CaribbeanStudPoker.org was established in January 2012 first and foremost to introduce new casino goers to this fantastic table game and to act as a guide to the best online versions. Regarding the latter, did you know when using optimal strategy this game carries a 2.56% house advantage? If you check our page titled Best Caribbean Stud Odds you’ll be introduced to an online casino offering it with just a 0.49% advantage. Of course, not everyone cares about odds. Many players are looking for big payouts relative to stake while others are looking for the best overall experience or bonuses. No matter what your preferences are, our website has over two dozen pages of content sure to lead you to an online casino that meets your desires.
How to Play Caribbean Stud Poker
Caribbean Stud Poker starts with an ante bet, followed by players and the dealer each receiving a 5-card poker hand. As a general rule, if the hand dealt does not rank Ace-King high or better… players are advised to give up their ante by folding. If they wish to stay in, a wager equal to two times the size of the ante is required. Next a showdown takes place. If the dealer does not have at least Ace-King high your wager is a push and you’re paid even money on the ante. If the dealer does qualify with Ace-King high, a pair, or better, the hands are compared to see who wins. When beating a qualified dealer hand the payouts are determined by your hand strength, meaning trips earn you more than a pair and a straight earns more than trips. For the payouts, and a more detailed explanation, refer to our article How to Play Caribbean Stud Poker.
Progressive Jackpots
A side feature to Caribbean Stud Poker is the option to place a side bet, which generally costs a single chip (example: €1, £1 or $1) and is tied to a progressive jackpot. While the payouts differ between online casino software providers, generally speaking if you’re dealt a flush or four of a kind you’ll be a paid a small bonus, but when getting a straight flush you get 10% of the jackpot, and a royal flush 100% of the jackpot. The progressive can grow quite large, and… as you’ll learn about in our next section, it is much the reason this game became so popular. Insider tip: Although they don’t market themselves as a casino, popular US friendly poker site www.carbonpoker.com offers an awesome Caribbean Stud Poker game with a progressive that costs only 20 cents to enter; this is one of the highest value progressives online.
Caribbean Stud Poker History
The origins of Caribbean Stud Poker date back to a very similar game called Casino Poker. This version had lower payouts and the dealer hand had two face-up cards as opposed to the one face-up card used today. It was invented in 1982 by American professional poker player and author David Sklansky, who went as far as debuting it at Vegas World (a casino that closed in 1995 and was replaced with the Stratosphere). Perhaps due to poor advice or a change in the laws, a lawyer informed Sklansky the game was not patentable. That same year he had several challenges including the death of his girlfriend which led him to give up pursuing the game further.
Apparently without David Sklansky’s knowledge, the game started appearing on cruise ships destined for Aruba around the same time. This led to a gambler familiar with the game asking Sklansky about it in 1985, and how it could be improved. From here the game was eventually sold to casino owner and game developer Danny Jones who spread the game to Aruba with only moderate success. However, in 1987, he was playing poker at Binion’s Horseshoe casino in Las Vegas when he discussed the game with a Las Vegas Hilton employee and software engineer named Michael Titus. It was Titus who had the idea the house had too great an advantage for the game to stick, and for it to be popular a progressive jackpot is needed.
Adding a progressive jackpot to a table game was something that had never been done before. Poker games had it in the form of bad beat jackpots but this was easy as it was taken from the rake, and slots had it, but this was part of their design. It ended up taking a couple days for Michael Titus and Danny Jones to work out the specifics but once they did Titus quit his job and immediately took a position with newly established company Progressive Games, Inc.
Once progressive jackpots were added, in short order the game was leased to many Las Vegas casinos, and then spanned to Florida, all over the Caribbean and eventually the world. Today Caribbean Stud Poker is played in live casinos under this name in Australia, United States, Macau, Goa, Dominican Republic and several other places. Meanwhile it’s also played under other names; some Caribbean casinos offer it under the name Tropical Poker, while in Eastern Europe a variation of the game is offered called Oasis Poker. Online something similar takes place; most casinos call it Caribbean Stud Poker while Microgaming calls it Cyber Stud Poker and Rival calls it Five Card Poker.
Honest Online Casinos Promise
As you navigate our website you’ll see we have several recommendations for Caribbean Stud Poker. You have our word that here we only recommend honest online casinos. Our website is authored and managed by fans of the game, and we’ve gone to lengths to bring you some of the best Caribbean Stud Poker content available online. No matter if you’re looking for the highest betting limits or the best odds, bonuses or progressives, we have articles on these topics. As casino gamblers ourselves, we’d never recommend a gambling website we do not fully trust.
