Caribbean Poker

Caribbean Poker is a rather popular casino table game available in both live brick and mortar casinos as well as in online casinos. Caribbean poker stacks players against the dealer where the object of Caribbean poker is to show down a hand better than that which the Caribbean Poker possesses.

The game of Caribbean poker was first introduced on luxury ships that provide tours and cruises in the Caribbean. A normal deck of cards is used when playing Caribbean Poker.

Top Online Casinos

Caribbean Poker, or Caribbean Stud Poker as it is frequently called, is one of the most popular casino-banked card games in the world. The game is broadly available across landbased gambling halls as well as online where you can find it in several variations, including some with progressive jackpots.

The Caribbean Stud variant is easy to understand and borrows its hand rankings from traditional poker. At the start of each round, players are dealt five cards face-up and compete against the dealer’s five-card hand. Only the first card of the dealer is exposed. Respectively, the player bases their decision whether to raise or fold on the dealer’s exposed card and their own five-card holding.

This page introduces you to all you need to know about the game of Caribbean Poker. Here you can read about its rules, hand rankings, payouts, and its house edge. We also introduce you to the top suppliers of online Caribbean Stud variations.

Stick with us till the end and you will learn how to improve your odds of winning by incorporating a simple strategy during your Caribbean Stud sessions. But first things first. Let’s begin by taking a quick look into the history of this fascinating casino card game.

How Caribbean Poker Came to Be

The exact history of how Caribbean Poker was invented remains a matter of hot debates to this day. Some sources suggest it first emerged on cruise ships sailing to the Caribbean island of Aruba. Others claim Caribbean Stud originated in one of the island’s casino resorts, gradually spreading to other establishments across the region, including the King International resort, currently known as the Excelsior Casino.

It is not yet clear who exactly invented Caribbean Poker. There are two main contenders for the creation of the game, the first one being a man called James Suttle. Suttle allegedly sold the rules to King International’s owner, Danny Jones, who later introduced a progressive jackpot upon the suggestion of a Binion’s Horseshoe poker player.

American poker player and gaming expert David Sklansky is the second main contender for the invention of Caribbean Poker. Sklansky once claimed on a poker forum he came up with the game in the early 1980s when he decided to call it Casino Poker. There were several rule differences in his version of Caribbean Poker. For example, the dealer received two exposed cards instead of just one and there was no progressive side bet.

Sklansky failed to patent his invention at the time. Years later he was allegedly approached by another poker player who bought the rules of the game and took it to a casino in Aruba. This is supposedly when Sklansky’s original rules were given a couple of tweaks. The dealer now exposed only one card instead of two and the progressive side bets were added.

With that said, there is no firm evidence to substantiate the claims of either Sklansky or Suttle, so the original inventor of Caribbean Poker remains shrouded in mystery.

Table Layout in Caribbean Poker

If this is your first time playing Caribbean Poker, you might want to start by examining the layout of the table. The online variants of the game normally have a similar layout arrangement, with a large betting area across the middle of the table. The layout also contains information about the dealer’s qualifying hand. A small plaque to the side informs you about the minimum and maximum bet limits you must comply with.

There are two betting boxes where the player posts the chips for the ante and raise bets. The progressive variations have one extra betting space where you can post an optional side wager that qualifies you for winning the jackpot. The interface of the online Caribbean Poker variants features several gaming controls you can use to play out your hand – the Deal, Raise, and Fold buttons.

Objective and Rules of Play

Caribbean Poker’s rules are quite easy to pick up, especially if you have previous experience with five-card stud. Your objective here is to obtain a five-card hand that ranks higher than that of the dealer. The game plays with a standard single deck of 52 cards. Here is a step-by-step explanation of how a round of Caribbean Poker typically plays out:

You begin by posting a mandatory ante wager which should fit into the table’s stipulated minimum and maximum limits. If you are playing for the jackpot, you should also post the optional $1 side bet to become eligible for winning the progressive prize.

Each player receives five exposed cards. The dealer also deals themselves five cards but only the first one is facing up. Obviously, here the players are not competing against each other like in standard poker but play against the house.

There is no board with community cards, either. Your sole purpose is to prevail over the five-card hand of the dealer with your own five-card hand. The standard hand ranking in poker is used but more on this later.

The time has arrived for you to make a decision on how to play out your hand. You make your decision on the basis of the dealer’s exposed card and your own hand holding. Caribbean Poker players have a choice from two options only, to raise or to fold.

Should you decide to fold your five-card hand, you automatically lose your ante bet along with the progressive side bet (provided you have made it, of course). If you decide to raise, you need to make an additional wager that is twice as big as your ante bet. To give you a better idea, let’s suppose you have posted an ante of $5 and decide to raise. In this case, you need to put $10 more on the line and will have a total of $15 in action.

