Caribbean Poker is played the same way both online and offline. The player places an ante. The dealer gives the player five cards. Then gives himself five cards, one of them face up. The player then decides if he wants to continue. He can place double the ante in the “Bet” box. Or he can choose to fold, thereby losing the ante.
A qualifying hand for the dealer is AK or higher, that means that if the dealer has AK, and the player beats him the dealer pays him an amount equal to the ante and the bet combined. If the dealer does not qualify, he pays only the ante.
If you have something more than one pair, the dealer pays you more on the bet.
- Two pairs-twice the bet
- Three of a kind- three times the bet
- Straight-4 times the bet
- Flush -5 times the bet
(variances can occur in some casinos)
The system:
If you play this game a lot, you will realize that most of your profit will come from the ante bet. The dealer qualifies less than 50% of the time. And many times when he qualifies he will beat the player. So, when do you choose to place the bet, and when do you choose to fold? If you have AK10 or better, you MUST place the BET. The exception being if the dealer shows as his displayed card a higher card than your third card. If you have AK10 and he displays a J or Q, you fold. If you have AKJ and he displays a Q you fold.
Otherwise you place the BET. Do not be afraid if the dealer displays a A or K, it is actually good, because he is more likely to get AK rather than a pair. Playing this way is painful when the player gets AK a lot and gets beaten by pairs. But remember, the dealer will qualify less often than he qualifies, and a significant portion of the qualifying hands will be AK. Mathematically, this is the only way to play this game. It reduces the house edge to its theoretical minimum.
Side games:
One of the most popular sidegames is a progressive jackpot. You can place 1 unit (dollar or Euro) towards a pooled jackpot. It pays a portion for flushes and straight flushes and other very premium hands. The royal flush will pay out the entire jackpot to you. Keep in mind that the probability to receive a royal flush is 649,739 : 1, so basically you invest over 649,000 euros to win the jackpot (most people go their entire lives without hitting one) As with most things that the casino allows you to do, this is also a bad idea, unless you are playing with very high stakes.
For example, if you are playing with 10 euro ante and put 1 Euro towards the progressive. It is actually 10% of your stake. Keep in mind that you are trying to beat the house when they have a 3% advantage. The progressive bet ruins the math completely unless you consistently get flushes and full houses and 4 of a kind (you will not)
If you are playing more than 100 euro ante, it is fine to place this bet.
As always, play within your means and enjoy!
