Caribbean Stud Poker is a casino table game that can be found in Macao, Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Aruba, Tunica and all other casino towns. While it doesn’t have the same appeal as blackjack, roulette and craps, this is mostly due to exposure. Those other games have been around hundreds of years, while Caribbean Stud was only invented in the 1980’s. Our website is a comprehensive guide to playing Caribbean Stud online, and it’s our goal to increase the game’s exposure.
Caribbean Stud Poker is always linked to a progressive jackpot. This jackpot can run into the tens of thousands of Dollars. Although the chance of winning this jackpot is relatively small, many players choose to play for jackpot. A free online version of Caribbean Stud Poker. Test out your Caribbean Stud Poker strategy here. Practice for Vegas. Try your luck at the progressive jackpot. One good example is Caribbean Stud. This game is similar to five-card stud. You’re dealt five cards and have the objective of beating the dealer by having the best five-card poker hand. But that’s where the similarities end. We’ll cover the differences in a few minutes.
Free Caribbean Stud Poker Games
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Best Caribbean Stud Online Casinos
If you’re already familiar with how to play, than you’re probably also aware Caribbean Stud is a game where you most often lose slow, but in the times you win you’re paid big. In other words there isn’t as many small winning and small losing sessions as there are in say blackjack or baccarat. The strategy most use is to deposit a fixed amount and play until it’s either gone or a progressive jackpot is hit. Using this strategy, the best casinos for playing Caribbean Stud online are those with a large jackpot and a considerable bonus. Our suggestion is to sign up at each of the online casinos listed below. When you’re ready to play deposit at whichever has the largest jackpot that day.
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Increasing Your Chances at Jackpot Win
Other than using the strategy of downloading multiple casinos and then taking advantage of the bonus offer at whichever has the largest jackpot, it’s also important to know strategy for optimal play. The leading expert on this topic is Michael Shackleford. His easy to follow strategy is covered below.
Raise with a pair or higher, fold with less than Ace-King and for Ace-King hands follow these four rules:
- Always raise with A-K-Q
- If the dealer’s exposed card is an Ace or a King and you have a A-K-J also raise.
- If the dealers exposed card is Deuce to Queen and one you have A-K and a match to his exposed card, raise.
- In all other circumstances fold your Ace-King hands.
Following this strategy you’ll on average raise about 52% of the time, and your element of risk is just 2.56%. This is of course the risk on your ante and raise bets.
Best Caribbean Stud Online Jackpots
Casino math experts such as Michael Shackleford and Robert Hannum perhaps might advise players to not even make the $1.00 progressive jackpot bet. I’ve never heard either suggest this, but it seems logical based on the high house advantage. The bottom line is – the entire reason most play Caribbean Stud is for the hope of hitting a jackpot. It’s also therefore logical advice to simply play at whichever casino has the highest jackpot and then leave it at that. However for those who are math-minded I’ll continue briefly.
In order for $1 side-bet to have positive expectation the jackpot needs to exceed $217,900. This assumes standard odds of 100% Royal Flush, 10% straight flush, $500 four of a kind, $100 full house and $50 flush. At RTG casinos such Lucky Red and Aladdin’s Gold making a flush pays $75 instead of the standard $50. This reduces the breakeven point for RTG jackpots to $201,071.
To illustrate why this of minor importance here are the true odds of being dealt a winning bonus bet hand in Caribbean Stud Poker:
| Hands | Odds of Occurring |
|---|---|
| Royal Flush | 1 in 649739 |
| Straight Flush | 1 in 72192 |
| Four of a Kind | 1 in 4164 |
| Full House | 1 in 693 |
| Flush | 1 in 508 |
Online Casino Caribbean Stud Poker Games
While the math experts might encourage players to stick to RTG casinos for the extra $25 that comes an average of once every 508 hands, most playing real money Caribbean Stud don’t want to get too hung up on this. Jackpots rarely if ever exceed $100,000 online. Again, the reoccurring theme here is to find the highest jackpot possible. This is done by having many casinos downloaded, opening several and taking a looking. On the day you’re playing deposit with whichever casino happens to have the highest jackpot. If it’s RTG casino that day, great the $75 instead of $50 decreases your expected loss by 4.9 cents per hand.
Caribbean Stud Poker Compared
There’s a silly myth that Caribbean Stud has too high of house advantage to catch on as a mainstream game. Tell this the cruise ship companies with packed tables, or Atlantic City casinos that have massive pits. The only reason Caribbean Stud isn’t well spread is because casinos in many towns haven’t done enough to market it. Games like blackjack have movies made about them, and celebrity stories such as Charles Barkley losing an estimated $10 million playing such games. Sir Charles would have been far better off playing Caribbean Stud online.
