Spice Island Poker
Cryptologic is one of the online casino software companies that
offers Caribbean Poker. You might not notice this when first playing
at a Cryptologic casino, because they call their version of Caribbean
Stud, Spice Island Poker. But if you start playing it, you
will realize soon enough it's exactly the same game as Caribbean
Stud Poker. In this section we will give you some more information
about Spice Island Poker, especially how it compares to "standard"
Caribbean Stud Poker.
Play Spice Island Poker at
Spice Island Poker table layout
Spice Island Poker pay table (call bet)
| Hand |
Cryptologic pay table |
Standard pay table |
| 1 Pair or Less |
1 to 1 |
1 to 1 |
| 2 Pair |
2 to 1 |
2 to 1 |
| 3 of a Kind |
3 to 1 |
3 to 1 |
| Straight |
4 to 1 |
4 to 1 |
| Flush |
5 to 1 |
5 to 1 |
| Full House |
7 to 1 |
7 to 1 |
| 4 of a Kind |
20 to 1 |
20 to 1 |
| Straight Flush |
50 to 1 |
50 to 1 |
| Royal Flush |
200 to 1 |
100 to 1 |
As you can see in the table above, Cryptologic uses a standard
pay table, with the exception of the raised pay out on the Royal
Flush, which has been increased from 100 to 1 to 200 to 1. Of course,
this results in a lower house edge than the 5.22% that is standard
for Caribbean Stud Poker. The house edge for Spice Island Poker
is 5.207489892%, which is slightly lower than the standard 5.22%.
More information on the calculations behind the Spice Island Poker
house edge are available in PDF format here.
Spice Island Poker pay table (side bet)
| Hand |
Cryptologic pay table |
Standard pay table |
| Royal Flush |
100% of the progressive jackpot |
100% of the progressive jackpot |
| Straight Flush |
10% of the progressive jackpot |
10% of the progressive jackpot |
| 4 of a Kind |
$500 |
$100 |
| Full House |
$100 |
$75 |
| Flush |
$50 |
$50 |
Cryptologic offers a rather generous pay table on the progressive
side bet, raising the pay outs on two hands: the four of a kind
and the full house. This doesn't change the fact that the side bet
has a high house edge, it only means that the jackpot size has to
be less than standard, to overcome the house edge on Spice Island
Poker's side bet. The jackpot reset value will be dependent on which
casino you play. At the time of writing this, the Sands had a reset
value of $100,000 while William Hill was at $50,000.
Minimum Spice Island Poker Jackpot
So how high needs the jackpot to be in Spice Island Poker to make
the side bet worthwhile (that is give it a zero house edge). Let's
do some math:
| Hand |
P[Hand]* |
Returns |
P[Hand] x Returns |
| 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 |
$500 |
0.120048 |
| Full House |
0.001440576 |
$100 |
0.14440576 |
| Flush |
0.001965402 |
$50 |
0.0982701 |
| |
|
|
$1 |
Solving the following equation:
$1 = 0.0982701 + 0.14440576 + 0.120048 + Jackpot x (0.0000013852
+ 0.000001539)
Gives a minimum Jackpot value of $217,931.81
*The probabilities of poker hands can be found
in "American Mensa Guide to Casino Gambling", page 161.
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