Caribbean Stud Poker

This American casino game, also known as Caribbean Poker, is not really a poker game since players play against the bank rather than against each other. The adjective "stud" is also misleading, since players receive all five cards before betting, not one card at a time with a betting round after each as in real stud poker.

The players each place an ante and the players and the bank are dealt five cards each. One of the banker's cards is dealt face up. After players have seen their own cards and the banker's face up card, each player in turn must either

• make a call bet, increasing their stake by an amount equal to twice their original ante, or
• surrender, in which case the bank wins the ante.

There is then a showdown.

• If the bank does not have A-K or better the player's ante and call bet are returned, plus an amount equal to the ante.
• If the bank qualifies by having A-K or better, a player wins if the player's hand beats the bank's (see poker hand ranks). The bank pays out even money on the ante plus fixed odds on the call bet as follows:
  • evens for a pair or high card
  • 2-1 for two pairs
  • 3-1 for three of a kind
  • 4-1 for a straight
  • 5-1 for a flush
  • 7-1 for a full house
  • 20-1 for a four of a kind
  • 50-1 for a straight flush
  • 100-1 for a royal flush
• If the bank has A-K or better and the player's hand is worse than the bank's the ante and call bet are both lost.
• If the player ties with the bank it is a "push": the ante and call bet are simply returned to the player.

In addition there is usually a progressive jackpot into which a player can pay a fixed stake on each deal. Part of all of the jackpot is paid out to any player who is dealt a flush or better.

The Carribean Stud section of Casino Advisor has rules and advice.

The Casino-info.com site has a page of Caribbean Stud Poker rules and tips.

ReviewPokerRooms.com offers several useful Caribbean Poker resources:

• An odds calculator which gives your probability of winning and expected gain given your hand, the dealer's upcard, and cards known to have been dealt to other players.
• A jackpot calculator which tells you the expected payout given the size of the jackpot and the scale used.
• An article on collusion in Caribbean Poker.

Carribean Poker can be played on line at meingames.de and in many other places.