Since club poker gained more and more popularity, casinos started to think about developing a game similar to it, but played against the house. Club poker was played between players with the casino only profiting by taking a small fee from every hand that met specific requirements, usually the pot had to be pretty significant for this to happen. It is believed that poker guru David Sklansky helped to invent the very first form of poker played against the house, it was known as Casino Poker back then and dates back to 1982. The first variation of the game featured similar set of rules with a couple of differences, dealer was showing 2 hole cards instead of only one as it is in Caribbean Poker nowadays. After a couple of years and a failed attempt on patenting the Casino Poker variation, the variation known as Caribbean was born and brought into several casinos in gambling mecca Las Vegas. Today, it’s a very popular table game with one of the forms offered at just about any brick & mortar or live casino.
Rules & GamePlay
Caribbean Poker is played on a hand by hand basis – after you’re done playing a particular hand, the next one starts. In the beginning of every hand, you will have to place a bet, known as the ante. Once done, you’ll get 5 cards dealt to make the best possible combination. There are no exchanging, as in Video Poker, so the hand you get dealt is exactly what you’ll have to play with. You also can see one card of the dealers hand and have to make a decision. There are two things you can do:
- Call – place a double ante bet, which also automatically leads to dealer showing his hand and determining the winner.
- Fold – give up the ante bet and start a new hand.
Hands are valued just like in a normal poker game – all 5 cards are used to make the best possible combination. Payouts are where it gets a little bit more tricky. When the winner is determined, you’ll be paid on your ante bet at even money odds of 1 to 1, in the event of you holding the best hand. However, to get a payout on the call bet, dealers hand will have to ”qualify”.
- A qualifying hand for the dealer is one that is equal or stronger to AKxxx, where the x represents any card, the A stands for an ace, while the K stands for a King.
Play Caribbean Poker at These Casinos:
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Payouts
Even thought your ante bets will always be paid out at even money odds, this is not the case with the bets you put up when calling. Payouts on these will depend on the strength of your hand, dealer will obviously have to ”qualify” in order for you to get paid at all, but in case he does you can earn some hefty payouts.
- One pair or a worse hand – even money (1:1)
- Two Pair – 2:1
- Three of a kind (trips) – 3:1
- Straight – 4:1
- Flush – 5:1
- Full House – 7:1
- Four of a kind – 20:1
- Straight Flush – 50:1
- Royal Flush – 100:1 or a Progressive Jackpot if it’s offered in the game you are playing.
Progressive Jackpot
After Caribbean Poker was introduced back in the 1987 it did not take off all that quickly. Inventors had to think about how they could get more attention from the players and they got it – a linked progressive jackpot was added to the game. Today pretty much every game of Caribbean Poker will offer it and most of the time, a pretty massive one. In order to qualify for winning it you will have to place a side-bet of $1 in a qualifying hand, get a royal flush dealt as well as the dealer will have to get a qualifying hand. It’s not a secret that chances of this happening are quite slim, but when it does you will be appropriately rewarded!
The House Edge
As all the casino games offered, Caribbean Poker also puts players at a disadvantage. Given that you follow the optimal strategy of playing AKJxx or better, the house advantage will be approximately 5.40%. This means that for every $100 you wager playing, you’ll get back $94.60 and loose $5.40.
Playing Strategy & Betting Systems
There’s not much of a strategy involved in the game, but as a general rule of thumb, you should be playing with any AK and any pair. If you have anything less than that, fold, otherwise call the bet.
There also are various betting systems invented that can be applied when playing Caribbean Poker. Just note that these won’t affect the house edge in any way, we advise using them because it’s simply more fun to do so and it also will lead you to concentrating on how much are you winning or losing. Here are a couple of more popular systems that you can use.
- The Martingale Betting System – one of the most popular betting systems that is often used on even money bets. It suggests that a gambler should double the wager after a loosing bet thus recouping the losses and eventually making profit.
- The Fibonacci Betting System – a sequence of numbers rather than a strategy, you’ll have to write down numbers on a sheet of paper in a way that each previous 2 account for a sum of the next one. You’ll use them to determine the amount of units to bet.
- The Paroli Betting System – a similar betting system to the Martingale, but instead of doubling your wager after losing, you’ll do so when you win. If you’re on a hot streak, Paroli can help you to take some significant wins home.
Top 2 Caribbean Poker Casinos
So you’ve learned just about everything one needs to know about Caribbean Poker and are ready to try your luck online. There’s only one thing missing – an great online casino that offers Caribbean Poker, features clear reputation and generously rewards their players. Well, we have 3 of these for you.
1. William Hill Casino – WH is one of the largest online gambling companies in the UK, very well known for the wide range of games offered. You’ll find Casino Hold’em, which is a similar game to Caribbean Poker offered.
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2. 32 Red Casino – this MicroGaming powered casino constantly receives various industry awards, meaning they do their job well. Publicly listed at the London Stock Exchange cements their position as providers of a safe gaming environment even more. Enjoy Caribbean Poker along with several other unique types of Casino Poker now.
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