Caribbean Stud Poker Side Bet
A game of Caribbean Poker starts with placing your Ante bet and the
optional $1 Side bet. The Side bet must be placed by inserting a dollar
coin in the special Side bet slot. When the bets are settled after
a round of Caribbean Stud, and you didn't fold, you are always paid
out on your Side bet, independent of the dealer's hand. Of course,
your hand has to be listed in the Caribbean
Stud Poker Bonus Table. For your convenience we've reproduced
this table below:
| Hand |
Pays off |
| Royal Flush |
100% of the progressive jackpot |
| Straight Flush |
10% of the progressive jackpot |
| 4 of a Kind |
$100 |
| Full House |
$75 |
| Flush |
$50 |
Please note that this is a standard payout table for the progressive
side bet. There are a lot of variations of this table used, both
in land-based and in online casinos. Most of the time though, you
will find that only a Flush and higher are listed in the bonus pay
table.
The good thing about the Caribbean Poker Side bet is that you're
always paid out, even if the dealer *doesn't* qualify (this is not
true for the Caribbean
Stud Call bet). The downside to this bet is the high house edge,
which makes this bet only worthwhile if the progressive jackpot
is very high.
The following table can be used to calculate how high the jackpot
must be in order for the progressive side bet to have a zero house
edge:
| Hand |
P[Hand]* |
Returns |
P[Hand]xReturns |
| Royal Flush |
0.000001539 |
Jackpot |
Jackpot x 0.000001539 |
| Straight Flush |
0.000013852 |
Jackpot x 0.10 |
Jackpot x 0.0000013852 |
| 4 of a Kind |
0.000240096 |
$100 |
0.0240096 |
| Full House |
0.001440576 |
$75 |
0.1080432 |
| Flush |
0.001965402 |
$50 |
0.0982701 |
| |
|
|
$1 |
Solving the following equation:
$1 = 0.0982701 + 0.1080432 + 0.0240096 + Jackpot x (0.0000013852
+ 0.000001539)
Gives a minimum Jackpot value of $263,209.46
If you have placed the $1 Side bet, to be eligible for the progressive
jackpot payout, you will get paid if your hand is listed in the
progressive jackpot pay table or schedule, independent of the fact
the dealer qualifies or not. Though progressive payout tables and
jackpot reset values vary per casino, the payout schedule listed
above is used most often in Caribbean Poker.
If you play Caribbean Stud at a multi-player table, and more than
one player qualifies for the progressive jackpot payout on the Royal
Flush, your winnings will depend on the policy that's in place at
the casino:
 |
Almost always the jackpot winnings are shared
equally by the qualifying players. |
|
Sometimes the player sitting left to the dealer
wins the whole jackpot, and other players only win the reset
value of the jackpot. |
*The probabilities of poker hands can be found
in "American Mensa Guide to Casino Gambling", page 161.
|
