Ezugi Russian Poker is a poker-based card game played against a live dealer. The objective is to beat the dealer with a better 5-card poker hand.
At first sight, Russian Poker looks like a very complicated game.
The additional playing options can improve your chances of winning, making this a more exciting game than the popular Casino Hold’em.
It’s essential to use a strategy when playing Russian Poker. It’s easy to spend extra money on improving a hand when the correct thing to do is to fold.
In this review, I’ll explain how to play Russian Poker, the strategies for the hands, and when to use the extra options.
Russian Poker was formerly known as Royal Poker at Ezugi. If you’ve played Russian Poker before, you won’t have trouble understanding and playing Ezugi Russian Poker – They are the same!
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You play Ezugi Russian Poker against a live dealer. The player and dealer receive five cards, but only the player can improve their hand.
The player aims to get a better 5-card hand than the dealer.
Players can play the hand as it is, fold it, or try to improve it by taking another card (making 6) or swapping two to five for replacement cards.
The dealer deals another set of five cards that become the community cards, from which the player takes his sixth card or swaps. The dealer does not use these.
To play, the dealer must qualify with a hand value of Ace-King or above. If the dealer hasn’t qualified, players can buy the dealer an extra card to help them qualify. You’d generally want to do this if you have a good hand and want the best possible payout. A non-qualified dealer’s hand would pay the Ante at 1:1 and Push the bet position.
Insurance is offered to players when they have a hand value of three of a kind or better. The insurance covers the dealer’s hand, not qualifying and pays 1:1.
When the player has played the sixth card option, it’s possible to end up with two winning 5 card hands. If this occurs, both hands will receive a payout as detailed in the Double-hand paytable.
| Result | Ante Bet | Bet | Insurance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dealer has Qualified and Player Wins | Push | Win | n/a |
| Dealer has Qualified and Player Ties | Push | Push | n/a |
| Dealer has Qualified and Player Loses | Lose | Lose | n/a |
| Player Folds | Lose | Lose | n/a |
| Dealer NOT qualified | 1:1 | Push | n/a |
| Dealer NOT qualified after Card Swap | Push | Push | n/a |
| Dealer has qualified, and Player insured cards | Push | Win | Lose |
| Dealer has NOT qualified, and Player insured cards | Push | Push | 1:1 |
| Dealer has qualified with a higher combination than Player, and Player insured cards | Lose | Lose | Push |
Ezugi Russian Poker plays with one deck of 52 cards, freshly shuffled before each game.
An unlimited number of players can play a player’s hand. Every playing decision a player makes is personal to them, and the cards they are playing are displayed in graphical form in the playing interface.
The game starts with the dealer dealing five cards facing up to the player’s position and five cards to the dealer’s position, with one card facing up.
There are four options to choose from once you’ve got your initial five cards.
The dealer deals five community cards face up onto the table. These provide the extra card and the swap cards for players that have requested them. The cards get allocated in the order they appear on the table.
At this point, if your player hand contains a Three of a Kind plus Ace-King or more, you’ll be offered the chance to insure your hand against the dealer not qualifying. Insurance will pay 1:1.
Once your hand is complete, you can play it or Fold it.
To play, you’ll bet two times the value of the Ante.
The dealer will reveal his cards and order them in rank order.
The dealer needs a hand Ace-King or higher to be able to play, which is called Dealer Qualifying. If he doesn’t qualify, the dealer doesn’t play his hand, so the player will have his Ante bet paid at 1:1, and the bet spot bet returns as a push.
If the dealer qualifies, his and the player’s hands get compared. The best hand wins.
In some circumstances, when the dealer’s hand hasn’t qualified, the player can buy another card to see if he can make the dealer’s hand qualify.
When presented, the player selects the option for the cost of one Ante. The highest card is removed from the dealer’s hand and replaced with another card from the deck. The game continues depending on whether the hand has qualified or not.
Different strategies for playing Russian Poker exist, depending on the cards and options you are playing.
A strong hand is the best way to win, so we’ll concentrate on methods to ensure you only play the hands with the best chance of winning.
It’s also true of when and when not to use the options to improve your hand. There will be good times to do it and bad times, so I’ll also cover those.
It’s essential to start with a good hand or one with potential. Building on a weak hand is just throwing money away. You aim to identify the best hands to keep and then use the correct option to build the hand.
This Russian Poker strategy does both. I’ve tried to keep things simple so you have enough time to act during the betting time.
I’m sure there are more complex strategies you could follow – try searching for Russian Poker Strategies and read what they have to say. But all systems will boil down to a few simple decisions.
This strategy doesn’t guarantee you’ll win, but it will stop you from making stupid mistakes and keep your bankroll intact longer while you chase the big wins.
Strong hands or hands with potential is what we are after.
