Casino Stud Poker Online Casino Game, Rules and Strategy

Casino Stud Poker

Casino stud poker is a variation of poker which is also known as Caribbean stud poker. As the name suggests it originates from the Caribbean islands. It?s a very popular game that can be found at the numerous casinos and cruise ships in the Caribbean islands. The game shares many similarities with standard table poker.

Casino Stud is played at a table very much like a blackjack table. The attraction of the game is the high pay-off if you catch a good hand which qualifies. A straight flush which qualifies pays 50-1 and even a lowly two pairs pays double.

The advantage to playing Caribbean poker is it does offer a great payoff, which is why people take their chances and play despite the slim odds of winning.

Basic Play

Each player has two circles on the lay-out in front of him, marked raise and ante. You put the stake you want to play in the circle marked ante. Minimum and maximum bets are displayed at each table.

The dealer then deals five cards to each player and five cards to himself, turning the top card face up. This gives players a clue as to the strength of the dealer's hand.

After the cards are dealt, each player picks up his hand and takes a look to see what he's got. This is the moment of decision!

1. If you think your hand is a winner and fancy your chances, you can raise. You lay your cards face down in the raise box and place double your initial stake on top of your cards. If your first bet was

Casino Stud Poker Strategy

Top Tips

• Its always best to raise on a pair, however low it may be. This includes low pairs like a pair of twos or threes, even though these bets are associated with a net average loss. The point is that the net average expected loss for not raising these hands is even higher. So live a little and raise on that pair of twos.
• Fold on anything less than Ace/King. This game is has enough risk involved already.
• Only ever raise on Ace/King when one of your cards matches the rank of the dealers up card.
• Playing a hand with Ace/Queen and three low cards is often a mistake. Inexperienced players call on this hand because under the right circumstances it can look powerful. For example, the hand A-Q-J-10-9, (unsuited) looks strong, but is in reality worthless. Since the only way this hand can win is for the dealer to have nothing, there is no good reason why this play should ever be made.

Basic Playing Strategy