Those happy Caribs and
the Voiceless Standees
8 March 2004
By Mark Pilarski
Dear Mark,
I have two questions regarding Caribbean Stud
Poker. First, is there any basic strategy for
the game, and, do you recommend betting the
progressive
side bet? Miguel H.
It's only fair, Miguel, before answering your
questions to offer up a primer for those with
little-to-zip knowledge of Caribbean Stud Poker.
So, readers,
the best way to learn this simple game is to get
a deck of cards, shuffle 'em up, and play along
at your kitchen table.
Caribbean Stud Poker is in essence five-card
stud poker, without the luxury of a draw. Each
player antes up and is dealt five cards from a
52-card deck.
The dealer also receives five cards, then
reveals one of them. After seeing this card, the
player must choose whether to stay or fold.
Folding loses the
ante. Those who stay, must double their bets and
make a separate wager dubbed a "call bet."
The dealer now exposes his remaining four cards.
If the dealer does not "qualify" by having at
least an ace/king, the hand is over, and those
who
called the hand win an amount equal to their
ante. If the dealer does qualify, the hand is
played out, with players winning their antes and
call
bets, on hands higher than the dealer's. If the
dealer's hand is higher, the player loses both
wagers. There is also a bonus payout schedule
for hands
from one pair through a royal flush, but the
dealer must qualify and the player must be in
the hand to get this bonus payout. Caribbean
Stud offers the easiest basic strategy system to
memorize of any card game: If your five-card
hand is an ace-king-jack-8-3 or better, call the
dealer. If not, fold.
Whether you should bet the optional progressive
jackpot wager, well, Miguel, I will report the
arithmetic, you decide.
To be eligible to win all or part of the jackpot
(the progressive jackpot pays out for straight
flushes, for four-of-a-kinds, full houses and
flushes), an additional dollar must be wagered
in a slot in front of the ante circle. Luckily,
these jackpots are paid regardless of whether
the
dealer qualifies or not, but you would need more
than good fortune to hit one. You see, Miguel,
there are 2,598,560 possible five-card
combinations in
a standard 52-card deck. With four ways to make
a royal flush, the true odds of hitting a
natural royal are 649,760 to one. Put another
way, if you
played four hours a day, 365 days a year, it's
going to take you about fifteen years - on
average; are you listening? - to hit a natural
royal flush.
Bottom line: With jackpots generally below
$200,000 -- and the odds of hitting it close to
650,000 to one - to me, it's a no-brainer. Oops!
You were
supposed to decide, weren't you?
Dear Mark,
In a crowded casino, when there are no blackjack
seats are available, why can't a player just
make a bet alongside another player on the game?
Tom R.
"Back-of-the-chair-betting" is generally not
allowed in most stateside casinos, though some
casinos, especially outside the US, allow
players not
actually seated at the table to make bets at
blackjack. These players are called standees. To
make a wager, a standee would place bets in the
betting
circles of gamesters who are already perched at
the table. The downside, Tom, is that when
betting from behind, you are in observation mode
only,
since the sitting players get to make all the
decisions without the advice of the standees.
Without chips-and-a-chair, standees must swallow
those
decisions and smile.
Gambling quote of the week: "If they're helpless
and they can't defend themselves, you're in the
right game." --the Mad Genius of Poker, Mike
Caro
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