How to Win Playing Caribbean Stud Poker:
Because there is no discard round in Caribbean Stud Poker, you must play the cards you are dealt and decide to either call, doubling your ante or fold, forfeiting your ante, based on how strong of a hand you think you have in comparison to the dealers hand.
The last card dealt to the dealer is dealt face up. This last card, in conjunction with the cards you are holding, will help you come to a decision on what to do.
These have to be the two easiest rules: if you are holding a pair or better, call; fold your hand if you are holding anything less than the Ace/King combination. Given these two rules of thumb, you will not always win with the pair, and you will not always lose if you make a decision to call while holding jack squat. Remember that the dealer must first qualify to play with an Ace and a King. If you call and the dealer does not qualify, you will win 1-to-1 against your ante anyways, even if you hold nothing.
The rules for calling or folding definitely become far more complex and difficult when holding nothing more than the Ace/King combination. There are many sorts of complex combinations to memorize if you want to learn and play with perfect strategy, but to make things easier these are three rules you can follow to beat the dealer.
- Always calling when you hold an Ace and a King
- Call when the dealers face up card is a 2 through a Queen and matches one of your own cards.
- Call when the dealers face up card is an Ace or a King and when you hold a Queen or a Jack.
- Call when the dealers face up card is lower than the fourth highest card you hold and you are holding a Queen.
