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Carribean Stud Poker Strategies
Caribbean Stud Poker is one of the few table games, along with Let It Ride, that have been able to claim a share of
the increasingly
small space casinos give to table games. Casinos prefer slots, because they don't require trained dealers or close eye-in-the-sky
supervision.
Caribbean Stud is loosely based on the classic American poker game, 5-card stud, although it requires none of
the skills that let
Edward G. Robinson defeat Steve (The Kid) McQueen in "The Cincinnati Kid." If you know poker hand values, you can play Caribbean
Stud.
When you begin Caribbean Stud, you will be asked to make an ante bet. This creates much of the house edge
because you have to
make the bet before you see any of your cards.
You're also given the option of dropping a dollar in a slot to become eligible for a progressive jackpot. This
progressive
jackpot bet is where most of the rest of the house edge comes from. For the progressive jackpot to be a good gamble, it needs to
be upward of $400,000, and no one reading this column has probably ever seen it climb that high.
Still, just as with Let It Ride, many players drop the dollar anyway, figuring it's only a dollar, and fearing
the nightmare that
they might hit a five-card royal flush and not have played the progressive jackpot. Let's keep the math simple and say that you
could play Caribbean stud four hours a day, five days a week, for the rest of your life, and you'd still be a HUGE underdog to
catch that five-card royal. Just relax and play the game without the dollar.
Assuming you can resist the urge to play the progressive jackpot bet, you're halfway home in your Caribbean Stud Poker
Strategies. All
you need do to play perfectly is to not play unless your starting hand is A-K-J-8-3 or better.
That means you should play if your hand is any pair (or better) or if your hand is A-K-J-9-2. Don't play if your
hand is
A-K-J-7-6, or A-Q-J-10-9.
If you do play, you must post a bet that is twice the size of your original ante, and if you look down at your
hand and see
something like 5-5-5-3-3, you happily stick that money out there, because you have a full house, and you will be paid a multiple
of your bet -- maybe.
Here's the other problem with Caribbean Stud, and one reason why some players prefer Let It Ride. If the dealer
does not
qualify, that is, make a hand that is at least A-K or better, you don't win anything but your ante bet.
The nice multiple you were expecting for your full house doesn't get paid if the dealer turns over something
like K-Q-6-5-3. You
just win your ante bet, and get the other money returned to you.
Because you always win the ante if the dealer fails to qualify and you have stayed in the hand by making the
double-ante bet,
many poor Caribbean Stud players will make the double ante wager with horrible hands, hoping that they will collect because the
dealer fails to qualify.
This is a dangerous way to play Caribbean Stud, because you have to risk double your original bet just to try
to win the ante.
It's much better just to give up the ante bet when you don't have the minimum I've set out, and wait for another hand. Unlike
real poker, where folding often means a wait of several minutes before another hand gets dealt to you, you'll get another hand
almost faster than you can blink in Caribbean Stud. Fold the losers, play the decent hands, and you'll have a decent chance.
You will still be an underdog to the house, but you won't be a sucker, either.
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