps. A table that takes the whole stake on a tie keeps twice as much, 7.47%.
The tie bet itself is priced from the other side of the same number. A tie arrives once in 13.39 rounds, so a payout of 12:1 would come close to fair; the usual 8:1 gives up 32.77% of every stake and 11:1 gives up 10.36%. The gap between those two tables is the widest in the game, and it is printed on the layout.
Not Baccarat
The game is often filed as a baccarat variant because it uses a shoe, two named spots and a tie bet. The resemblance stops at the layout. Baccarat deals two cards a side, adds them with tens counting nothing, and may draw a third under a fixed table; its cheapest bet is cheap because that drawing table favours one side. Dragon tiger deals one card a side, compares face values with the ace at the bottom, and never draws. Nothing favours either spot, and all of the house's share comes from the tie.
That makes it a simpler game and a slightly dearer one. Its main bets at 3.73% cost more than either main bet at a baccarat table, and its tie bet, at the usual payout, costs several times what baccarat's does. The baccarat overview gives those figures for comparison.
Side Bets on One Card
Each is a bet on the Dragon card or the Tiger card alone, and a 7 loses all four: it is neither big nor small, and it is counted out of odd and even as well. A 7 shows on 7.69% of cards, one in 13, and that is exactly the edge on every one of these bets.
Strategy, Honestly
With one card a side and no draw, the only decision is which bet, and the table above settles it. Dragon and Tiger are a single bet at a single price; the tie bet at any common payout costs several times as much; the suited tie at 50:1 costs 13.98%, dearer than a tie paid 11 to 1 and cheaper only than one paid 8 to 1. The right order is the order of the house edge column, and nothing about the shoe, the dealer or the last ten results changes it.
The results board on every table records what has already happened and predicts nothing. Each round is a fresh pair of cards, and the chance of a tie or a Dragon win is the same after a run of ten Tiger wins as after none. A staking plan reshapes when losses arrive and leaves their size alone, and card counting has nothing to work with when each round is two cards from a shoe of several decks.
Free Play or Real Money
A free round shows the two lines that price a dragon tiger table, the tie rule and the tie payout, before any stake is real.
Dragon Tiger FAQs
Neither. From eight decks the two spots win equally often, 46.27% apiece, and lose the same share on a tie, so they are one bet under two names at 3.73% on a half-loss table.
Most tables keep half and return half. Some keep the whole stake, which doubles the cost of the bet to 7.47%. The layout states which rule applies.
Rarely. Paid 8 to 1 it costs 32.77% of each stake, and paid 11 to 1 still 10.36%, while the main bets cost 3.73%. At the lower payout nothing on the layout is dearer; at the higher one only the suited tie is.
As the lowest card, below the 2. A king is the highest. Suits do not matter to the main bets; two cards of the same rank are a tie whatever their suits.
A little. Ties are rarer with fewer decks, so the main bets cost 3.70% from six decks and 3.73% from eight, and the tie bet at 11 to 1 costs 11.25% and 10.36%.
No. It deals one card a side rather than two, compares face values rather than totals, and never draws a third card. The layout looks alike; the arithmetic is different.
More Table Games
The two-hand game this one is mistaken for, with a drawing rule and a cheaper main bet.
One joker, two rows, and a single choice with an exact price.
One card and a guess, with the multiplier doing the pricing.
Every bet on the wheel, and why the number of zeros matters most.
Dragon Tiger Games to Try Free
Every table below runs on play credits. Before betting, find two lines on its layout, what a tie does to a Dragon or Tiger stake and what the tie bet pays, because those decide which of the prices above applies. The complete list is on the free dragon tiger games page.
