Caribbean Poker: Your Guide to Winning
Caribbean poker is a stud poker game variant. Unlike other poker games, however, Caribbean poker is a match between the dealer and the player rather than a match between a player and a table of players. As such, characteristic poker strategies like check raising and bluffing are not observed in the game. This makes a number of poker players hesitant to refer to the game as poker.
Nonetheless, Caribbean poker has been attracting quite a population of players, and is even a regular feature of cruise ships. One of the factors that has contributed to the increasing popularity of Caribbean poker is its huge bonus payout. You get a bonus if you have a Flush, Full House, Four of a Kind, Straight Flush, or Royal Flush. The minimum bonus payout is $50 for a Flush. You get the bonus if you make a one dollar side bet.
To play, the player has to ante by placing an amount inside the "ante" circle. The ante amount is the same as the table minimum. The player may also place the one-dollar side bet.
The dealer then deals each player five hole or face down cards and deals oneself four hole cards and one face up card.
The players then regard their hands and takes the option to call or to fold. To call, the player places a bet which is double the amount of the ante bet. That is, if the player anted $10, the player calls by placing $20.
To win, the player has to beat only the dealer's hand.
For the dealer's hand to win, it must consist an Ace/King or better. If it doesn't have an Ace/King, the dealer pays every hand at the table a hundred percent on their ante bet only. The call bet is returned.
For the player to win on their call bet even if the dealer has an Ace/King, the player's hand has to rank higher than the dealer's.
The pay-out for a call in Caribbean poker depends on the kind of hand a player has. A pair pays 1:1. Two pair pays 2:1. Three of a Kind pays 3:1. Straight pays 4:1. Flush pays 5:1. Full House pays 7:1. Four of a Kind pays 20: 1. Straight Flush pays 50:1. Royal Flush pays 100:1.
Again, you do not pit against a table of players but only against the dealers in Caribbean poker. Because of this and because of the absence of many characteristic features of poker playing such as table profiling, bluffing, and limping, many poker players raised eyebrows on the issue of Caribbean poker as a "poker game." Despite this, Caribbean poker has continued to gain popularity and a multitude of players.