Caribbean Stud Poker
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Some forms of poker games do not have the suspense and psychology of the live player-banked game, but they do involve the poker hand. In Caribbean stud poker (a house-banked game), the player puts his five-card stud hand against a dealer's hand.
First the player makes an ante bet. Then the dealer gives him five cards and also takes five cards. Four of the dealer's cards are down, and one is up for the player to see. The player looks at his cards and then either drops out or bets an amount double his ante. The dealer does not look at his cards until the players bets are finished. When he looks at them, he determines if he has a "qualifying hand". The qualifying hand has at least an ace and king cards high or one pair. If the hand does not qualify, the dealer folds and pays the remaining players a win equal only to their ante bet. The second bet they made is simply returned.
If the dealer's hand is qualified, however, the player either loses or wins an amount equal to the ante and the second bet. He also is eligible to win a bonus depending upon the value of his hand. For instance, a straight gets a 4-to-1 bonus (on the second bet amount); a flush, 5-to-1; four of a kind, 20-to-1; and a royal flush, 100-to-1.
There is also another side bet that the player makes at the beginning. He may bet one dollar on the value of his hand, and he can win a special payoff if he stays in the betting, even if the dealer's hand is not qualified. The casino will have a progressive jackpot for this bet. A flush will get $50, a full house $100, a straight flush 10 percent of the progressive jackpot, and a royal flush the full jackpot. The progressive meter displayed above the Caribbean stud tables attracts players with the notion that they can win six figures on a one-dollar bet. Experts who study the game find that this extra one-dollar bet favors the house until the progressive jackpot grows beyond $200,000, which is rather rare.
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