Caribbean Stud Poker is played with a 52 card deck, which is usually randomized using an automatic shuffling machine. On the players’ side of the table, each player has a spot on the table where she can place an “ante” and a spot where she can place a “bet”. Caribbean Stud Poker Hands. To play, wager in the “Ante Box” before the dealer announces no more bets. You receive five cards facedown and the dealer receives four cards facedown and one card face up. Look at your cards, and play or fold. If you choose to play, place a bet in the “Bet Box” equal to twice your ante.

• How To Play Caribbean Poker

By Henry Tamburin
Ten years ago you couldn't find a Caribbean Stud Poker table in any casino in the USA. Nowadays, virtually every major casino has at least one Caribbean Stud Poker table and in fact, most casinos have two or more tables. What led to its explosive growth? First, it's based on the All-American game of five-card stud poker that is familiar to most players. Secondly, all players compete against the dealer which eliminates the intimidation of playing against other players that occurs in regular table poker. Thirdly, the game features a progressive jackpot that sometimes reaches $100,000 and more. And fourthly, and most importantly, the game is easy to play.
Objective: To beat the dealer's five-card poker hand. There are no draw cards in Caribbean Stud Poker. Every player and the dealer are dealt five cards and if your five-card hand has a higher poker rank than the dealer's five-card hand, you win.
Play of the Game: The game is played on a table similar to a blackjack table with up to seven player spots. One standard deck of 52-cards is used. The cards are usually shuffled by an automatic shuffle machine which speeds up the game (while one deck is being used, the other deck is being shuffled by the automatic shuffler). There are two betting areas in front of each player. One is labeled ante and the other is labeled bet. Above the ante bet is a slot where players can drop a dollar coin to become eligible for the progressive jackpot.
Play begins with all players making the mandatory ante wager and, if they wish, dropping a coin into the progressive jackpot slot. The dealer deals five cards face down to each player and to himself, four cards face down and one card face up for all players to see. Each player then picks up his five cards, and based on the strength of his hand and the value of the dealer's upcard, makes one of two decisions.
Decision one: If the player does not believe he will beat the player's hand, he can fold by laying the cards face down on the layout. When a player folds, he automatically loses his ante bet and the dealer will remove the cards from the layout (without facing them).
Decision two: If a player decides to play out his hand because he thinks he has a chance to beat the dealer, the player must make a call bet equal to twice the amount of the ante. For example if your ante was $5, your call bet must be $10.
After all players have decided to either fold or call, the dealer exposes his cards on the layout. Now comes the most important rule in Caribbean Stud Poker. In order for players to win both of their bets, the dealer's hand must qualify. This occurs if the dealer's hand contains at least an ace and king or better. This is an important rule because based upon whether the dealer's hand qualifies or not determines how the round is brought to closure.
If the dealer's hand does NOT qualify: Players who did not fold win even money on the ante bet. The secondary call bet is returned (a push). The dealer removes all the players' cards from the layout without facing the cards. Essentially the dealer folds and there is no comparing of the dealer's hand vs. the player's hand to see which hand is the highest.
If the dealer's hand does qualify: If the dealer's hand contains at least an ace and king, he will 'call' all the player's hands. Player's lay their cards on the layout and the dealer compares his hand with the players hands to determine which hand has the highest poker rank. If the dealer's hand is higher than the player's hand, the dealer wins both the player's ante and call bet. If instead the player's hand out ranks the dealer's hand then the player wins even money on the ante wager and the call bet is paid according to the following payout odds.

