This game is five-card stud played against the dealer, with no bluffing and no other players to beat. Each round you make one decision: fold, or raise by exactly twice your Ante. You can practise it at the free shared table further down this page before reading the odds.
Play Online Caribbean Stud Poker
Join a shared Caribbean Stud Poker table with visitors from Casino News Daily and Real Money Action, with a strategy coach after every decision. Free practice chips only: no deposits, cash prizes or real-money wagers.
What Caribbean Stud Poker is
You and the dealer each receive five cards from a standard 52-card deck. The dealer shows one card and keeps the other four hidden. The aim is to hold a better poker hand than the dealer’s once the cards are shown. Hands use the normal five-card ranking, from royal flush down to high card, and there are no wild cards.
One rule makes the game unusual: the dealer must qualify with at least ace-king. When the dealer fails to qualify, you are paid on the Ante only, however strong your hand is. That is why a big hand sometimes returns less than you expect.
How to play, step by step
- Place your Ante. You may add the optional progressive side bet, usually a small fixed amount.
- Each player and the dealer receive five cards. You see your own hand and the dealer’s single face-up card.
- Fold and lose your Ante (and the side bet), or raise by placing a bet equal to two times the Ante.
- The dealer then reveals the other four cards.
- If the dealer does not hold at least ace-king, the Ante pays 1:1 and the raise is returned.
- If the dealer qualifies and beats you, you lose the Ante and the raise. If you beat the dealer, the Ante pays 1:1 and the raise pays according to the table below. A tie returns both bets.
The lowest hand that qualifies is ace-king-4-3-2. The highest hand that fails to qualify is ace-queen-jack-10-9.
Paytable
The raise pays according to your hand, as follows (the Ante always pays 1:1). This is the table used on our free-play game.
| Hand | Raise pays |
|---|---|
| Royal flush | 100:1 |
| Straight flush | 50:1 |
| Four of a kind | 20:1 |
| Full house | 7:1 |
| Flush | 5:1 |
| Straight | 4:1 |
| Three of a kind | 3:1 |
| Two pair | 2:1 |
| One pair, or a high-card hand | 1:1 |
As an example, take an Ante of 5 and a raise of 10. If three jacks beat a qualifying dealer, you win 5 on the Ante and 30 on the raise, for a profit of 35 on 15 staked.
The progressive side bet pays on a flush or better, and the top prize is a growing jackpot. Its paytable differs from one casino and game to the next, so read it before you stake anything on it.
Odds and house edge
With the paytable above and sound strategy, Wizard of Odds puts the house edge at 5.22% of the Ante. That is well above blackjack, and about double the 2.70% that single-zero roulette charges. Because you raise only about half the time, the average total wager is roughly 2.05 times the Ante, and measured against that average the loss rate is nearer 2.56%. Both figures describe the same game.
The progressive side bet is a separate wager with its own edge, depending on the paytable, and it does not change the figures above.
Strategy
Two rules cover most hands. Raise with a pair or better, and fold anything lower than ace-king. The decisions that matter are the ace-king hands, because the dealer’s face-up card tells you something about how likely the dealer is to qualify. Wizard of Odds publishes a short rule that comes within 0.001% of the optimal strategy. With ace-king, raise if any of these applies:
- the dealer’s up card is a 2 to a queen and matches one of your cards;
- the dealer’s up card is an ace or a king and you hold a queen or a jack;
- the dealer’s up card matches none of your cards, you hold a queen, and the dealer’s card ranks below your fourth-highest card.
Otherwise, fold. A common mistake is to raise on a hand that is only slightly short of ace-king in the hope of a lucky run. This costs more than it wins over time. Following the rules above does not change the house edge in your favour, but it stops you from adding to it.
Playing online
Our game database lists Caribbean Stud Poker from Real Time Gaming (RTG), Net Entertainment (NetEnt), NextGen, GamesOS, Amaya and 1x2gaming. We list no Playtech or Games Global title under that name. Software versions differ in the side bet, the display of the progressive jackpot, and sometimes the raise table, so check the help screen before you play. The 5.22% figure applies only when the paytable matches the one above. BetSoft, Random Logic and The Art Of Games list games named Caribbean Poker, which may use different rules. If you prefer a different style of casino poker, see our Pai Gow Poker guide.
Only gamble if you are of legal age where you live, and set a limit before you start.
Sources
- Wizard of Odds, Caribbean Stud Poker: rules, raise paytable, house edge, element of risk and strategy
- Casino News Daily game database (software providers)
