Playing Caribbean Stud Poker
If you've been getting bored playing five card stud, try slicing things up by playing Caribbean stud poker. It is also known in Europe as Casino stud poker. Here's a guide showing how to play Caribbean stud, how to figure out probabilities to become a more educated player, a little bit of the games history, and some terms that you should know. Hopefully, you'll hit the jackpot the next time you head out to the tables.
Rules of the Game
The rules Caribbean stud poker are pretty simple. Before you try to jump in a game, here are a few things to keep in mind. Each gambler is only allowed one hand at the table. The gamblers are not allowed to share information about the cards that they hold with other players. If this happens, all bets are lost and all bets forfeited. If a player ends up with the wrong amount of cards that result in a dead hand as well. A misdeal to the dealer results in a re-deal. It is mandatory that each player has their cards in full view of the dealer at all times. If, before the dealer states that there are no more bets, the hole card is flipped over, the hands are all void and re-dealt.
A Typical Round of Caribbean Stud Poker
What you do first is place your ante before you can get any cards. All of the players will then be dealt five cards face down. The dealer will turn his last card over to everyone at the table knows its value. Players at the table now have the option of whether they want to play or fold. If you choose to continue playing, you must place a bet that is twice the amount of your ante. The hand is over if you fold.
Place Your Bets
After everyone at the table has had their chance to bet or fold, the dealer reveals his hand. If he does not at minimum hold an Ace/King, you win only your ante back, no matter what is in your hand. If your hand is a higher hand than the dealer, you win. Everyone at the table competes with the dealer. It does not matter if you beat others at the table, just the dealer.
Payout Schedule
You will have a higher payout for winning with higher hands. Casinos may very little, but generally, you can expect a payout of one to one on a high card hand and a pair. Two pairs will net you double and three of a kind triple. A straight will quadruple your money. Flushes payout five times your call bet. A full house for multiplying your winnings by seven, before the time by 20, a straight flush by 50, and finally a royal straight flush should payout 100 times your call bet.
Math You Can Use
By using math, it is possible to find the exact amount of instances that you have of receiving a hand as compared to the total number of hands possible. To figure out exactly how many combinations of hands there are total you will have to do some pretty heavy math. You use something called a factorial, or ! which multiplies the number you are dealing with by every number before it is down to 1. So, 3! said as three factorial would be 6 because 3 x 2 x 1 is 6.
How to Figure out How Probable a Hand Is
The first step to finding the total number of card combinations is to multiply the total number of cards, 52, by every number before it down to 1. This can simply be written as 52! stated as the factorial of 52. You will then need to multiply the factorial of the number of cards being drawn, 5! and the factorial of the total number of cards after you subtract the cards being drawn, 47!. Divide 52! by the answer of 5!47!. A factorial can be separated out and reduced out of the equation. Since 47! is on both the top and bottom of the equation, they cancel out. This leaves you with the top of the equation having 52 multiplied by 51, 50, 49 and 48 on the top of the equation and 5 multiplied by 4, 3, and 2 on the bottom. There are a total of 2,598,960 possible hands in 5 card stud.
Royal Straight Flush at Caribbean Stud Poker
The Royal Straight Flush is the rarest hand in poker. This hand is made up of a 10, all the face cards, and an ace that have the same suit. It is easy to figure out this hands probability if you already know the total number of hands. Four royal straight flushes, one of each suit, exist out of the almost 2.6 million hands possible. You have a one in 649,740 chance of being dealt a royal straight flush in Caribbean Stud Poker.
Straight Flush
The second rarest hand in Caribbean Hold Poker is the straight flush. It is similar to the royal straight flush but is a little more complicated when it comes to figuring out probability. Thinking logically; nine straights exist for each suit, not including the royal straight flush. This means that 36 straight flushes exist out of the 2.6 million total hands. You have a one in over 80,000 chance of getting this hand.
Four of a Kind
Four of a kind is the third least likely hand to get in poker and is made up of four cards with the same face value. It is not that hard to figure out the probability of this hand either. There are 13 different 4 card combinations possible which must be multiplied by the 48 cards that may be the fifth card in the set. 624 possible four of a kind hands make up the total number of available hands leaving us with a one in 4,165 chance of picking up a four of a kind.
Full House
A full house is a hand in poker that is made up of three of the same face card and another two of another face card. This combination is a little more tricky. Since the hand is made up of a three of a kind and a pair, you can break this equation up. You can see that you have 13 different choices of a pair that can be suited 6 different ways and 12 different choices of three of a kind values that can be suited 4 different ways. Simply put, 123* 6 * 12 * 4 = 3744 different full houses hands. That makes for one full house in about every 700 hands.
Flush
You have a flush in your hand if all five cards are of the same suit. You can simplify this by looking at how many five-card combinations are possible in one suit. 1287 is the answer that you should have come up with using the same logic that was used in finding the total number of possible hands. You can multiply the number you found by 4 to include all the suits. You must then subtract out the 40 different straight flushes and royal straight flushes to complete this find. A total of 5108 flushes exist giving you a one in just over 500 chance of this landing in your hand.