Now is the dealer’s turn to flip over their four hole cards. The dealer qualifies with hands consisting of Ace-King or better, which is to say their lowest eligible hand is A-K-4-3-2. Respectively, the highest non-qualifying hand holding for the house consists of A-Q-J-10-9.

If the dealer’s hand fails to qualify, you earn even money for your ante bet while your raise bet results in a push. In other words, you break even with this hand. Provided that the dealer qualifies but still ends up losing to you, your ante returns even money again while your raise bet is paid out depending on the ranking of your winning hand. When the dealer qualifies but outdraws you with a better hand, you lose both your ante and your raise bet. If both you and the dealer have the same hand, you two push and you have your ante and raise bets returned to you.

The payouts of the progressive side bet depend entirely on the value of your hand. On the basis of this, you can win either the full jackpot amount or a portion of the prize.

Caribbean Poker Hand Rankings and Odds

Caribbean Poker is an overly simplified version of the popular card game. Those who have an inkling about how poker works will experience no troubles with memorizing the ranking of the winning hands.

The payouts differ depending on probability and the strength of the winning combination. There are discrepancies in the payouts in the online variants provided by different software suppliers. Below, we rank the winning hands in Caribbean Poker in descending order, from the strongest to the weakest combination. The listed payouts are inherent to US-based gambling halls. Note that the ante bet always returns even money no matter what the ranking of the winning hand is.

The royal flush is an ace-high straight flush like A-K-Q-J-10 of spades. It occurs on very rare occasions only, which is why it rewards the highest payout of 100 to 1 (200 to 1 in Betsoft’s online variation of Caribbean Poker).

Next in line is the straight flush which consists of five suited cards of sequential numerical value. The strength of the straight flush is evaluated by the numerical value of the hand’s highest-ranking card. For instance, Qd-Jd-10d-9d-8d is a queen-high straight flush of diamonds that ranks higher than a jack-high straight flush with Jd-10d-9d-8d-7d. In Caribbean Poker played across US landbased casinos, straight flushes offer a return of 50 to 1.

The four of a kind, also called quads, is a hand consisting of four cards of equal numerical value and a kicker, for example, Q-Q-Q-Q-7. In rare cases where both the dealer and the player have quads, the hand with the higher card rank is pronounced a winner. Thus, a Q-Q-Q-Q-7 loses to A-A-A-A-2 because aces rank higher than queens. The winner earns a payout of 20 to 1.

The next best-ranking hand in the hierarchy is the full house. It comprises one set of three cards of equal numerical value plus a pair as is the case in the following example – A-A-A-7-7 which beats a full house of K-K-K-7-7. The full house pays at a rate of 7 to 1.

The full house is followed by the flush which consists of five suited cards like J-10-5-9-Q of spades. The numerical rank of the five suited cards bears no consideration here. Provided that both the dealer and the player obtain a full house, the outcome is settled on the basis of the hands’ suits.

Suits in poker are ranked in the following descending order – spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs. Thus, a player with a full house of hearts beats a dealer with a full house of clubs and earns a payout of 5 to 1.

The next highest-ranking hand after the flush is the straight where you have five off-suit cards of consecutive numerical values as in Jd-10c-9d-8h-7c, which is a jack-high straight. When the player and the dealer both have straights, the straight with the highest card is declared a winner. A straight in Caribbean Poker has a payout of 4 to 1.

The three of a kind, sometimes referred to as a set or trips, comprises three cards of the same numerical rank. The remaining two cards are called kickers and are not taken into consideration. Coincidentally or not, a winning three of a kind returns three units per wagered unit, or 3 to 1.

Next comes the two pair whose composition is pretty much self-explanatory. It consists of two pairs and a kicker. To provide an example, a hand of K-K-J-J-5 beats a hand of Q-Q-10-10-9 and earns you a 2 to 1 payout.

A hand consisting of one pair only, like Q-Q-4-8-A, returns even money. Again, the rank of the paired cards is decisive in cases where both the dealer and the player have pairs. A dealer with Q-Q-4-8-A beats a player with J-J-10-9-7.

Finally, we have the weakest possible hand you can get, the high-card hand. The only way for you to win with this one is if the dealer fails to qualify with Ace-King. By means of example, you win even money with off-suit J-9-6-3-2 against a dealer with unsuited 10-9-5-7-2. Reversely, a dealer with A-K-7-6-5 beats your J-9-6-3-2 because aces rank higher than jacks.

