Overview: They play Caribbean Stud Poker, similar to the casino game Let It Ride, on a Black Jack size table using standard Poker combinations to decide winning hands.  Each player places an ante and then the dealer deals players five cards face down, one of the dealer’s cards is face up.  Players then look at their five cards and evaluate whether to remain in the game or fold, losing the ante.

Players remaining in the game must add an amount equal to their original ante to continue.  The dealer then looks at their remaining four cards and if the dealer does not have at least an ace/king high hand the game is over.

When the dealer does not have an ace/king or better poker hand all players receive even money on their original bet only.  If the dealer has at least an ace/king hand, they then compare it with the player’s hand.  When the player has a higher poker hand, use the chart below to decide winning payoffs for the additional second bet. They always pay the original ante for winning hands 1:1.  Should the dealer’s hand be better than the player’s hand, the dealer wins both the ante and the second bet.

Synopsis:
Removing the difficult elements of betting, raising, bluffing and playing against the entire table of players, Caribbean Stud Poker attracts many players who do not want to work on their individual poker skills. Caribbean Stud allows you to play against the dealer only. Progressive jackpots for Royal Flush and Straight Flush hands have become extremely popular.

To play for the jackpots, they require a side bet of $1.00 per hand. Most casinos’ jackpots are usually $30,000.00 to more than $250,000.00 depending on frequency of jackpot wins. As stated above, the following chart shows the probabilities of hitting each hand, we omitted progressive jackpots in the chart below because they will vary from each casino.

Several different betting strategies have been developed for Caribbean Stud Poker by skillful and experienced players.  As found with all gambling statistic, programs are designed to work over thousands or millions on hands.  The actual outcome of what happens on any one specific hand is just one of the millions of possibilities in the overall calculations.  Therefore, the following statistic is important in calculating whether to play this game with serious quantities of money,  the casino retains a 5.22% advantage in Caribbean Stud Poker!

When to Hold or Fold A Hand:
Players should hold all hands that have a pair or better.  This hand is when the experts say you should place your second bet on the table.  Now this brings up the controversial hand, ace and a king.  This is where some experts disagree.  The following three rules are the consensus of players and experts alike.

The statistics for winning a Caribbean Stud Poker hand have been illustrated on the chart below.  This will allow players the opportunity to see the full odds of each possible hand and the return in favor of the casino per hand.  Since progressive jackpots and payoffs, Straight Flush wins 10% of progressive jackpot and Royal Flush wins 100% of the  jackpot, the casino advantage is greater when the jackpot is lower.   Players odds of getting an even money bet, if they won the entire jackpot   requires the jackpot size to be over $260.00.00.