How To Play Carribean Poker

Laura Klusaite

Table Of Contents

  • Sep 14, 2012  Caribbean Stud Poker is played against the house, not against opponents, and it is associated with a progressive jackpot feature that can be triggered by placing a $1 side bet. The best Caribbean Stud Poker strategy would be to play a few games for free first and then focus on understanding basic and advanced Caribbean Stud Poker strategies.
  • Variations of Caribbean Stud Poker do exist, so have a go and play online for free as you master the game. Caribbean Stud Poker from NetEnt is absolutely the bomb! We love it, so join one of our favorite casinos today and become a Caribbean Poker guru!

You can play Caribbean Stud Poker live or at online casinos. All you need to do is sit down and place a bet on the ante circle. You can also place a one-dollar side bet for the progressive jackpot.

  • 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 handCall bet payouts
Royal Flush100 to 1
Straight Flush50 to 1
Four of a Kind20 to 1
Full House7 to 1
Flush5 to 1
Straight4 to 1
Three of a Kind3 to 1
Two Pair2 to 1
One pair1 to 1
Ace-King High1 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.

Caribbean Stud Poker Rules

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 handJakpot bet payouts
Royal Flush100 percent of the jackpot
Straight Flush10 percent of the jackpot
Four of a Kind500x
Full House100x
Flush50x

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.

Play Caribbean Poker online, free

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.

Play Caribbean Stud Poker

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).

Play

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

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Caribbean Poker Strategy

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How Do You Play Caribbean Poker

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