The Progressive Payouts

As we explained in the beginning, players who are chasing after the coveted jackpot can qualify for winning the prize by posting a $1 progressive side bet that goes toward the accumulation of the pot. Depending on the hand you get, this side bet can earn you a specific percentage of the progressive prize or the hole jackpot amount.

The exact progressive payouts depend on who has supplied the game. Below are the payouts awarded for winning side bets in Microgaming’s variation of Caribbean Poker.

  • Royal flush wins the entire progressive jackpot
  • A straight flush earns you a $20,000 payout
  • Quads pay $500 of the pot
  • A full house wins $100 of the pot
  • Flushes offer the smallest payout of $50

RealTime Gaming is another acclaimed software supplier that has released a progressive version of Caribbean Poker with an optional side bet as a qualifier for the prize. This version can earn you any of the following progressive payouts:

  • The full jackpot amount goes to the player who obtains a royal flush
  • A straight flush awards only 10% of the cumulative progressive prize
  • A four of a kind equals a payout of $500
  • A full house is equal to $100 in prize money
  • Flushes earn you the lowest progressive payout of $75

House Edge in Caribbean Poker

Like all other games on the casino floor, Caribbean Stud is designed in such a way so as to yield a specific fixed edge for the house. This edge, or house advantage, inevitably manifests itself over the long term and can best be described as the player’s expected theoretical loss in relation to their initial wager.

The house edge in Caribbean Poker is around 5.22%. The implementation of optimal strategy can lead to an overall reduction of the house edge to 2.56% or so. The casino’s advantage increases significantly when you play haphazardly with no strategy in mind.

A few words on the progressive side bet. At first glance, investing as little as a dollar per round may appear like a minimal amount. Yet, your losses will considerably increase over the long term if you sacrifice this nominal sum repeatedly. This small side bet is a losing proposition no matter how we look at it.

It gives the casino a massive long-term advantage over players which ranges between 19% and 61% depending on the exact progressive payouts the given variation yields. In other words, you will incur between $19 and $61 in hourly losses from the progressive wager alone, which needless to say, is equal to financial suicide.

Top Suppliers of Online Caribbean Poker Games

Caribbean poker enjoys such high popularity both offline and online that many of the most respected suppliers of quality casino software have released their takes on everyone’s favorite poker variation.

The rules are the same across most variants but there may be discrepancies in terms of payouts. Some variants are linked to a progressive jackpot network while others offer standard returns only. Here are the top three suppliers of online RNG-based Caribbean Poker:

Microgaming is a reputable provider of online gambling solutions with an experience of more than twenty years and a portfolio that spans hundreds of games, available both for instant play and via a downloadable casino client.

The software studio is responsible for the launch of Cyberstud Poker, an online variation of Caribbean stud poker with extra-large payouts (999 to 1 for royal flushes, 199 to 1 for straight flushes, and 99 to 1 for quads) and a progressive jackpot. The six-figure prize drops for any royal flush, no matter its suit, as long as you have posted the $1 side bet.

RealTime Gaming is another established casino software supplier of long standing. Most of the online casinos running on RealTime Gaming’s software are US-facing and cater to players with one progressive variation of Caribbean Stud Poker. We have listed the progressive payouts in the previous section. The standard non-progressive returns are also higher as you get 200 units per unit bet for a royal flush.

Betsoft’s take on Caribbean Poker is another variation CasinoDeposit.org readily recommends. This supplier is widely recognized for the quality of both its slots and table games, so you can rely on authentically rendered graphics and immersive sounds. The game supports three speed levels and its limits typically range between $1 and $100 but this largely depends on the casino you are gambling at.

Improving Your Caribbean Poker Play with Strategy

The beauty of Caribbean Poker lies in the fact players can reduce the house edge by implementing optimal playing strategy. In other words, you need to be able to make optimal folding and raising decisions on the basis of your five-card hand and the dealer’s exposed card.

The downside here is Caribbean Poker’s optimal strategy is overly complicated, which is why we offer you a simplified version just to get you started. The strategy stipulates you should always raise your bets when your five cards contain a pair or a better hand ranking in the hierarchy.

Provided that your hand ranks lower than the qualifying hand of the dealer, i.e. A-K, the strategy recommends you to fold it. A hand holding of A-K is trickier to play and normally requires rookies to consult a strategy chart. It looks similar to that used by blackjack players but here the decision depends on what upcard the dealer shows and the rank of your other three cards (i.e. apart from your A-K).

If you play the game at an online casino but struggle to memorize the strategy chart, you can easily consult it one hand at a time and play at your own pace. Another suggestion is to use one of the free optimal strategy calculators you can find on the web. You input the value of your five cards along with the dealer upcard’s rank and the payouts for the winning hands. The software would automatically calculate the EV of each decision (fold or raise) for you.