Caribbean Stud Rules
Caribbean stud poker is a game played between you and a dealer. Any game with the designation of "stud poker" means that you will receive cards and have to play them as is or no drawing for more cards.
Any card game that has poker in its title assumes the card hand ranking of traditional poker - (from lowest to highest) high card, pair, two pairs, three of a kind, straight, flush, full house, four of a kind, straight flush and royal flush. The Ace can be high or low depending on what would make your hand the best.
Caribbean stud has two things that makes it unique among most other casino table games.
- Most casinos that have caribbean
stud will have a
progressive jackpot. A person
has a chance to win if they put a
bet into the progressive coin slot,
usually $1.
- The way betting takes place
is different from most other
games and will be explained
below.
How to Play Caribbean Stud
Either you have pulled up to a caribbean stud table at a casino or you find yourself playing the game online. The first thing you must do before you get any cards is make a bet. Should you play the progressive jackpot or not?
Let's say that you want to bet $5 on the hand. You will see two areas to place chips, the Ante and the Bet. The Ante is always the first bet in any card game. So this is where you put the $5 chip. Here is some advice on caribbean stud betting.
If you are playing online, you are likely to be playing by yourself. At a casino, the caribbean stud can be played with up to 7 players at a table, although some tables may only have five or six places.
The dealer will each player 5 cards consecutively, as well a hand for himself. All of the cards are facing down, with the exception of one of the dealer's cards. This card should come into play with your decision making process. The player may look at their hand, but can't share any information about their hand to others.
When you look at your hand, you must decide whether you are going to fold your hand or raise. Generally speaking, you will want to raise with Ace/King or higher and fold otherwise. You can find more details on this topic in the caribbean stud strategy and caribbean stud odds pages.
If you fold your hand, you lose your ante bet regardless of anything else that happens.
If you want to keep your hand, you must place a wager equal to twice your Ante bet onto the Bet area in front of you. Each other player will do likewise one way or another.
The dealer will then flip over his cards. If the dealer does not have at least an Ace/King in his hand, the dealer's hand will not qualify. Below is a screenshot of the dealer's hand qualifying.
If the dealer does not qualify, you automatically win. The bad news is that you only get paid on your ante bet. If you bet $5 on the Ante, your raise bet was $10 meaning that you wagered a total of $15. If the dealer does not qualify, you only win $5 back.
If the dealer's hand qualifies, then your hand is compared against the dealer's. If you lose against the dealer, you lose your entire $15 bet. If you have won, then it gets interesting. Depending on what the strength of your hand is, the larger your payout is.
In the example above, I wagered $25 on the ante and had to place $50 to call. I got two pairs and the dealer qualified with a pair of 3's. The ante bet is always paid out 1 to 1, so I won $25 on that bet. Two pairs means that my $50 is paid out at 2 to 1 meaning that I won $100 on that bet.
Here is the breakdown of the payout structure for winning a hand that a dealer qualifies for:
- High Card - 1 to 1
- Pair - 1 to 1
- Two Pairs - 2 to 1
- Three of a Kind - 3 to 1
- Straight - 4 to 1
- Flush - 5 to 1
- Full House - 7 to 1
- Four of a Kind - 20 to 1
- Straight Flush - 50 to 1
- Royal Flush - 100 to 1
