Caribbean Hold Em
Caribbean Hold’em Poker is very similar to Caribbean Stud Poker, but instead of stud you play a version of hold’em against the casino. The game uses a standard 52-card deck and the object is to make a better 5 card poker hand than the dealer using your two hole cards and 5 community cards.
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How to Play
Play begins with you making an ante bet. You then receive 2 cards face up, the dealer receives two cards face down and the flop shows 3 cards face up. You are then given the option to fold and forfeit your ante or make a call equal to two times the ante bet. Two more community cards are then dealt face up representing the turn and river cards. You then compare your five card poker hand to the dealers five card poker hand. The dealer must have a pair of fours or better to qualify. If the dealer does not qualify then the player’s call bet is pushed and the player wins a payout for the ante bet based on the following:
Royal Flush pays 100 to 1
Straight Flush pays 20 to 1
Four of a Kind pays 10 to 1
Full House pays 3 to 1
Flush Pays 2 to 1
Straight and below pays 1 to 1
If the dealer does qualify and wins the player loses both the ante and call bets. If the dealer qualifies and loses the player wins even money on the call bet and the ante bet is rewarded based on the payouts outlined above. If the dealer and player end up with the same hand then both the call bet and the ante bet will push.
If the player made the $1 progressive side bet then they also win a portion of the jackpot if they were dealt a flush or better. The payout tables for the progressive jackpot vary from casino to casino, but usually between a flush and a four of a kind earns a set dollar amount, while the straight flush or royal flush earns a percentage of the jackpot.
Example
Let’s say you are dealt (7H,8H) in the hole and the flop comes (9H,2D,JH). You call because you have both a straight and a flush opportunity. The next two community cards come as (10H, AH) resulting in a straight flush for you. The dealer shows (9S,3D) which means the dealer qualifies. Therefore you win even money on the call bet and 20 to 1 on the ante bet. This results in you winning 25 units on a bet of 3 units.
Basic Strategy
The Caribbean Hold’em optimal strategy is very suggestive. In general you should raise slightly more than 80% of the hands and you should only fold when your hole cards are low compared to the flop and there is hardly any chance for a flush or a straight. The house edge in Caribbean Hold’em is about 2%.