Our take, after a lot of hands
Criss Cross Poker is the rare table game that feels like two Let It Rides happening at once — except you can’t take money back. You commit two Antes before a card turns, build two five-card hands from the same two hole cards, and size each raise yourself. The middle card of the cross is shared, so when it hits, both hands move together. That final flip is the best moment in any community-card poker variant we’ve sat through.
The price is real. The combined Antes carry a 4.33% house edge, and you’re posting two of them every hand whether you like what you see or not. That’s steeper than Mississippi Stud on a per-hand basis, even though the element of risk (~2.54%) lands in the same neighborhood once you account for how often you check. The trap everyone walks into is raising 3× on a pair of 8s: the Ante pushes, the Raise loses, and you donated triple anyway.
Who’s it for? Players in the Mid-Atlantic or tribal markets where the game actually lives, who want two shots at a paying hand and don’t mind a slower, thinkier pace. If you’re flying to Vegas specifically for this felt, check the directory first — the Strip has tried it four times and pulled it every time.
Where it came from
Unlike the Derek Webb poker family, Criss Cross comes out of AGS Gaming’s Las Vegas table-games studio. U.S. Patent 9,564,016 B2 covers the Across/Down structure with optional Middle raises — the variable sizing is the patent’s whole point. AGS marketed it alongside Bonus Spin Xtreme and other pair-triggered progressives, and it caught fire where Geoff Hall’s games had already warmed up the floor: Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, New Jersey tribal rooms, Oklahoma.
Las Vegas never bought in. Planet Hollywood tested it in the mid-2010s; the LINQ ran it in 2019; the Strat in 2022; Golden Nugget dealt $5 tables from late 2023 into 2024. Vegas Advantage’s March 2026 update puts the count at zero — “popular at East Coast casinos, flopped four different times in Las Vegas.” It’s the same regional-success / Strip-failure pattern Mississippi Stud lived through for years. Don’t confuse this with Crisscross Poker on video lottery terminals — completely unrelated product.
The two raises that matter
Everything strategic happens at two points: after the Across row’s end cards flip, and after the Down column’s end cards flip. The middle card is still hidden at both decisions. Run a spot through the trainer before you 3× a marginal pair.
Editor's tool
Check, 1x, or 3x? Size your raise
The variable raise is where the strategy lives. Pick which decision you're on and what you're holding; we'll tell you how hard to push.
The Wizard of Odds line is tighter than floor chatter suggests. Across: 3× with pair of 7s+, four to a flush, or a clean straight draw with high cards; 1× with smaller pairs and live draws; check the rest. Down: 3× on any made paying hand; 1× when a low pair or middle-card draw still has upside; check otherwise. Casual players give back half a point to a full point by under-raising strong spots and over-raising push pairs.
The math nobody quotes on the rack card
That 4.33% measures edge against both Antes combined — on a $5/$5 start you’re donating 43 cents in expectation before any raise. But you don’t raise every hand, and when you do it’s often 1× not 3×. Average total action runs about 3.4× the unit Ante under optimal play, which pulls the element of risk down to 2.54%. Comparable to Caribbean Stud Poker on what you actually put at risk, even though the headline number looks worse.
Editor's tool
What will a session cost?
Two Antes are mandatory, so set the per-Ante minimum. Average action lands near 3.4 units a hand once you add the raises.
Expected loss only, with correct raise sizing and no side bets. The 5-Card Bonus (~3.53%) and the Bonus Spin progressive add their own cost on top. The shared middle card makes for big swings, so expect a bumpy ride around this number.
At $5 Antes, 50 hands an hour, and clean play, expect roughly $22 an hour in expected loss before side bets. The 5-Card Bonus adds about 3.5 cents per dollar wagered if you play it every hand. The Bonus Spin progressive is its own lottery ticket.
