Caribbean Stud

Caribbean Stud Poker is not one of the casino games that most people are familiar with which is a shame as it really is a great game which is both easy to learn and easy to play. As the name suggests it originated in the Caribbean and to be exact it is believed to have first been played on the island of Aruba at what was the King International Casino. The game is a fairly recent innovation based on the traditional 5 card stud poker but with a little bit of Blackjack in there in that you are playing against the casino rather than against other players. The casino margins are fairly low which means that you stand a good chance of winning and it is for this reason that many of the online casino bonuses that are advertised and have play through requirements will often exclude gambling on Caribbean Stud. If you want to play at the home of Caribbean Stud you will need to go to the Holiday Inn on Aruba but if that is too far for you, online casinos offer the same game from the comfort of your own home.

The game of Caribbean Stud is simple enough but it needs a little bit of strategy and thought but once mastered can provide hours of entertainment. How to Play caribbean Stud As already stated, Caribbean Stud Poker gambling is played against the house so even if there are multiple players on the table, each one is playing solely against the house and not against other players. With this in mind, the obvious objective of the game is to get a better hand than the dealer but there is an added advantage that good hands pay out multiples of your original bet; there is no changing of cards and there is no bluffing involved so the skill is purely that of assessing whether you can beat the dealer with the cards in your hand. The game starts by you as the player placing a bet known as the “ante”. This can be any amount you like as long as it is within the table limits and can be varied from one deal to the next depending on how you feel. Having placed your ante five cards will be dealt to each player and to the dealer but the dealers cards will all be face down except for one; that is your only clue as to what the dealer might have. Unlike other poker games there is only one betting round in Caribbean Stud gambling and that is after the cards are dealt and there is no choice in what you bet as it must be the same size as your original ante bet. If you think you can beat the dealer you place an additional bet and if you don’t you fold your cards at which point you lose your ante bet regardless of what the dealer turns up later in the hand. If you playing one on one then the hand ends there and then. If you decide to place a bet, the dealers cards will be turned over and a comparison made between the hands. Clearly you stand as much chance as the dealer of winning the hand so for the casino to have an edge there is an extra rule and that is that the dealer cannot lose with a hand less than Ace, King. If the dealer has hand which is less than Ace King then it is what they call a non qualifying hand and your additional bet will be refunded but you will win your ante bet ay even money. This and the fact that you play first and might discard your cards is what gives the house the small edge in the game of Caribbean Stud. That in a nutshell is the game, it could not be simpler.

Caribbean Stud Hand Order For the sake of clarity let us run through the order of hands in poker in ascending order:- The lowest hand is a high card but as already pointed out the dealer needs at least an ace and a king to qualify so playing on with a high Queen for example is a risky strategy although you can still win against your ante bet. The next best hand is a pair with a pair of aces being the highest. Two pairs are next in order and in the event of both player and dealer having two pairs the one with the higher pair will win (this means that aces and twos will beat kings and queens) To beat two pairs you will need at least three of a kind which is three cards of equal value with colour or suit playing no role; again three aces are the highest. Beating three of a kind is the run which is simply five cards which are in sequence with no gaps, for example 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack; colour or suit plays no role unless all cards are the same suit which becomes a running flush or straight flush as described later After the run comes the flush which is all five cards being of the same suit but of any value. In the event of a tie the highest card in the flush will determine the winner. Next in line is the full house which is a pair and a three of a kind in the same hand; in the case of a tie it is the value of the three of a kind that will determine the winner. After the full house comes four of a kind which is four cards of the same value and this is followed by the straight flush which is a combination of a straight meaning five consecutive cards and a flush meaning that those cards are also all the same suit. The top hand in the game is a royal flush which is simply a straight flush containing the cards ten, jack, queen, king, ace.

Caribbean Stud Odds Unlike a lot of card games Caribbean Stud gambling pays out different odds when you win the hand depending upon the value of your hand. Not all online casino gambling have the same payout odds so check on the table that you are playing but typical odds are 2:1 for two pairs, 3:1 for three of a kind, 4:1 for a straight and 5:1 for flush. A full house should pay around 7:1 and four of a kind around 20:1. Above that the variations increase but if a straight flush is paying less than 50:1 or a royal flush is paying less than 200:1 it is time to change your online casino. Caribbean Stud is a fascinating game of poker where you cannot be bluffed out of the game, you cannot lose more in one hand than twice your original ante but you can win multiples of your ante with a great hand; well worth investigating.