Caribbean Stud Poker

What Caribbean Stud Poker is

Caribbean Stud Poker is one of the oldest house-banked poker games still found in UK online casinos. It uses standard five-card poker hand rankings, but there are no community cards, no draws and no opponents other than the dealer. You see all five of your cards at once and make one call: fold or raise. That makes it simpler than Casino Hold’em, where the flop and the river add drama, and slower-paced than Three Card Poker.

Its appeal is the raise pay table, which rewards strong hands generously, plus side bets with large top prizes. Its drawback is the qualifying rule, which can turn a great hand into a small win. Both are explained below. For the full range of card games, visit our casino games hub or the online table games guide.

How to play Caribbean Stud Poker, step by step

1. Place an ante within the table limits, plus any optional side bet such as the 5+1 Bonus or Progressive Jackpot where offered.
2. You receive five cards face up to you; the dealer receives five, usually with one shown.
3. Decide whether to fold, losing the ante, or raise by placing a bet equal to twice the ante.
4. The dealer reveals the remaining cards.
5. If the dealer’s hand is below ace-king, the dealer doesn’t qualify: your ante pays 1:1 and your raise is returned.
6. If the dealer qualifies, the better hand wins. A winning player is paid 1:1 on the ante and on the raise according to the pay table.
7. Side bets are settled on their own rules, usually on your five cards.

Online, the fold or raise decision runs on a timer, and not acting usually counts as a fold. Check how your table treats this in its help screen.

How Caribbean Stud bets are settled

The non-qualifying dealer is what most players remember about this game. If you raise holding a flush and the dealer shows queen-high, you collect only the ante at even money; the raise is handed back. That outcome is part of how the house keeps a larger edge than in many other table games.

Caribbean Stud Poker raise payouts and hand odds

This is the standard raise pay table used in most versions, alongside the chance of being dealt each hand in five cards from a 52-card deck.

Land-based tables sometimes cap the total paid on a raise. Online versions vary, so look for any maximum payout in the help screen before betting larger amounts.

Worked Caribbean Stud examples with a £5 ante

A raise adds £10, so each raised hand puts £15 at stake.

• Flush, dealer doesn’t qualify. The dealer finishes with queen-high. Your ante pays £5 and your raise is returned. Net +£5.
• Flush, dealer qualifies with a pair of threes. Ante pays 1:1 (+£5) and the raise pays 5:1 (+£50). Net +£55.
• Pair of jacks, dealer has two pair. You lose the ante and raise. Net −£15.
• Ten-high, no pair. You fold. Net −£5.
• Two pair, dealer qualifies with ace-king. Ante pays £5 and raise pays 2:1 (+£20). Net +£25.

The gap between the first two examples, £5 against £55 for the same hand, is the game in miniature. Whether the dealer qualifies matters as much as the strength of your cards.

When to raise: Caribbean Stud Poker strategy

Optimal strategy depends on all five of your cards and the dealer’s visible card, but a short version gets very close.

1. Raise with any pair or better.
2. Fold any hand weaker than ace-king high.
3. Treat ace-king high hands as close decisions; published strategies raise some of them depending on your other cards and the dealer’s upcard, and the difference between raising and folding them is small.
4. Never raise on a hope that the dealer won’t qualify; a non-qualifying dealer only pays the ante.

Strategy can trim the edge to its minimum, about 5.22% of the ante, but not remove it. The expected value definition explains how each decision is compared, and our guide to casino odds explains why a skill element doesn’t make a game beatable.

Caribbean Stud house edge compared with other poker tables

Measured against the ante, Caribbean Stud’s house edge is about 5.22% with optimal play. Measured against all money wagered, including raises, it is about 2.56%. The ante figure is the useful one for budgeting: with a £5 ante, the expected cost is roughly 26p a hand, or about £26 over 100 hands, before any side bets.

If cost per hand matters most, Casino Hold’em is the cheapest of the three. Caribbean Stud’s higher pay table on strong hands is what you are paying for. Our lowest house edge games guide covers the full range.

Caribbean Stud side bets: 5+1 Bonus and the progressive jackpot

Evolution’s live Caribbean Stud table offers two optional side bets. The 5+1 Bonus is an optional bet paying up to 1,000 to 1, with its qualifying hands listed on the help screen. The Progressive Jackpot bet pays a progressive top prize for a royal flush and fixed prizes for three of a kind up to a straight flush.

Progressive side bets in this game usually return much less than the main bet unless the jackpot has grown very large, and the top prize needs a royal flush, dealt about once in 649,740 hands. If you choose a side bet, treat it as a small, fixed extra. Our pages on side bets and progressive jackpots explain why these wagers carry a higher cost.

UK rules for online Caribbean Stud Poker

Since 17 January 2025, the Gambling Commission has applied game design rules to non-slot online casino games, including house-banked poker. RNG Caribbean Stud must allow at least 5 seconds per game cycle, autoplay is banned, you can’t play several games simultaneously, and your net position and time played must be visible. The changes were confirmed in the Commission’s speed of play decision (opens in a new tab) and sit in its technical standards (opens in a new tab). Our game design rules page explains each one.

There is no legal stake cap on table poker; the £5 and £2 limits apply to online slots. You must be 18 or over and verified before you can play, and since 31 October 2025 you are prompted to set a financial limit before your first deposit. Our page on deposit limit rules explains how limits work.

Myths about Caribbean Stud Poker

“Raise everything to catch non-qualifying dealers”

Raising weak hands risks three units to win one when the dealer misses, and loses all three when the dealer qualifies with anything better. It raises the house edge.

“The progressive jackpot is due”

Every hand is dealt from a fresh shuffle. A jackpot growing large doesn’t make a royal flush more likely; see the gambler’s fallacy.

“It’s poker, so skill beats the house”

You face fixed payouts, not opponents who make mistakes. Good decisions keep the edge low but don’t reverse it; can you win money at online casinos? covers the bigger picture.

Where to play Caribbean Stud Poker in the UK

Choose a casino licensed by the Gambling Commission, and look up its licence using our guide on how to check a casino licence. We don’t confirm which partners list Caribbean Stud tables on a given day, so search the live and table game lobbies and read the pay table first; the PlayOJO live casino page describes that lobby. For free, confidential support at any hour, contact the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 or GamCare’s live chat (opens in a new tab).

These welcome offers aren’t tied to Caribbean Stud; all are for new customers aged 18+, and terms apply. Casumo pays a 50% bonus up to £100 on a first deposit of £20 or more after you opt in; the bonus must be wagered 10x within 7 days, the stake limit with a live bonus is £5 per bet, and some games, play styles and payment methods are restricted. PlayOJO credits 80 free spins worth 10p each on Big Bass Bonanza after a first deposit of £10 or more made through its offer link, and any winnings are cash with no wagering; Northern Ireland is excluded. Coral’s new-player offer gives 100 free spins at 10p each on selected slots when you deposit and bet £10 or more on slots, to be accepted within 48 hours and used within 7 days, with no wagering on winnings and some deposit types excluded.

18+. Gambling should be entertainment that costs money, not a way to make it. Set a deposit limit before you play: how to set deposit limits. Free, confidential help: National Gambling Helpline 0808 8020 133.