Poker has become world famous recently, with televised tournaments and celebrity poker game shows. Its popularity, though, stretches back in reality a bit farther than its television ratings. Over the years numerous variants on the original poker game have been created, including a handful of games that are not quite poker anymore. Caribbean stud poker is 1 of these particular games. Despite the name, Caribbean stud poker is most closely related to blackjack than long-standing poker, in that the players bet against the bank instead of each other. The winning hands, are the established poker hands. There is little conniving or other types of bamboozlement. In Caribbean stud poker, you are required to pay up just before the croupier saying "No further wagers." At that point, both you and the casino and of course all of the different players acquire 5 cards each. After you have seen your hand and the bank’s initial card, you have to in turn make a call bet or give up. The call wager’s value is akin to your original bet, meaning that the stakes will have increased two fold. Abandoning means that your bet goes immediately to the bank. After the wager comes the face off. If the dealer doesn’t have ace/king or better, your wager is given back, with a sum equal to the ante. If the house has a hand with ace/king or greater, you win if your hand beats the bank’s hand. The bank pony’s up chips equal to your wager and set odds on your call bet. These odds are:
- Even for a pair or high card
- two to one for 2 pairs
- 3-1 for 3 of a kind
- 4-1 for a straight
- 5-1 for a flush
- 7-1 for a full house
- twenty to one for a 4 of a kind
- 50-1 for a straight flush
- one hundred to one for a royal flush