| Caribbean
Poker is often confusing to newcomers, but it is certainly one of the
easiest casino card game to master.
The object is to beat
the dealer's five card poker hand with your five cards.
First you ante. Then
you get five cards, the dealer gets five cards and the best hand wins.
What's the catch?
There's a couple. The dealer turns one card face up. If you think you
can beat her, you can call your bet by adding two more dollars for every
original dollar anted.
Now it gets fun. If
the dealer doesn't "qualify" with an A-K or better, you win
the ante and get no action on the call bet, no matter what your cards
are. If the dealer qualifies with the A-K, you go head-to-head and the
best hand takes it all. Sound fun? It gets better. If the dealer
qualifies AND you win with anything higher than a pair, we pay you a
bonus on your call bet. Take a look...
| Your
Hand |
Bonus |
| Two
Pair |
2 to 1 |
| Three
of a kind |
3 to 1 |
| Straight |
4 to 1 |
| Flush |
5 to 1 |
| Full
house |
7 to 1 |
| Four
of a kind |
20 to
1 |
| Straight
flush |
50 to
1 |
| Royal
flush |
200 to
1 |
|
Remember, the bonus
is only paid on your call bet.
Let's take a look at
a hand and see how you'd play it.
Should you call this
hand? - Yes, you should!
Why? Because this is the
Beacon hand (which is the lowest better than break-even hand). In
Caribbean Poker holding Ace, King, Jack, Eight and a Three, always makes
you the favorite, no matter what the dealer's up card is.
It's that simple. If
you can remember these five cards you can play like an expert!
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Let's
try another one. Should you call your ante with a pair of twos if the
dealer's got an Ace up? Yes.
Once again, no matter
what the dealer's up card is, if you have A-K-J-8-3 or higher, it is to
your advantage to call the bet. Anything else (almost), just surrender
the ante and live to play another day.
Like all rules of
play, there is one exception to the beacon hand rule. If the dealer
shows a 10 or lower and you have Ace-King or higher, call the bet.
Keep in mind that if
you surrender the call bet, you lose your ante. Sometimes players just
feel lucky and want to call the bet with a bad hand to steal the ante.
In Caribbean Poker it's called "bluffing." You can do it, but
you're always going to be the underdog. The dealer qualifies 54% of the
time NO MATTER WHAT her up card is, and 66% of the time with an Ace or a
King showing. If you must bluff, do it when the dealer shows a queen or
lower or you're going to blow your dough in a hurry.
You can find several
books touting sophisticated strategies that take suits and matching
cards into account, but they add very little value to your game. These
complicated tables and indices often takes away the enjoyment of this
fast-paced gamble and aren't included in this guide to goodtime
gambling.
One other thing. You
may have noticed that we don't offer you the option of paying an extra
dollar to play for a progressive jackpot on the side. Why? Because the
side bet in Caribbean Poker is the worst bet offered in a casino. Even
if the royal jackpot gets as high as $200,000, the house still holds a
whopping 22% of every dollar you bet.
Caribbean Poker
Strategy Summary
 | Always call with
A-K-J-8-3 or better
| If the dealer
shows 10 or less, call with A-K or better
| Never bluff when
the dealer has an Ace or King showing. |
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