Liar's Dice

Liar's Dice is a game involving five traditional six-sided die per player. In Red Dead Redemption, players may gamble on the game.

Winning a game of Liar's Dice in Casa Madrugada is one of the steps into unlocking the Bandito Outfit.

Rules
The goal of the game is to be the last person with at least one die. There can be as few as 2 players (including yourself) at the table to play. To play, you must first bet the ante (which is generally $20), which means the winner takes all. Then everybody shakes the dice inside the tin can, lays it down on the table, and you get a chance to look at them. Your opponents do not get a chance to look at your dice and vice versa. Normally you begin the game by stating any number of dice that have any number on the dice on the table. For example there are three players total and you roll two 3s, one 4, and two 6s. You can begin by saying there is at least one 3 on the table total. Now the next person has to raise either the number of dice or the number on the dice. The lowest valid second guess could be either two 3s or one 4. Once everyone raises the guess it´s your turn again. Everyone keeps calling a bet in turn until a player either calls a bluff on the last guess, or declares the last guess spot on. Now lets assume the last player bets there are at least five sixes total on the table and you call it a bluff. Everyone raises their cups and the total number of sixes is counted. You have two so the current total is two. The next player has one more so that is three. The last player has four 6's which makes the final count seven 6's. You lose a die because the guess was of at least five 6´s on the table. Had there been less than five 6's, the other player would have lost a dice. Now had you declared the guess spot on you would have still lost a die because there are seven 6s not five. If there were exactly five 6´s the other players would have lost a die because you declared the bet spot-on and you were correct. This cycle continues until there is only one player with at least one die, and that player receives the total from the pot of ante's (3 players = winner gets $60).

Tips and Tricks
First and foremost, it is far easier to win at this game when playing against only ONE opponent. The dynamics of bid escalation, guesswork, and AI tendencies make it so that your best chance in this game lies in a simple duel. After all, this game involves mathematical probability; it's easier when the table's total dice count is 10 instead of 15. Also, it's easier to read one mind rather than two.

When bidding, seek out multiple dice with the same number, i.e. three 4s, and bid what you have. If you haven't any multiples, bid one of your singles. It's often good to bid on your lower dice, to leave headroom for subsequent bids to cover the higher-valued dice (i.e. if you have 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, bid there is one 1 -- if the opponent bids two 2s, because you have a 2 yourself, you can then either call Spot On or raise the bid to three 2s if you think there's another 2 out there).

The best approach is to bid what you have (or one less than what you have) and avoid bluffing -- avoid guessing (or hoping) your opponent has one more of the die you need. Although sometimes the NPC might surprise you!

NPCs very often call your bluff, not believing you when you say you have 2 or 3 or more of a particular die. They may also be forced into an obvious bluff (i.e. you bid three 6s, then they jump the bid to five 6s).

NPCs rarely, if ever, use the Spot On bid, so the player can gain a sizeable advantage by learning to use Spot On properly. It is confirmed that, at least in one-on-one matches, your NPC opponent NEVER uses the Spot On bid!

If you can get your opponent down to one die remaining, the game is in the bag. The NPC will ALWAYS bid the value of their die honestly during their initial bid. Their bid's quantity might vary between one or two, but the bid's face value is always the truth. If they bid one 2, they have one 2; if they bid two 4s, they have one 4. Therefore, if they bid two 6s and you have one 6 yourself, you can successfully bid Spot On because you know the total is two 6s. If they bid two 6s and you have none, by the process of elimination you know they are lying. If they bid two 6s and you have three of your own, you can raise the bid to three or four 6's; they will either either erroneously call your bluff, or raise it to an impossible amount where you'd know they were lying. Also, if you have a pair of something other than the value they bid (i.e. they bid one 2 and you have two 4s), bid on your pair; they will always erroneously call your bluff.

In summary, because NPCs often call bluffs they shouldn't, and they often make their own obvious bluffs, and they NEVER (at least in one-on-one matches) use Spot On bidding, and their endgame strategy is awful, this game can easily be mastered.

**EASY MONEY**: During the stranger's mission "Lights, Camera, Action" the game's ante amount is $200 instead of $20, making it the most profitable opportunity in the game. The ante remains at $200 until you leave Lyle Mouton at the table and save elsewhere (pushing the mission into its next phase), but you may periodically get up from the table to allow Autosave to preserve your growing fortune, then sit down again repeatedly to enjoy this sweetly inflated ante.

Trivia

 * In Pirates of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Will Turner challenges Davy Jones to a game of Liars Dice, which is used as an important plot development point, which results in his father being pledged to crew the ship for eternity.
 * The description for the Elegant Suit at the Thieves Landing tailor says that it can be used to cheat at Liar's Dice as well as Poker. This however is inaccurate as there is no way to cheat at Liar's Dice.