Online Caribbean Stud Poker Guide

Caribbean Stud Poker is based on 5-Card Stud, the original form of stud poker that dates back to the American Civil War. To make online Caribbean Stud Poker as simple as possible, in this variation, you place your Ante bet and get dealt all five of your cards at once, face-up, then the Dealer gets his five cards with just one of them face-up for you to see. If you like your chances of winning, hit the Raise button to double your bet, or hit Fold if you don’t. When you hit Raise, the Dealer’s cards will be revealed and the winner declared. Table games don’t come much easier than this.

Hand Values and Payouts for Caribbean Stud Poker

The hand rankings for Caribbean Stud Poker are the same as they are for standard online poker games. Here’s the list from highest rank to lowest, with example hands included:

• Royal Flush: Ace through Ten of the same suit (As-Ks-Qs-Js-Ts)
• Straight Flush: Five consecutive cards of the same suit (9h-8h-7h-6h-5h)
• Four of a Kind: Four cards of the same rank (Ks-Kc-Kh-Kd-3c)
• Full House: Three cards of one rank, plus two cards of a second rank (Qs-Qd-Qh-2s-2h)
• Flush: Five cards of the same suit (As-Ts-7s-4s-2s)
• Straight: Five consecutive cards (8c-7d-6c-5h-4h)
• Three of a Kind: Three cards of the same rank (Js-Jd-Jc-4d-3h)
• Two Pair: Two cards of one rank, plus two cards of a second rank (4d-4c-3s-3h-Ac)
• Pair: Two cards of the same rank (As-Ac-9d-6d-3c)High Card: None of the above (As-Ks-Qs-Js-2h)

If two players have the same ranking hand, the “kicker” (the next-highest card in the hand) is the tie-breaker. For example, if you have a Pair of Aces with KJT as your other three cards, and the Dealer has a Pair of Aces with 987, your King kicker gives you the winning hand. If you and the Dealer are still tied after the first kicker, go to the second kicker to determine the winner. If all the kickers have been exhausted and you’re still tied, it’s a push – all bets returned.

The payouts for online Caribbean Stud Poker are easy to remember: You get even money on your winning Ante bet, and if the Dealer “qualifies” by having at least Ace-King in their hand, you get even money on your Raise bet (otherwise, it’s returned to you). Technically, you don’t need the better hand at showdown to win your Ante bet if the Dealer doesn’t qualify, but as we’ll discuss in the strategy section, it doesn’t make much sense to Raise with anything less than Ace-King.

Playing the Progressive in Caribbean Stud Poker

You’ll get a lot more than even money if you win the Caribbean Stud Poker progressive jackpot at Bodog online casino. And there’s no skill involved, either: Just make a big enough hand to win a prize, regardless of what the Dealer has. Here are the qualifying jackpot hands and their payouts:

• Royal Flush: 100% of the jackpot
• Straight Flush: 10% of the jackpot
• Four of a Kind: $500
• Full House: $100
• Flush: $75

Again, to play the progressive jackpot for $1, hit that red button on the right; a token with a gold star will be placed on the button to show that you’ve opted in. Unless you choose to remove it, this token will remain in place and the progressive jackpot will be active for the next hand.

Caribbean Stud Poker Strategy

Because Caribbean Stud Poker is such a simple game, it’s not too difficult to figure out the best strategy for maximizing your winnings. We’ll tell you in a moment, but it will help you better understand and appreciate the game if you know about the Caribbean Stud Poker odds and probabilities. Here are the chances of making any of the poker hands listed above when dealt five cards:

• Royal Flush: 0.000154%
• Straight Flush: 0.00139%
• Four of a Kind: 0.0240%
• Full House: 0.144%
• Flush: 0.196%
• Straight: 0.392%
• Three of a Kind: 2.113%
• Two Pair: 4.754%
• Pair: 42.257%
• High Card: 50.118%

As you can see, it’s quite rare to make a hand better than Two Pair in Caribbean Stud Poker. In fact, if you have at least a Pair, you’re a favorite to beat the five random cards the Dealer has, so you should hit Raise. Experts have done the math and figured out that you should also hit Fold anytime you have worse than Ace-King, the same hand the Dealer needs to qualify. It doesn’t matter what card the Dealer is showing in either case. The tricky part in Caribbean Stud Poker is when you have exactly Ace-King. This won’t happen often enough to worry too much about, but if you’re serious about squeezing every drop of value out of these situations, there is an optimal strategy you can learn. It’s way too complicated for most people, so consider a near-optimal strategy instead, one that has just a few steps to remember, but gives you close to maximum return on your bets.

This is where the Dealer’s up-card comes in. Here are two specific situations where you might want to hit Raise when you have Ace-King:

1. Dealer shows Queen or lower, and you have the same card in your hand.

2. Dealer shows Ace or King, and you have a Queen and/or a Jack.

There are other spots you can memorize for Ace-King, but these are the easiest ones, and they’ll help you come very close to the optimal strategy for Online Caribbean Stud Poker – and the lowest possible house edge of 5.224%. The house edge for the progressive jackpot will depend on how high the jackpot has grown; this jackpot is pooled together between Caribbean Stud Poker and Caribbean Hold’em, so you can play either game and qualify for the same prize. As always with the online table games at Bodog Casino, only play with money you can afford to lose, and plan your sessions ahead of time so they fit your schedule. Try Caribbean Stud Poker for free using the Practice Play mode, then make the switch to Real Money play once you’re ready. See you on the felt.