Download Caribbean Stud Poker
Download Caribbean Stud Poker
The basic rules of Caribbean stud poker are not too different from those of five-card stud. The biggest and most immediately noticeable difference between the two is that in the Caribbean variety, the game is played against the house rather than other players. However, there may be up to seven players at a table. You can download Caribbean Stud Poker online and play for free or real money.
A hand of Caribbean stud poker proceeds in the following way. First, each player places his ante. At this point the player can also choose to participate in the progressive jackpot (see below). After the dealer has declared, “No more bets,” he and the players receive five cards each, which are all kept face down. The dealer then turns one of his cards over and displays it to the players. The players look at their hands—each player is allowed to look at only his own hand, and cannot communicate with the other players—and decide whether to raise or fold. The dealer then turns over his hole cards to reveal his entire hand.
The dealer only qualifies if he has both an ace and a king in his hand. If he qualifies and beats the player, the player loses both the ante and the raise. If the dealer qualifies but does not beat the player, then the ante pays even money. In this case, the raise pays according to a standard pay table, which scales depending on the hand; in the U.S., for example, royal flushes pay 100 to 1, flushes pay 50 to 1, and so on down to two pair, which pays 2 to 1, with all lesser hands paying 1 to 1.
The progressive jackpot mentioned above is another characteristic feature of this game. Players can place a $1 chip into a slot at the table. A player wins this jackpot if he holds a flush or higher, regardless of what hand the dealer has. In U.S. rules, the payout scales from $50 for a flush to the entire jackpot for a royal flush.
The nature of Caribbean stud poker means that bluffing plays no role; instead, this game is all about knowing when to play and when to fold. There are two foundational strategies that all players should keep in mind. The first is the simpler of the two: always raise when you have a pair or higher. The second is that you should always fold if you have less than the dealer’s qualifying hand—in other words, an ace and a king. Some more advanced strategies include always raising under the following circumstances: (1) The dealer’s face card is an ace or a king, and your hand includes an ace, a king, and a queen OR a jack; (2) You have and ace, a king, and a queen, and the dealer is showing a low card; (3) The dealer is showing anything BUT an ace or a king, and you have the same card.
