Caribbean Stud Poker is a poker variant that fits the players against the house and not against each other. This game was first known as Casino Poker but later on, it became popular in Aruba and other Caribbean Casinos. It was later on renamed as Caribbean Stud Poker.
This game has the same rules as Seven-card Stud except that you are fitted against the house.
Caribbean Stud Poker Rules
Here are some of the rules that govern a Caribbean stud poker game.
• There are three bets in Caribbean Stud Poker. The first bet is the ante. The second bet is the raise bet which is double the amount of the ante. The third is the progressive jackpot bet.
• The dealer’s hand is a five card hand but when it is dealt, there will be one card exposed. You can decide from this exposed card if you can beat the dealer and thus you are going to bet a raise or fold your card if you feel you cannot beat the dealer thereby forfeiting your ante bet.
• The dealer’s hand has to qualify in order for the game to commence. To quality the dealer’s hand has to be an A-K or better. If the dealer did not quality, players win equal money on the ante and the raise bet is a push or returned.
• If the dealer’s hand qualifies, then players will have to beat his hand to win.
• In Caribbean stud, there is a progressive side bet and you can bet a dollar to play in the progressive. If you do not place a dollar bet, you may not win in the progressive even if you have a Royal Flush, which card is entitled to 100% of the progressive or straight flush who should win 10% of the progressive jackpot.
• The house edge in this game is about 5.224%; you can lower this by betting on an A-K or any one pair.
Caribbean Stud Poker Game Play
1. Play starts by the dealer shuffling the cards. The players then place their ante in the ante box. You will also need to drop your dollar into the progressive jackpot box.
2. The dealer now deals five cards to each player and himself where one of his cards will be exposed.
3. The dealer then pushes that face up card to the player for them to see.
4. The players will now check their cards and made a decision. Players will either fold and forfeit their ante or raise, place a bet double the amount of the ante.
5. Then, the dealer will expose all of his cards to check if he qualifies. To qualify the dealer has to have an Ace and a King or better to qualify. If the dealer qualifies, the play continues. If the dealer hand did not qualify, he does not have A-K or better, then, the players will be paid equal money on the ante. No winning for the raise bet.
6. In the case that the dealer hand qualifies, the players will have to beat his hand to win. If players beat the dealer’s hand, the player will win even money on the ante and pay the raise bet. If the player lost with the hand of the dealer, then, the ante and the raise bet are lost.
As mentioned above, on top of the ante and the raise bet, there is progressive jackpot to be won as well. Payout for the progressive jackpot is as follow:
Progressive Payout Table
Hand Ranking Payout
Royal Flush 100% of the Progressive Jackpot
Straight Flush 10% of the Progressive Jackpot
Four-of-a-kind $500
Full House $100
Flush $50
Playing Caribbean Stud Poker is quite exciting and can be profitable at times. However, you will definitely never be able to beat the house. The most you can do is to lower the house edge which you can do by using optimal Caribbean Stud Poker strategy.
Now, that you know the probability of winning in Caribbean Stud Poker, you can now jump into the Caribbean Stud Poker Casinos to play.
