Caribbean Stud Poker

This game is a variation of poker played on a blackjack sized table. Following is how the game is played:

• First, place a wager, this is called the ante.

• Second, each player and the dealer is dealt their own five card hand. One of the dealer's cards is face up the other four are face down.

• Third, decide to stay in or fold. If you fold you forfeit your ante. If you stay in you must add to your bet double the amount of the ante.

• Fourth (assuming the player is still in), the dealer looks at his/her cards. If the dealer does not have at least an ace/king then the player automatically wins even money on the ante and the additional wager is returned. If the dealer does have at least ace/king then a comparison is made between the player's hand and the dealer's hand. If the player has the higher hand he/she wins even money on the ante, and the additional wager pays according to the payoff table below. If the dealer's hand beats the player's hand he loses both the ante and raise.

Hand	Payoff
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 pair	2 to 1
Pair	1 to 1
Ace/King	1 to 1

 

 

Strategy

The player should raise on any pair or better, fold on anything less than ace/king, and should sometimes raise and sometimes fold on ace/king. To play Caribbean stud perfectly would involve memorizing the charts in my appendix on when exactly to raise on ace/king. Of course nobody is going to do that so a more simplified strategy is clearly called for. By studying the appendix you will notice certain paterns of when the odds favor raising and when they don't. I have summarized these patterns in the following suggested rules of thumb on when to raise on ace/king:

• Raise if the dealer's card is a 2 through queen and matches one of yours.

• Raise if the dealer's card is an ace or king and you have a queen or jack in your hand.

• Raise if the dealer's rank does not match any of yours and you have a queen in your hand and the dealer's card is less than your fourth highest card.

This strategy is unique to this page but is not the only strategy I have heard of. Following are various other strategies, their total loss based on all possible 19,933,230,517,200 combinations of hands, the house edge, and the "element of risk" (defined below). The "matching rank" strategy calls for raising on any pair or better and on ace/king when one of the player's cards matches the rank of the dealer's up card (which lowers the odds of the dealer forming a pair).

Statistics

The following tables shows the various possible outcomes in Caribbean stud poker, their net return per initial bet, their probability, and their total return (product of probability and net return).

Progressive Jackpot Side Bet

In Caribbean Stud Poker the player has the choice to make a side bet of $1 which pays for hands of a flush or better. The specific payoff tables vary from place to place but always feature a progressive jackpot, paying 100% of the jackpot meter for a royal flush and 10% for a straight flush. In the very unlikely event that two players had a royal flush in the same hand at most places the first one to the dealer's left would win the jackpot and the second would win whatever the jackpot is reseeded to, usually $10,000 or $20,000. Some places would split the jackpot between the two players. In the event that two players received a straight flush at the same time the first one to the dealer left would get 10% of the meter and the second would get 10% of what was left after the first player was paid. In other words it pays to sit as close as possible to the dealer's left.

While the expected return varies depending on the size of the jackpot it is a sucker bet the vast majority of time. The average house edge is 26.46%.

A manager at Casino Niagara kindly explained how the jackpot meter works. For every dollar bet 71 cents goes into the jackpot and the casino keeps the other 29 cents. This rate of contribution can vary from place to place. All payoffs are paid right out of the meter. Every time somebody hits a royal flush the house contributes $10,000 (called the seed) to the next jackpot. The house edge is just under the cut per bet because the casino puts up the initial seed to start a new jackpot after somebody wins the previous one. At the Casino Niagara the house can expect to receive 18.84 times as much money from the 29% cut as it pays to seed new jackpots.

The table below shows four different payoff tables I have seen. It should not be interpreted that a casino with a payoff table that pays more for a flush, full house, and four a kind is being generous. Since these payoffs come out of the meter the casino is indifferent to any win other than a royal flush (causing them to have to reseed the meter). The money in the meter can be considered the players money because it is only a matter of time before somebody wins it all.

The house edge will depend directly on the progressive meter at any given moment. However over the long haul the casino will enjoy a healthy house edge from the Caribbean Stud side bet. It is typical for the casino to put about 70% to 75% of money bet in the jackpot meter and hold onto the rest. Every casino I have asked reseeds the jackpot meter with either $10,000 or $20,000 after somebody hits a royal flush which will cost 1.539% of money bet per $10,000 the meter is reseeded with. So the house edge will be 1.539% or 3.078% less than whatever cut it keeps for every dollar bet. At the Casino Niagara for example where they keep 29% the house edge will be 27.461%.