Basic Strategy For Caribbean Stud Poker

Generally, you should raise on any pair or better and fold on anything less than Ace/King.

The table below shows in which circumstances you should play:

Players Hand - Dealers Upcard

Any Pair - Any Upcard

A-K-Q-J-X - Any Upcard

A-K-Q-X-X - Matches one of your cards

A-K-J-X-X - Matches one of your cards

A-K-10-X-X - Matches one of your cards

The reason for the upcard having to match one of yours is to reduce the likelihood of the dealer having a pair.

Advanced Strategy

To really squeeze the pips out of the play, if you have an Ace/King you should raise in the following situations:

If the dealers card is a 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 or Queen and matches one of yours.

If the dealers upcard is an Ace or a King and you have a Queen or a Jack.

If the dealer's card rank matches none of yours, but you have a queen in your hand and the dealer's upcard is lower than your fourth highest card.

House Edge

The accepted house edge in Caribbean Stud Poker is about 5.2% but that doesn't necessarily make this game a bad bet. As this statistic is based on the amount of ante lost, it does not include the raise bets. Typically, these account for the same money as the original bet. So, if you take this into consideration (and only play the perfect strategy) the house edge becomes a more acceptable 2.5%.