The idea the game has a high house advantage is also a myth. Caribbean Stud is an ante game, so while initial bet has a 5.2% advantage to the house, there’s a player advantage on the raise. This assumes you’re playing optimal strategy, where you only raise when doing so is a smart bet. As mentioned earlier the element of risk factor playing properly is 2.56%. This is better than Let it ride (3.51%), European roulette (2.70%) and Pai Gow Poker (2.6%). Also at most online casinos the bonus clears at 100% rate at Caribbean Stud while usually far lower rate at Roulette and Pai Gow Poker.
With all this considered, there’s no reason at all to avoid Caribbean Stud Poker. It’s all a matter of opinion. If you’re looking for more small losing and small winning days, sure stick to baccarat, blackjack or craps. If you’re looking for the best lottery ticket on the net, while having some fun, no doubt playing Caribbean Stud online is the best choice. If that fits your profile, get downloading! Smart Caribbean Stud Poker players have dozens of online casinos downloaded and each time they play, they deposit at whichever has the highest jackpot. All this said, we wish you the best of luck and encourage you to navigate other pages of our website to learn more about this awesome game.
Caribbean Stud Poker is my favorite casino table game to the point I’ve built an entire website about it. On other pages of this website I’ve shared experiences of playing live in Las Vegas, Connecticut, Atlantic City, Aruba, Macau, and even in Goa India. Although when I first set out to build this website I never expected to become a gambling expert, this is more or less what I’ve become. When it comes to online play I’ve now scouted hundreds of casinos finding the websites that are truly the best for playing online. This is what I’ll share on this page with no hype or other BS, while doing my best to only recommend the very best places to play.
Best US Casinos
The gambling sites I most recommend for US players are far different than you’ll find at other websites operated by internet marketers. While I do have an affiliate relationship with these sites, this came well after I used these sites myself. Now the two sites I recommend are not actually “online casinos”; one is known better as a sportsbook and the other better as a poker room. For the first, check out my 5Dimes review where you’ll learn about a Caribbean Stud Poker game that has just a 0.49% house advantage.
The other site I recommend for US players is www.carbonpoker.ag. Here you’ll need to download their software, and access their other games via the casino tab. Their casino is small with video poker, roulette and blackjack as the only options. What makes Carbon Poker so unique is they have a $1 min / $50 max table that has a $0.20 jackpot side bet as opposed to the $1.00 jackpot side bet offered elsewhere. At the time of this review that jackpot is over $43,000. This is amazing based on the fact it costs 1/5th the price to enter; no jackpot offered online is even close to five times $43,000. This makes Carbon Poker the site with the highest value jackpot offered at the time I’m writing this article.
Non US Players
Outside the US there are lots of great options. There’s also a version of this game where due to a generous bonus offer the house advantage has been cut to just 0.06% on the raise and the ante. This gives you a much greater chance to win. Now if you’d prefer to play without bonuses, check out my review of Pinnacle Casino. This is part of a popular online sportsbook not well known for their casino games. However here you’ll find Caribbean Stud with a 1.64% advantage as opposed to the 2.56% standard. What’s more Pinnacle Sports provides a refund of 0.3% on every bet made in their casino regardless if that bet wins or loses.
Software
Of course not all players are looking solely for the best odds. If you’re into the best software and features a great choice is www.intercasino.com. Here a 100% up to $250 sign up bonus is offered, the jackpot tends to get quite large and there is a VIP rewards program available. Another “potential” benefit while risky and not advised is collusion. This is possible due to their offering 5-seat multi-player tables available. Be sure to read my article on collusion before trying such a strategy, and also be sure to pay very close attention to the warnings.
Now if you’re looking for a game with big pay charts, this can be found online at www.ladbrokes.com. Their online casino uses Microgaming software which has a unique pay table. The network jackpot bet pays $20,000 for straight flushes instead of the 10% of jackpot offered at other sites.
Considering jackpots rarely reach $200,000 this is much better value. Also their raise bet pays 999 to 1 on Royal Flushes (as opposed to 100 to 1 standard) and also pays higher on the other top tier hands. The point to note is even though Microgaming’s version of Caribbean Stud carries just a 2.46% house advantage (0.10% less than standard) their game has higher variance. Here you’ll lose your full deposit on average a bit quicker, but in the times you catch some lucky big hands you’ll be paid a heck of a lot more. If you’re looking for the best chance at a big score, Microgaming is for sure the best choice.
If you happen to play high stakes, you’ll probably also want to check out www.888casino.com where up to a $2,000 max ante bet can be placed.
Best Casinos Online
To give a summary recap, my list of top choices is as follows:
- 5Dimes.com – best odds with no need to worry about clearing a bonus.
- Ladbrokes.com – best for players seeking large jackpot payouts.
- PinnacleSports.com – great odds and a rebate on every bet win or lose.
- CarbonPoker.ag – highest value jackpot bet costing just $0.20 to enter.
- Intercasino.com – best software by a wide margin.
- 888Casino.com – Best site for high rollers.
Each of the gambling websites just listed are industry leaders well known for their safety and reliability. In short, you won’t find a better place to play than those listed above.