Payouts in a view
Each side (Across and Down) resolves independently:
| Hand | Ante | Raise |
|---|---|---|
| Royal Flush | 1:1 | 500:1 |
| Straight Flush | 1:1 | 100:1 |
| Four of a Kind | 1:1 | 40:1 |
| Full House | 1:1 | 12:1 |
| Flush | 1:1 | 8:1 |
| Straight | 1:1 | 5:1 |
| Three of a Kind | 1:1 | 3:1 |
| Two Pair | 1:1 | 2:1 |
| Pair of Jacks+ | 1:1 | 1:1 |
| Pair of 6s–10s | Push | Loses |
| Less than pair of 6s | Loses | Loses |
A royal on a 3× Raise pays 1,500× that Ante — the headline number that sells the game. Some felts bump the royal to 1,000:1 with trimmed lower tiers; read the layout before you sit.
Side bets
The 5-Card Bonus pays on the five community cards alone — your hole cards don’t matter. Standard paytable runs royal 250:1 down to pair of 6s at 1:1, with a house edge around 3.53%. That’s genuinely soft for a side bet. A few East Coast rooms also offer a 6-Card Bonus combining hole cards with four designated community cards.
The Bonus Spin Progressive (typically $5) triggers when your two hole cards form a pair; you spin for fixed prizes or a linked jackpot. AGS bundles it with In-Between and Lucky Lucky on some felts. Treat it as entertainment — the base game already asks for two Antes.
How it stacks up against the room
Criss Cross sits in the no-dealer community-card family with Let It Ride and Mississippi Stud, but the dual-hand structure is its own thing:
| Game | Element of risk | Decisions | Dealer hand? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Criss Cross Poker | ~2.54% | 2 (variable raise) | No |
| Mississippi Stud | ~1.37% | 3 | No |
| Let It Ride | ~2.85% | 2 (pull back) | No |
| Caribbean Stud Poker | ~2.56% | 1 | Yes |
| Three Card Poker | ~2.01% | 1 | Yes |
| Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em | ~0.53% | 3 | Yes |
You trade Mississippi Stud’s lower edge for two simultaneous hands and the 1×–3× raise lever — the only widely spread game that lets you size two independent raises from the same hole cards. What you don’t get is a Vegas Strip table; what you do get is the best final-card sweat in the category.
A player’s take
Two hands, one middle card — I'm hooked
Found this at Rivers Pittsburgh on a slow Tuesday. Took one hand to get the cross layout, two hands to stop 3× raising my pair of 9s into a push. When the middle card made both my hands — across hit two pair, down hit a flush — the whole table leaned in. Not in Vegas anymore according to friends, but it's all over Pennsylvania if you know where to look.
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Where to find a table
Skip Las Vegas for now — zero current listings in the 2025/2026 surveys after those four failed runs. You’re looking at regional and tribal floors: Live! Philadelphia and Maryland, MGM National Harbor, Hollywood Toledo and Columbus, Hard Rock Northern Indiana, WinStar and Choctaw in Oklahoma, Pechanga and Cache Creek in California, Beau Rivage on the Gulf Coast, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. Atlantic City rotates it at Borgata, Hard Rock, and Bally’s. AGS also distributes an online RNG version in PA, MI, NJ, and WV. Browse our US casino directory and filter by table games before you drive.
How we sourced this
Math and strategy follow the Wizard of Odds Criss Cross Poker analysis (4.33% combined-Ante edge, 2.54% element of risk, optimal raise chart). Rules cross-checked against Hard Rock Northern Indiana, Hollywood Toledo, and Maryland Lottery & Gaming standard-rules PDFs (v1.3), plus New Hampshire AGP side-bet sheets. Patent 9,564,016 B2 confirms the Across/Down/Middle structure. Las Vegas placement history comes from Vegas Advantage 2025/2026 surveys and documented runs at Planet Hollywood, LINQ, Strat, and Golden Nugget. Where a side bet looks cheap, we quoted its edge anyway — the two mandatory Antes are already doing the heavy lifting.
