Caribbean Stud Poker

Caribbean Stud Poker is a form of 5-card stud poker, except with a progressive jackpot. In land-based and online casinos, Caribbean stud poker is fast gaining popularity at levels that known poker games like Texas Hold'em, 7-card stud, and Omaha poker have enjoyed.

Caribbean Stud Poker Rules

The Object of the Game

As Caribbean Stud Poker plays out like 5-card stud poker, the game rules and process of the two games are similar. But being a progressive jackpot game, it has variated betting rules and strategies. The object of the game is to beat the dealer by having a higher five-card poker hand than his. Players do not compete with one another, only against the dealer. Wins and losses are based on fixed percentage payouts plus an optional progressive pot, which you may or may not play.

Caribbean Stud Poker Strategy

Based on 5-card stud poker, Caribbean Stud Poker is a game of skill that offers standard payouts to the best five-card hand, and also a game of chance that rewards bonus payouts to specific poker hands. Caribbean stud poker strategy comes most into play at the point when a player decides whether to call or fold. Beyond that, your five-card hand will practically make itself with not much intervention required on your end.

With some hands, folding your bet is the most practical option. With other hands, there is too much gray area to really be sure that you should call the bet. The question is, which hands?

Caribbean Stud Poker Betting Strategies

The easy part is when your five-card hand is high or low enough to decide its own fate. If you have a Flush or better, you would want to call your bet. If you have worse than an Ace-King or pair, you would obviously want to fold your bet. Not a lot of internal struggle happens there, and you can rest assured you have done the right thing. The awful, painful part is all the other hands in between. When is it best to risk it and when to drop it?

Pairs. As a rule of thumb, you should always call on all pairs, no matter what the dealer's up-card is, because profitable pairs outnumber unprofitable ones. There are 13 possible pairs in a standard 52-card deck. Seven of those pairs have positive expectations—the high pairs of A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8—and are bound to win more than lose in the long term. Three of those pairs—the middle pairs of 7, 6, 5—have positive expectations provided the up-card is not higher than the pair. Only three of the possible pairs—the low pairs of 4, 3, 2—have negative expectations and are bound to lose more than win in the long term.

Even though the three low pairs are the least profitable, they are less so than forfeited ante bets, which jack the house edge up to a terrible 7%. Also, the odds remain good that your pair will find itself competing with a non-pair. The chances of a pair being dealt is a bit over 42%, which means the likelihood of a non-pair is a bit over 50%. In addition, the odds of the dealer being dealt an Ace-King are no doubt low, at roughly 6%. All these mean that a low pair can lose less money than folding your bet.

Non-pairs. The favored rule is to fold any non-pair without an Ace and a King. Otherwise, the only times to call your bet are as follows:

Player's Hand	Dealer's Up-Card
Any Pair	Any
A-K-Q-J + any card	Any
A-K-Q + any 2 cards	Matches one of the player's cards
A-K-J + any 2 cards	Matches one of the player's cards
A-K-10 + any 2 cards	Matches one of the player's cards

When the dealer's up-card matches one of the player's cards, the dealer is less likely to have a pair, so this is a vital part of the strategy.

Progressives. As a general rule, a progressive jackpot bet should be placed only when the jackpot prize is over $263,000.