As you may already know, there are many poker variants out there. Today we’ll discuss more about one of the easiest and most fun of all, and we will teach you how to play Caribbean Stud Poker and crush your opponents.
The game is a heads-up between the player and the dealer, and starts with the player making the ante bet. Then, both the player and the dealer receive 5 cards. The player can see his cards and one of those of the dealer. The other 4 cards of the dealer are facing down.
Now the player must take the decision to either fold or to place a bet. If he folds, then he loses the ante. If he continues, the bet should be at least twice the amount of the ante. There are no other bets placed in this game, and now the dealer turns over his other 4 cards.
Before comparing the hands, the dealer must first qualify. For this he must have at least an A and a K (or a higher hand). So the lowest hand that qualifies the dealer is the A, K, 4, 3, 2 and the highest hand that does NOT qualify is the A, Q, J, 10, 9.
In case the dealer does not qualify, the player wins the ante from the dealer and takes back his other bet. If the dealer does qualify, then the hands are compared and the best one wins. If the dealer has a better hand, the player loses both the ante and the bet.
If the player has a better hand, the ante will pay even money, and the player gets a multiplier of the bet depending on the combination of cards that he has:
- Royal Flush – 100 to 1
- Straight Flush – 50 to 1
- Four of a kind – 20 to 1
- Full house – 7 to 1
- Flush – 5 to 1
- Straight – 4 to 1
- Three of a kind – 3 to 1
- Two pairs – 2 to 1
- Any other – 1 to 1
So these were the rules of how to play Caribbean Stud Poker. Now let’s see some strategies. The idea is to carefully check the faced up card of the dealer. If they have an A or a K, they are already half way of qualifying. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t play, but keep that in mind especially if you have a weak hand.
It’s usually a good idea to raise on any hand with a pair or higher and to fold with anything lower than the dealers qualifying hand (A or K). You can also:
- Raise if the card of the dealer is a 2 to a Q and matches one of yours
- Raise if the dealer has an A or a K and you have a Q or a J
- If the dealer’s rank doesn’t match any of yours and you have a Q and the dealer’s card is less than your 4th highest card, then you can also raise
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