How to Play Caribbean Stud Online

Where These Rules Apply

The regulations quoted on this page are Pennsylvania's. Chapter 639a of 58 Pa. Code specifies this game for the physical tables Pennsylvania licenses, and it is quoted here because it is the clearest published specification of how the game is dealt and paid. It governs dealers, cards and chips at a physical table, which is not what an online version of the game runs on: an online table is specified by its operator and by whichever regulator licenses it, and its paytable and house rules can differ from the figures below.

Five-Card Stud Against the House

Caribbean Stud is played only against the dealer. Five cards go to each player and five to the dealer, with one of the dealer's cards face up. The player looks, then either folds — losing the ante — or raises with a Bet Wager equal to twice the ante. There is no draw and no discard. One decision, taken on information that will not change, is the whole game.

No Published House Edge

No regulator, testing laboratory or game supplier publishes a house edge or a return figure for Caribbean Stud. The game does not appear in Light & Wonder's iGaming catalogue, which is where the supplier-published returns quoted elsewhere on this site come from, and no other provider's rules page gives a figure for it either. Figures circulate — a little over 5% is the usual one — but a number that cannot be traced to a provider's own rules statement, a regulator or a testing lab is not worth repeating. The rules and the paytables, set out in the sections below, are what can be stated, and they are enough to compare one Caribbean Stud table with another.

The Object of the Game

Caribbean Stud is a five-card stud game played only against the dealer, never against other players. Each player and the dealer receive five cards; the player sees all five of their own and one of the dealer's. The player then either raises or folds, and if they raise the hands are compared.

How a Round Runs

1. A player places an Ante Wager, plus any optional side bets.
2. Five cards are dealt to each player and five to the dealer, one of the dealer's face up and four face down.
3. Each player examines their own cards. Nobody but the dealer and the player holding them may touch them, and they must stay in the dealer's view.
4. Each player either places a Bet Wager equal to twice the Ante, or forfeits the Ante and the hand.
5. The dealer turns up the four hole cards and forms the best five-card hand.
6. Hands are compared and all wagers are settled. Once the Bet decision is made the player's cards go face down and may not be touched again.

The Dealer Has to Qualify

If the dealer's best five-card hand is lower than ace-king, the dealer does not qualify: the Bet Wager is returned and the Ante Wager is paid at 1 to 1, whatever the player holds. A player with a royal flush against a non-qualifying dealer is paid only the ante. If the dealer does qualify, the hands are compared: a higher player hand is paid on both wagers, a lower one loses both, and an equal rank returns both.

What the Bet Wager Pays

The Ante Wager is always paid at 1 to 1. The Bet Wager is paid on the strength of the player's hand, under a single paytable in Pennsylvania's regulations:

Those odds are worth reading against the size of the Bet Wager. It is twice the ante, so the stake that earns the big multiples is the larger of the two — and it is also the stake that comes back unpaid every time the dealer fails to qualify.

The Side Bets

Operators may offer a Caribbean Stud Bonus wager on the player's own hand reaching a pair of tens or better, paid regardless of the dealer's hand. Pennsylvania's table-game rule 58 Pa. Code § 639a.12(c) licenses three paytables for it and the operator picks one in its Rules Submission, so the figures here describe a set of three rather than the bet. All three pay 1,000 to 1 on a royal flush, 200 to 1 on a straight flush, 100 to 1 on four-of-a-kind, 50 to 1 on a full house, 40 to 1 on a flush, 3 to 1 on two pair and 1 to 1 on a pair of 10s or better; they differ on a straight (25 to 1 or 20 to 1) and on three-of-a-kind (7 to 1 or 6 to 1), which are the hands that actually come up. A Progressive Payout wager may also be offered. § 639a.12(d)(1) licenses eight paytables for that one; all eight pay 100% of the meter for a royal flush and they differ below it, and it too is settled regardless of the dealer's hand.

Folding Costs More Than the Ante

Pennsylvania's rules are specific about what a fold takes with it. A player who has placed an Ante plus a Caribbean Stud Bonus, a Progressive Payout or a Five Card Hand Bonus wager and does not make a Bet Wager forfeits all of them except the Five Card Hand Bonus — and keeps any entitlement to an Envy Bonus.

The Only Decision, and Its Price

Caribbean Stud asks one question per hand: raise or fold. The raise is fixed at twice the ante, which makes it an unusually expensive commitment for a single decision — a player who raises has three units at risk, two of them staked on the strength of five cards already dealt and unchangeable.

The Qualifying Rule Shapes Everything

If the dealer's hand is lower than ace-king, the dealer does not qualify: the Bet Wager comes back unpaid and only the ante is paid, at 1 to 1. That means a large share of winning hands pay one unit on a three-unit commitment, and it is the single most important thing to understand about the game before comparing it with anything else. A royal flush against a non-qualifying dealer pays the ante and nothing more.

What a Fold Takes With It

Folding forfeits the ante, and under Pennsylvania's table-game rule 58 Pa. Code § 639a.11 it also forfeits a Caribbean Stud Bonus wager and a Progressive Payout wager. A Five Card Hand Bonus wager survives, as does any entitlement to an Envy Bonus. So the cost of folding depends on which bets are on the layout, and a player with the progressive bet down is giving up more than the ante when they fold.

Check the Bet Wager Paytable

Pennsylvania licenses a single paytable for the Bet Wager: 100 to 1 on a royal flush, 50 to 1 on a straight flush, 20 to 1 on four-of-a-kind, 7 to 1 on a full house, 5 to 1 on a flush, 4 to 1 on a straight, 3 to 1 on three-of-a-kind, 2 to 1 on two pair and 1 to 1 on a pair or less. A table paying less than those figures on any line is paying less than a licensed Caribbean Stud table, and the comparison is worth making directly rather than from memory — the royal flush line in particular is quoted at different figures in different places.

The Side Bets Are Separate Bets

The Caribbean Stud Bonus and the progressive wager both pay on the player's own five cards and ignore the dealer completely. Pennsylvania licenses three Bonus paytables that differ on the straight and on three-of-a-kind, which are the hands that actually occur. No regulator, testing laboratory or supplier publishes a figure for either bet, so the payouts are all that can be given.

What Strategy Cannot Do

Each hand is dealt from a single shuffled deck, there is no draw, and no player may touch another player's cards. Nothing carries between rounds, so no staking pattern changes the cost. No regulator, testing laboratory or supplier publishes a house edge for Caribbean Stud, and a figure that cannot be sourced is not worth quoting.