You should only proceed to build a hand if your hand contains :
All other hands are weak. There is no advantage in paying to build the hand, as the return may not cover your overall stake.
A sixth card is advantageous, as it allows you to complete a hand and create a two-hand combination, which attracts additional payouts.
Buy the 6th card when:
The cost of taking a sixth card is 1 x Ante bet.
Use the exchange card option when you want to swap more than one card.
The cost of swapping cards is 1 x the Ante.
Insurance gets offered when you have a hand value of Three of a Kind + Ace-King or more. It will pay you even money if the dealer doesn’t qualify. It’s a gamble and a bet I don’t think is worth taking.
Note: buying the dealer another card to qualify nullifies the bet.
Helping the dealer qualify is an exciting concept.
If you have a weak hand and the dealer hasn’t qualified, don’t buy him another card.
If you have a strong hand, buy the dealer another card unless the first is a King or Ace. The first card gets replaced by the new card, so you’re taking a card to an already weakened hand.
The Return to Player for Russian Poker is 98.23%.
Please take note of the pay tables, as the minimum payout is for a hand with Ace-King at 1:1. To win this against the dealer, you’d need a better kicker card than him.
The payouts are only paid on the Bet amount when the dealer qualifies, which may be a reason to buy Insurance if you have a hand above three of a kind with Ace-King.
If you’re holding a good hand, you can also buy the dealer another card when he hasn’t qualified.
On the flip side, if you have nothing and the dealer hasn’t qualified, don’t buy the dealer a card.
| Hand Value | Payout |
|---|---|
| Royal Flush | 100 to 1 |
| Straight Flush | 50 to 1 |
| Four of A Kind | 20 to 1 |
| Full House | 7 to 1 |
| Flush | 5 to 1 |
| Straight | 4 to 1 |
| Three of a Kind | 3 to 1 |
| Two Pairs | 2 to 1 |
| Pair | 1 to 1 |
| Ace-King | 1 to 1 |
| Double Hands | Payout |
|---|---|
| Royal Flush + Straight Flush | 150 to 1 |
| Royal Flush + Flush | 105 to 1 |
| Royal Flush + Straight | 104 to 1 |
| Royal Flush + Pair | 101 to 1 |
| Straight Flush + Straight Flush | 100 to 1 |
| Straight Flush + Flush | 55 to 1 |
| Straight Flush + Straight | 54 to 1 |
| Straight Flush + Pair | 51 to 1 |
| Straight Flush + Ace-King | 51 to 1 |
| Four of A Kind + Full House | 27 to 1 |
| Four of A Kind + Ace-King | 21 to 1 |
| Full House + Full House | 14 to 1 |
| Double Hands | Payout |
|---|---|
| Full House + Ace-King | 8 to 1 |
| Flush + Flush | 10 to 1 |
| Flush + Straight | 9 to 1 |
| Flush + Pair | 6 to 1 |
| Flush + Ace-King | 6 to 1 |
| Straight + Straight | 8 to 1 |
| Straight + Pair | 5 to 1 |
| Straight + Ace-King | 5 to 1 |
| Three of A Kind + Ace-King | 4 to 1 |
| Three Pairs | 3 to 1 |
| Two Pairs + Ace-King | 3 to 1 |
| Pair + Ace-King | 2 to 1 |
On the surface, Ezugi Russian poker seems like a complicated game. It’s not; it’s Casino Hold’em, with the option to buy or swap cards to strengthen your hand.
You only need to concentrate on your hand and the dealer’s up card.
You may win with weak hands, but that is more luck than judgment—never rely on the dealer not qualifying. Make your playing decisions based on a good Ezugi Russian Poker strategy.
This is an excellent version of Russian Poker produced by Ezugi.
I enjoy playing poker games, and this one is now one of my favourites, alongside Ultimate Texas Hold’em.
Ezugi Russian Poker is a live dealer single-hand game of Poker an unlimited number of players can play. Extra cards can be purchased or swapped to improve the hand before the dealer reveals his hand. It’s a relatively quick game and requires some knowledge of the value of Poker hands to play it successfully.
Russian Poker isn’t challenging to play, but you do need to identify when to fold a bad hand or build a hand with potential. It’s best to use a simple playing strategy and have some knowledge of playing Poker.
It certainly helps to know how to play Poker and the value of a poker hand. But you can learn these quite easily. You won’t go far wrong if you follow my simple playing strategy.
Ezugi Russian Poker has a theoretical RTP of 98.23%.
Yes, you can follow a simple strategy to play Russian Poker successfully. You’ll learn to identify the hands to play with and build and the ones to fold. You will also learn which playing options to take based on the hand’s value.
You can play Russian Poker at all Ezugi Live Casinos. My personal favourites are Vbet and Leo Vegas.
Ezugi Russian Poker and Russian Poker are the same game.
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