Straight
A Straight is five cards in order of numerical value. By using information similar to the way that you used it for the flushes and straight flushes, you can find out the number of possible hands. 10 different combinations of numerical values exist with 4 different choices for each card in the rank. 10,240 hands with straights are available, but you have to subtract out the straight flushes and royal straight flushes from that total leaving you with 10,200 hands. That leaves you with about a one in 250 chance of picking up a straight in Caribbean stud poker.
Three of a Kind
If you have a hand that contains three cards of the same face value, you're holding a three of a kind. Data you collected from the full house probability can be used here. 13 different choices of face value get multiplied by the four different ways that the suits are found. The last two cards can be any of the ones remaining in the deck and can be presented in another 1,056 different ways. Multiplying those two numbers gives you the total, 54,912, possible hands containing three of a kind. You will, of course, now need to subtract out the full houses and four of a kind that this total contains. 47,003 three of a kind hand exist giving you a one in 55 chance of this ending up in your hand.
Two Pairs
A two pair is exactly what it sounds like; two cards of one face value with another two cards that are matched as well. There are six ways to choose each pairs value and 78 ways to choose between the two values. The last card can be 44 different cards from the deck without changing the hand to a higher one. 123,552 two pair hands exist giving you a one in 21 chance of getting this hand.
A Pair
A pair is the most common hand in poker. 13 possible values that can be arranged in six different ways totaling 78 different combinations of pairs. The third card can be one of 48 of the remaining cards to not change the value, the fourth, 44, and the fifth can be 40 of the remaining cards. Divide these three numbers by the factorial of 3 and multiply that by the first number you got for the total of 1,098,240 different possible hands of a pair. You have a one in 2.37 chance of getting a hand with a pair in it.
A Hand With No Pairs
Since the rules of Caribbean stud poker include the part that says if the dealer has a hand that doesn't include at least an ace or king you only get your ante back, you should probably know what the chances of getting that hand are right? So, to find the number of hands that consist of five cards that is unpaired, non-sequential, and not all of the same suit you can simply subtract all of the values you have found from the total number of possible hands. This ends up giving you 1,302,540 hands that contain nothing. There is a one in two chance that the dealer could have a hand that includes nothing.
How Many Have Aces or Kings
Two of every 13 cards dealt should be either an ace or a king. Since the total number of hands with no pairs is roughly 1.3 million, it is safe to say that about 200,000 of those hands have one of those two cards in it. This leaves 1.1 million hands that have no face card over a queen and no other higher hand. This value matches up pretty closely with the probability you have of picking up a pair in Caribbean stud poker.
Caribbean Stud Poker Game Strategy
Since there are no draws and no wild cards, knowing these probabilities can help you more than when playing other games that do include those types of extras. You get five cards, that's it. So, if you are waiting to bet until you see a four of a kind, you will be waiting a while.
A Much Different Game
Unlike in Texas Hold ‘Em where you see more quick folds than played out hands, it is worth it to stick around and see what happens most of the time. Even if you have a low hand, the dealer can not even qualify, and you will win your ante back. If you fold, you automatically lose your initial bet. With the dealer having as much of a chance of not qualifying as he does of having a pair, it is often worth it to stick around. Avoid folding except on extremely low hands and hope that you can pull a couple wins.
Tips on Betting
Having two high face cards is all you need to stick around. Since the bet can only be twice the original ante, you might as well stick around. If you have the dealer's face up card in your hand and a couple of high face cards, bet away. Your matching cards are making it harder for the dealer to pull off that pair. Honestly, you should most often bet unless you have a low hand.
Playing Caribbean Poker Online
Caribbean stud poker has a familiarity about it. It mixes stud poker with video poker in a way. Though it was first popularized to get gamblers back out to the tables because of its similarities you can still find this game all over the web to play from the comfort of your home. A benefit of playing in an online casino is the bonuses that they offer. Try a couple out and find out which you like best.
The History of Caribbean Stud Poker
This kind of game is a more recent addition to the gambling world and casinos. Caribbean stud poker was meant to lure players to the tables who have more recently been interested in playing video poker. The exact origins of Caribbean stud is a debate. The official story is that James Suttle created the game though it is rumored that he learned the game rules from another poker player in Las Vegas before that. James Suttle took the idea and sold it to an Aruban casino owner, Danny Jones. A distribution company in Nevada by the name of Mikhon Gaming later purchased the rights to the game. There have also been rumors that this game had been seen in Aruba before James Suttle even came into the picture.
Common Poker Terms
Here are some casino terms that you may not be familiar with to help you understand anything you might while you are there. The ante is a bet that all players pay to see the cards for that hand. Since players are all playing against the dealer, each gambler has an ante box close to them marked on a Caribbean stud poker table. You place your ante and your bet inside when it is time. Some tables include a drop slot where you can place side bets for a progressive jackpot.
The house is another name for the casino, and the house edge is the statistical advantage that the casino has in any given game. For Caribbean stud poker the edge is a little over 5%. This is about normal for most casino games. If there is a tie in poker, it is often referred to as a push. If this happens in Carribean stud poker both you and the house get all their money back from the hand.
Caribbean stud poker is a much different game than those you are used to. After you ante up, you get 5 cards that you have to make your best poker hand out of. You can bet twice of your ante to see if you have a better hand than the dealer. Hopefully, this explanation of the rules, information regarding the probabilities of each hand, a glimpse at the short history of this game, and definitions of a few casino terms will help you be a better player.