Call Bet	Payoff Odds
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 pair	2 to 1
One pair	1 to 1
Ace-king	1 to 1

Progressive Jackpot Bet: This optional bet is separate from the ante and call bet and independent of the dealer's hand. In other words, no matter what the rank of the dealer's hand or for that matter even if he qualifies, you will be eligible for a payout if you make the optional dollar jackpot bet and are dealt one of these hands.
Typical Progressive Jackpot Pay Schedule

Royal Flush	100% of jackpot
Straight flush	10% of the jackpot
Four-of-a-kind	$500
Full House	$100
Flush	$50

Please note the jackpot pay schedule may be slightly different from one casino to the next especially in the amount of the payoff for the four-of-a-kind, full house, and flush. The jackpot grows as players feed coins into the jackpot slot (casinos put anywhere from 25 to 75 cents out of every dollar bet into the jackpot pool). The house edge for the Progressive Jackpot is roughly 25% and this bet should be avoided.
Playing Strategy: Two of the most common playing mistakes made by players is to fold when they have a small pair or to bluff the dealer by making a call bet when they have a weak hand.
First, never fold your small pairs. You will be dealt a pair about 42% of the times and you'll win more (or lose less) in the long run by making the call bet rather than to fold (the casino has about a 7% edge against players who fold on small pairs). Also, never try to bluff the dealer! Some player's mistakenly believe they can win more hands by making the call bet when they have a weak hand. They figure that the dealer who doesn't qualify pays off the ante wager for player's who stay in (i.e. make the call bet) regardless if the player has a strong or weak hand. The problem with this strategy is that when the dealer does qualify (and he will about 56% of the time), the player loses not only the ante bet but also the call bet (which is twice the ante bet). Mathematically a player who bluffs with a weak hand will lose 25% more of his ante over the long run than if he folded. Bottom-line - don't bluff!
Here is a simple basic playing strategy to get you started.
Basic Playing Strategy

• Fold if you have less than Ace-King.
• Make a call bet if:
• You have at least any pair or higher.
• You have at least an Ace-King and one of your other cards is the same as the dealer's face card

The casino's edge is about 5.2% based on the player's ante wager (or 2.6% based on the ante and call bet).
If you want to play Caribbean Stud Poker, remember to play it smartly by following the basic playing strategy, avoid bluffing on weak hands & folding on low pairs, and do not make the progressive jackpot bet unless the amount of the jackpot justifies it.

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Table Of Contents

• Caribbean Stud Poker is a popular Casino card game
• You play against the house rather than other players
• You can improve your winning chances with the help of a few strategy tips

A friend once told me, 'You cannot call yourself a Poker player if you only know how to play one variant of Poker'.

And despite the fact we all grow with Texas Hold'em being our bread-and-butter, it may very well be true.

There are so many Poker variants out there that you should now limit yourself to only one game.

Take Caribbean Stud Poker, for example.

Caribbean Poker may not be the Casino game with the best odds, but it can help you to understand Poker a lot better than you do now.

That's what this guide is for.

Learn Caribbean Stud, practice the game online for free, and ace your Poker games. Starting today.

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How to Play Caribbean Stud

Before you start to play Caribbean Poker online - even for free - you need to know how to play.

So, let's learn!

Caribbean Stud Poker Rules

In a game of Caribbean Stud Poker, the dealer uses a standard 52-card deck of French cards, the same you use to play NLH.

To join the game, you need to make an ante bet.

Most online games have the minimum bet set at $1. Keep this in mind when you decide the size of the bankroll to bring with you at the table.

Once your bet is on the table, the dealer gives you five cards.

A game of Caribbean Poker does not include community cards. What you land from the get-go stays with you until the end of the full round.

The dealer also gets five cards:

• One card is face-up
• Four cards are face down

So, you have two options at this point:

• Call (raise) - You continue to play. This requires an extra bet equal to 2x the ante bet;
• Fold - You leave the game. No further bets are required, but you forfeit the initial ante bet.

The goal of a Caribbean Poker game is to beat the dealer. To do so, your hand needs to be higher than theirs.

But their hand also needs to 'qualify' - which means it needs to be Ace-King or better. If the dealer's hand does not meet this requirement, you get paid 1 to 1 for your ante.

That's the only win. You get nothing extra for your Call bet.

Caribbean Poker Strategy Tip: The dealer's hand only qualifies when they have an Ace-King (both an Ace and a King in their hand) or higher hand.

If you want to have more chances to win a hand of Caribbean Poker online, make sure your hand beats an AK.

What happens when you play or fold?

