Caribbean Stud
Caribbean Stud Games
Caribbean Stud Poker is said to have originated on board cruise ships voyaging in the Caribbean Sea. The game became so popular among the patrons that large land-based casinos took notice and eventually began to offer the game as well. To this day it remains one of the most popular forms of casino poker played around the world.
Online, Caribbean Stud Poker can be found at all of the best casinos. Bovada is one such casino that offers Caribbean Stud and always has a nice progressive jackpot tied to it. Club USA Casino and Doyles Casino are others that we can recommend highly for safe, secure games, reliable withdrawals and deposits and very good customer service.
The rules of Caribbean Stud are similar in many ways to the most basic of all poker games, 5 Card Stud. To begin play, you must ante up. Each player is then dealt 5 cards, including the dealer. The dealer’s cards are dealt face down except the last one, which is face up.
- Voted Best US Casino Room
- $1100 Deposit Bonus
- 10% No Deposit Bonus
- Great Casino Games
- Huge Progressive Jackpots
- Daily Slots Tournaments
- Fast Payouts
- VIP Loyalty Bonus
Then based upon your hand and the dealer’s face up card, the player must decide to fold or raise. If he folds he loses his ante and nothing more. If he raises, which is double the ante bet, then the dealer turns over his cards and the best hand wins.
If the player raises and the dealer shows the best hand, then the ante as well as the raise is lost. If the player raises and wins though, then it depends if the dealer qualifies as to how much he wins. In order to qualify, the dealer must have at least AK or better.
If the dealer’s hand is not AK or better then he does not qualify and the player wins the ante bet at 1 to 1. The raise bet is considered a push and is given back to the player.
If the dealer’s hand is AK or better, then he qualifies and again, the best hand wins. If the player’s hand is best he wins 1 to 1 on his ante. He also wins on his raise. The amount of the payout depends on the hand. High card (better AK) and one pair hands are paid 1 to 1.
Two pair is paid out at 2 to 1 and three of a kind is paid 3 to 1. A Straight pays 4 to 1 on the player’s raise bet and a Flush pays 5 to 1.
There’s a little jump when he makes a Full House. Assuming the dealer qualifies, he is paid 7 to 1 on his raise. The player gets into good money when he makes Four of a Kind, which pays 20 to 1. A Straight Flush pays at 50 to 1 and the ultimate hand, a Royal Straight Flush, pays out 200 to 1, if the dealer qualifies.
These larger hands pay very nice, but you still have to hope that the dealer qualifies, otherwise, you just get 1 to 1 on your ante. One way to insure that you get something on your huge hands is to opt in to the progressive jackpot.
By clicking the jackpot spot when you place your bet, you are putting money into the jackpot. The progressive bonuses pay out whether the dealer’s hand qualifies or not. There are five different hands that will collect some of the progressive jackpot, starting at a Flush. This pays $75, no matter what your ante or bet is. A Full House pays a bonus of $100 and Four of a Kind pays out $500.
The progressive part of the jackpot really begins to kick in when you make a Straight Flush. This pays 10% of the total jackpot, which can be over a hundred thousand dollars. To win the whole shebang, the player needs to hit a Royal Straight Flush.
The basic strategy for the game is to fold any hand that is not AK or better. It is possible to play “perfectly” and the house still has and advantage of over 5%. The easiest strategy to try to play is to just raise every time you have AK and at least one other big card like a Q or J.
You should raise every pair you have and of course anything better than that. The optimum strategy still plays just over 50% of hands.
As with almost all casino games, Caribbean Stud should really only be played for entertainment. The house’s advantage is too much to overcome over the long haul. It is a very fun and exciting game however, and there is always that chance, however slight, to hit a monster hand and take down part or even all of the progressive jackpot.