Caribbean Stud or Casino Stud Poker Strategy

Caribbean Stud Poker is a fairly simple game to play; you’ll also find it called Casino Stud in many casinos.

First off, you place an ante bet and are dealt a hand of five cards. The dealer is also dealt five cards but the player can only see the value of one of them.

You now have to choose to bet on the hand which will cost you two times your ante bet or fold the cards and lose your initial ante bet.

You aim is to have a better five card hand than the dealer. If you bet and win and the dealer has Ace-King or better then your stake is doubled for a pair, two pairs generally gets you 2-1 odds and the better the hand after that the better the return on your money.

If you win the hand but the dealer doesn’t have a hand as high as Ace-King then your bet is returned but you get back double the ante.

Lose the hand and you get nothing back, obvious really. Want to read our Caribbean Stud rules?

So, when should you bet and when should you fold? What strategy is best when playing Caribbean Stud Poker in a casino?

Anything less than Ace-King, in other words, if you don't have Ace-King and a pair then fold immediately.

When you have Ace-King and there are no other face cards in the hand then you can bet whenever one of your cards matches the value of the dealers up card and fold when there is no match.

If there is a Jack in your hand then bet if any of your cards matches the dealers shown card. If there is a Queen in your hand, giving you Ace-King-Queen then bet even if you don’t have a match on the dealer’s card providing your fourth card is of higher value than the dealer’s card in view.

This is the best strategy to play Caribbean Stud Poker but is still only decreases the house edge to 5.2% so the odds of the game are still firmly to the house advantage.
The most important strategy of all when playing Caribbean Stud Poker in a casino is to bet with any pair. This is where the real strategy comes into play.

Many players like to fold with pairs of 2s or 3s but this isn’t the best strategy to play. Sure with these very low pairs you will lose a lot of the hands played but in the long run you’ll lose more by folding these hands and losing your ante bet than you will by playing them. 

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