When you fold, the run is over. You lose your ante and need to bet again if you want to continue playing Caribbean Poker.

When you call, it's showdown time.

Here's when three things may happen:

• The Dealer doesn't qualify. You get 1 to 1 for your ante bet and get your call bet back;
• The Dealer qualifies, and their hand beats yours. You lose both the ante and the call bets;
• The Dealer qualifies, and your hand wins. You win both the ante (1 to 1) the and call bets

What you get when you win a call bet?

In Caribbean Poker, the payout depends on your hand.

Your hand	Call bet payouts
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 Pair	2 to 1
One pair	1 to 1
Ace-King High	1 to 1

Caribbean Stud Poker Progressive Jackpot Bet

There's one more bet you can place at Caribbean Stud Poker table.

Meet the Progressive Side Bet. When available, this bet is your only chance to activate (and perhaps win) a progressive jackpot.

In most games, this side bet is equal to the table's minimum bet.

Playing the Progressive side bet (or not) doesn't affect any of the other bets you make. You can place the side bet along with your ante bet.

If you do, you win the jackpot if your hand is a Flush or better.

In all other cases, you lose the bet before you even make your mind about folding or calling in the main game.

The jackpot bet is not affected by the dealer's hand either. Even if the dealer beats your hand, you may still win the jackpot bet.

As long as you have a Flush or more, of course.

Your hand	Jakpot bet payouts
Royal Flush	100 percent of the jackpot
Straight Flush	10 percent of the jackpot
Four of a Kind	500x
Full House	100x
Flush	50x

Is it worth it?

The progressive jackpot in Caribbean Stud Poker comes with its house edge. It depends on the amount that the jackpot will pay out. If the jackpot is above $352,146, you get an advantage at winning it.

Of course, that doesn't mean you will win, but it's the kind of odds you'd like to see at every Casino game bet.

If the jackpot is smaller, not only it will be less tempting, but the House will have the edge over you anyway.

Important: Progressive jackpot bet is not available at every Casino that offers Caribbean Stud Poker.

Want to play Caribbean Stud with a progressive jackpot?Check out these Caribbean Poker games online!

How to Win at Caribbean Stud Poker?

If you play table games for fun, you don't think that much about your winning prospects.

And that's fine.

But if you want to improve your chances, you can use the Caribbean Stud strategy.

Bonus: it's the most uncomplicated strategy you'll ever learn. Seriously.

Caribbean Stud Poker Strategy

The Caribbean Poker strategy is pretty straightforward.

You can't bluff when you play against the House. So, if you want to call, you need to have a decent hand.

To win more than only your ante bet, your hand needs to be Ace-King or higher.

If the score of your hand is lower, you can only hope for the dealer's hand not to qualify - and that's a far too risky choice to 'only' double your ante.

Numbers at hand, the dealer qualifies 56 per cent of the time. So, it's not really in your favour to hope at this point.

How to play then?

Fold.

According to Peter Griffin and John M. Gwynn Jr.¹, you have the best odds when you call on hand that's Ace-King-Jack-8-3 or better.

So, that's pretty much all you need to remember when making that one significant strategical move in the game.

_{¹: [I]Based on Peter Griffin and John M. Gwynn Jr.'s analysis of Caribbean Stud Poker and its odds. You can read about it in the book '[I]Finding the Edge: Mathematical Analysis of Casino Games[/I]'.}

Practice Caribbean Stud for Free or with 'Micro' Bets

You don't have to take my (or Griffin's and Gwynn's) word for it.

Try playing with the mentioned strategy yourself.

Thanks to the demo games available at some online Casinos, you can play Caribbean Stud Poker online for free.

>> Try the game here

Or you can try to play here and go for the real money action even if you are a low roller.

When the minimum bet is $1, you need at least $3 to play a full round of the game.

Unless you play the cheapest games of Caribbean Stud Poker online.

Few players know they can play as little as $0.01 per ante bet (or $0.03 for a full round of the game).

How To Play Caribbean Poker

The micro-stakes games are a perfect option to practice and to play your first Caribbean Stud real money rounds.

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