Caribbean Stud Poker Strategy
In our section on the Caribbean
Stud Poker house edge, we've demonstrated that the house edge
in Caribbean Stud Poker is 5.22%. However, this is only true if we
make two assumptions. The first is a standard Caribbean
Poker pay table, and the second is that you play the optimal Caribbean
Poker strategy.
Every reasonable Caribbean Stud strategy has two rules in common:
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Fold if your hand isn't listed in the hierarchy
of Caribbean Stud Poker hands, that is fold if you don't hold
an Ace/King or higher. |
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Place the Call bet if you hold at least a Pair
or higher. |
The thing that distinguishes one Caribbean Stud Poker strategy
from another, is what they tell you to do if you hold an Ace/King.
The optimal Caribbean Stud Poker strategy is very complicated. If
you really want to learn this strategy you must read Michael Shacklefords
analysis here.
Our guess is that you will find that learning the optimal Caribbean
Poker strategy involves too much effort. Therefore, we will provide
you with three sub-optimal strategies that are much easier to learn,
and that have a house edge that is comparable to optimal Caribbean
Stud Poker strategy. Remember that these strategies only apply if
you hold an Ace/King. For other hands we've already described above
how you need to play.
Call if your remaining three cards are Jack-8-3 or better
This strategy was developed by Peter Griffin and John M. Gwynn Jr.
It's very simple and has an house edge of 5.32%.
Call if one of your remaining three cards matches the dealer's
up card
We've found this strategy in an article by Henry Tamburin. According
to Michael Schackleford this strategy has an house edge of 5.33% (more
information here).
Olaf Vancura's strategy
This strategy is published in Olaf Vancura's book Smart Casino Gambling
(more information available in our Caribbean
Stud Poker books section). Olaf Vancura adds two more rules to
the second strategy discussed above, reducing the house edge to 5.22%.
This strategy can be summarized as follows:
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Call if one of your remaining three
cards matches the dealer's up card. |
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Call if one of your remaining three cards equals
a Queen or a Jack, and the dealer's up card matches any of your
five cards. |
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Call if your remaining three cards equal Queen-X-Y
(X >Y), and the dealer's up card ranks lower than X. |
The Caribbean Stud Poker strategies discussed so far, only deal
with the decision to Fold or to Call after you are dealt your cards.
There is however another strategy decision you'll have to make when
playing Caribbean Poker. This decision is if you should take the
$1 progressive side bet or not, and has to be made *before* you
are dealt your cards (at the same time you're placing your Ante
bet). In general we advise you to *not* take the progressive side
bet, because the house edge on this bet is so high, that the jackpot
will seldom be high enough to overcome this.
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