Caribbean Poker is a popular casino version of poker, where multiple players can take part at one table, but each player is playing against the house, rather than against the other players.
Unlike community card games, Caribbean Poker is quite simple to play, with each player being dealt five cards, and basing their bets on their knowledge of their hand, and the one face-up card that the dealer is showing. There is no bluffing involved in a game of Caribbean Stud Poker – the only similarity between Caribbean Stud Poker and other variants is that it uses the same five card hand system, and the same card ranking. The rest of the game is played in a method similar to blackjack.
Caribbean Stud Poker is a relatively new game – the name of the inventor of the game is unknown, but it first started to appear in the Caribbean in the 1980s, with games being played on Aruba, and on cruise ships taking tours around the Caribbean islands.
The game has a strong house edge – even perfect play tactics, which are difficult to achieve under casino conditions, offer a 5.224% house edge. A simpler strategy of raising when you have Ace-King-Jack-8-3 or better gives the house an edge of 5.316% on the player's ante bet.
If players collaborate, it is possible for them to gain an advantage over the house, but sharing information about the contents of your hand with other players is forbidden, so it is unlikely that this could be successfully done under casino conditions.
Despite this, Caribbean Poker is still a popular game. While many players dislike the large house advantage, the addition of a progressive jackpot in some casinos has managed to draw players in. The progressive jackpot offers payouts ranging from $50 for a Flush to $500 for a four of a kind, 10% of the contents of the meter for a Straight Flush, and 100% of the meter for a Royal Flush.
Players who wish to enter in to the progressive jackpot should remember to do this after placing the ante on each hand. If their hand qualifies for a progressive payout, they will win, regardless of the outcome of the rest of the hand.
The progressive jackpot form of Caribbean Stud Poker is now the most widely played – in both US casinos, and internationally. In the UK, this variation of the game is called Casino Jackpot Five Card Stud Poker.
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