Go for the Progressive Jackpot in Caribbean Poker
Gamers like to play for a big progressive casino jackpot. In the name of sound money management, most gamers can allow themselves a few spins on a progressive jackpot slot and then they go to play other games.
For gamers who like to play for a progressive jackpot, the Caribbean Poker variations offer great poker fun and since the progressive jackpot is shared by all three variations, the jackpots are won more frequently.
Caribbean Poker is Three Games in One
As we said above, there are three variations of Caribbean Poker: Caribbean Stud, Caribbean Draw, and Caribbean Holdem. The basic rules are both very similar and also a bit different. There is also some counter-intuitiveness concerning the best strategy in each of the Caribbean Poker variations.
Are the Rules Complicated?
Not at all! The basic rules are quite simple:
- Both the player and the dealer get cards. In stud and draw the player and dealer each get five cards and in Holdem, they both start with two cards and the three community cards.
- The player then decides if he or she wants to stay in the hand or fold their hand.
- If the player does choose to stay in the hand, he has to place another bet that is twice the ante bet.
- The dealer has to “qualify” to win the hand. The way the dealer qualifiers differs from variation to variation but the basic rule applies to all variations: if the player has stayed in the hand, the dealer can only win if she has qualified.
- If the dealer does qualify, then the dealer or the player will win both the ante bet and the extra bet. This depends on whose hand is stronger.
- If the dealer does not qualify, the player wins her ante bet and the extra bet is a push. The player wins the ante bet in this situation even if her hand was ultimately weaker than the dealer’s hand!
- If the dealer qualified, the player either loses both bets or wins both bets and there is also an additional payout for any hand stronger than a pair.
Caribbean Stud Poker is the Most Popular of the Three Variations
In Caribbean Stud, the dealer qualifies with an Ace-King or better. That means that he qualifies even with a pair of deuces and nothing else worth anything.
The most accepted strategy for Caribbean Stud is for the gamer to stay in the hand with any pair or better and to fold if their hand is weaker than Ace-King.
Is This Really the Best Strategy?
Here is where the differences of opinion come in. A player with an ace but no king can win the ante bet if the dealer doesn’t qualify. It seems to many players that to fold so many hands is simply giving money to the house before the house has shown a hand that it can win.
This is similar in nature to a player standing in blackjack with 12 or more points in all situations even when the dealer is showing a seven or better.
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Let’s Take a Look at the Odds
If the player does not have at least an ace-king, he or she will lose to any pair, two pair, three of a kind and so on. So, we are not just defying the odds against the dealer getting a pair; we are also contending with the dealer getting an even better hand.
As it turns out, the combined odds that the dealer will get a hand that qualifies and beats a hand with no pair are about 50%.
What Does This Mean?
In that scenario, the player will lose both the call and the ante approximately 50 out of 100 times. If the ante bet was $1 and the call bet was $2, the loss is $3 times the number of hands lost which for simplicity’s sake we will say are 50 out of 100 hands which creates a loss of $150.
On the other 50 hands, we can assume that the player’s hand is better than the dealer’s hand—even though there will be hands that the strategy tells players to call and the house still has a better hand— but the dealer does not qualify. Thus the player wins only $50 on these hands.
So, in an hour of playing Caribbean Stud, the house can expect to win about 5% of the money you have bet. For gamers, this means that out of $100 bet, you will lose $5. This is a higher loss rate than blackjack or video poker but Caribbean Poker is a fun game to play! And $5 is a small price to pay for some fun and entertainment!
Caribbean Draw Poker Has Many Devotees
This is the Caribbean Poker variation in which the player can draw up to two cards and improve their hand. The dealer also can draw cards and they have to follow strict and obvious rules on which cards to discard on the draw.
The player decides to call or fold before the draw and the dealer has to have at least a pair of eights to qualify. Thus, the best strategy in Caribbean Draw Poker is to ALWAYS CALL!
Caribbean Holdem Has a Small House Edge
The rules in Caribbean Holdem are similar to those in regular Holdem without the many different rounds of betting. First the dealer deals out two hole cards and three community cards. Then the player decides to continue on or to fold. Players continue on in at least four out of every five hands.
After the player has decided his or her course of action, the dealer deals out the last two community cards and then the hand goes to the showdown.’
The dealer has to have at least a pair of fours to qualify. The rules of who wins and how much they win are the same as in the other two Caribbean Poker variations.
Because of the visible community cards, it often is pretty obvious to the player what they should do.
The house edge in Caribbean Holdem is about 3%.
Statisticians Have Still Not Completed Analyzing Caribbean Poker
This is a fascinating fact! We have looked all over the internet for a complete analysis of the Caribbean Poker variations and we have not find a definitive statistical analysis of all three games!
What we do know is that Caribbean Draw is popular because players love to call and the best strategy as far as we know is that the player should always call. Players also love Caribbean Holdem because the community cards give players the feeling that they are making well-thought-out decisions and the house edge is very low.
Finally, players love Caribbean Stud because of the purely fun side of it and the fact that they can play for an hour or so and win a little or lose a little and have fun doing so!
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