Caribbean Stud Poker Rules & Strategy

Caribbean Stud Poker, also known as simply Caribbean Stud or Caribbean Poker at many casinos, is one of my favorite games to play at both live casinos and online. The large payouts possible and the addition of the progressive bet make it a very fun and exciting game. Likewise, the simple Caribbean Stud Poker Strategy described below makes it very easy for novice players to get the best odds possible.

Caribbean Stud Poker Rules

• Caribbean Stud Poker begins with each seated player making a required Ante Wager, plus an optional $1 Progressive Jackpot Side Bet.
• Every seated player and the dealer then get dealt five cards each. All cards are dealt face down, except one dealer card is exposed.
• Players then examine their 5 card hands and must decide whether to Raise or Fold.
• If the player decides to fold, he will forfeit his ante bet, and side bet if applicable.
• If the player decides to raise, he must make a raise equal to exactly twice the ante bet amount.
• The dealer then turns over his other four cards.
• The dealer must have at least an ace and a king or better to qualify. If the dealers hand is worse than AK high, then the dealer does not qualify, in which case the player will win even money on his initial ante wager and push (tie) on the raise amount, regardless of the value of the player’s hand.
• If the dealer does qualify, and his hand is superior to the players, both the players ante and raise will be lost.
• If the dealer does qualify, and the players hand is superior, the player’s ante bet will pay even money and the raise will payout according to the applicable pay table below.
• If the player and dealer hands tie, then both ante and raise bets will push.
• The progressive jackpot side bet is based entirely on the value of the player’s hand. The progressive bet will be paid out regardless of the dealer qualifying and/or beating the player’s hand. Various pay tables are offered. We have highlighted the most common below.

Caribbean Stud Poker Strategy

The absolute optimal strategy for Caribbean Stud Poker is very complex. However, by simplifying the strategy to the one below, players will only lose a small amount to the house advantage.

• Raise with any pair
• Raise with any hand A/K/J/8/3 or higher
• Fold with all other hands

Caribbean Stud Poker House Advantage

The house advantage of Caribbean Stud Poker following the strategy outlined above is approximately 5.3%. However, house advantage is calculated as the expected loss to the original wager amount. Since players will be raising over 50% of the time, we need to calculate this action into the equation to get a better view of our expected long term outcome playing Caribbean Stud Poker. This is accomplished by calculating the Element of Risk, which takes into account the expected loss to average wager. The Wizard of Odds calculates that players will raise 52.23% of the time, making the average wager 2.045 times the amount of the original ante bet. Using this number, the element of risk for Caribbean Stud is reduced to around 2.5%.