Caribbean Stud has one decision per hand: fold and lose the ante, or raise twice the ante and play against the dealer. The correct chart is short. Raise with any pair or better, fold anything below Ace King, and raise Ace King only under three conditions tied to the dealer's upcard. Played that way on the standard paytable, the house edge is 5.22% of the ante.
Rule Assumptions
| Rule | Assumed value |
|---|---|
| Deck | One 52 card deck, shuffled before every hand |
| Raise size | Exactly twice the ante |
| Dealer qualifies with | Ace King high or better |
| Dealer does not qualify | Ante pays 1 to 1, raise is returned |
| Player beats a qualifying dealer | Ante pays 1 to 1, raise pays by the bonus table |
| Equal hands | Ante and raise both push |
Every figure below depends on these rules and on the raise paytable that follows. A table with a different paytable needs its own figures.
| Player hand | Raise pays |
|---|---|
| One pair or high card | 1 to 1 |
| Two pair | 2 to 1 |
| Three of a kind | 3 to 1 |
| Straight | 4 to 1 |
| Flush | 5 to 1 |
| Full house | 7 to 1 |
| Four of a kind | 20 to 1 |
| Straight flush | 50 to 1 |
| Royal flush | 100 to 1 |
Last verified: 14 October 2026.
The Strategy Chart
Pair or better
Raise every time. This includes a pair of 2s. Roughly 49.9% of all five card hands are a pair or better, so this rule alone settles about half of all decisions.
No pair, below Ace King
Fold every time. Ace Queen high, King Queen high and any lower hand cannot beat a qualifying dealer, so raising them only adds two units to a hand that wins only when the dealer fails to qualify.
Ace King with no pair
About 6.4% of hands are Ace King high with no pair. These are the only close decisions in the game. Raise when at least one of the following is true.
| Dealer upcard | Raise Ace King when |
|---|---|
| 2 to Queen | The upcard matches the rank of one of the player's five cards |
| Ace or King | The player also holds a Queen or a Jack |
| Any card not matched | The player holds a Queen and the upcard ranks below the player's fourth highest card |
If none of the three conditions applies, fold the Ace King.
Two worked Ace King hands
A player holds Ace, King, 9, 6, 3 and the dealer shows a 9. The upcard ranks between 2 and Queen and matches the player's 9, so the first condition applies: raise. The same five cards against a dealer 8 meet none of the conditions. The 8 is unmatched, and the player holds no Queen, so the correct play is to fold, even though the hand is the same Ace King high in both cases.
The logic behind each condition is removal. A matched upcard means one of the dealer's possible pairing ranks is partly used up, which lowers the chance of the dealer pairing that card. An Ace or King showing means the dealer already holds one of the two cards needed to qualify, so the player needs extra kicker strength to justify the raise. The third condition captures hands strong enough in their lower cards to beat many qualifying Ace King dealer hands.
How the Edge Is Built
The qualification rule
The dealer qualifies on about 56.3% of hands. On the other 43.7%, a raised hand collects the ante at 1 to 1 and has the raise returned, regardless of how weak it is. That is the only reason weak hands are not automatically folds. Against a qualifying dealer, the raise pays even money for a pair or high card, and only the bonus table above that point pays more.
Why the edge is so high
When the dealer fails to qualify, the player wins only one unit despite having three units at risk. When the dealer qualifies and the player wins with a pair, the player collects three units. When the dealer qualifies and wins, the player loses three units. The one unit cap on wins against a dealer who does not qualify is the structural cost, and no decision rule removes it.
Residual edge under perfect play
The chart above produces a house edge of 5.22% measured against the ante. Measured against the total amount wagered, including raises, the figure is lower, because a raise roughly doubles the money at risk on about half of all hands. Both figures appear in published sources; this article uses the ante based figure throughout because it is the one that can be multiplied directly by the ante to give the expected cost per hand. On a £10 ante, that is about 52p per hand.
Common Strategy Mistakes
These are the three deviations seen most often. Each one raises the house edge above the 5.22% baseline; none of them lowers it.
Raising every hand
Raising everything, including Queen high and lower, raises the edge by far more than either Ace King error. It is the most expensive of the three, because every weak hand that meets a qualifying dealer loses three units instead of one.
Raising every Ace King
Raising all Ace King hands regardless of the upcard and kickers lifts the edge above the baseline. The upcard conditions exist precisely to separate the Ace King raises that lose less than a fold from those that lose more.
Folding every Ace King
The opposite simplification, raising pairs only and folding all Ace King hands, also lifts the edge above the baseline. Because Ace King hands make up only about 6.4% of deals, both Ace King errors cost far less than raising everything, but each is still an error.
The Progressive Side Bet
Many tables offer an optional progressive jackpot bet that pays on strong hands, typically from a flush upwards, regardless of the dealer's hand. Its return depends on the current jackpot size and on the operator's fixed pays, which differ from table to table, so no single edge figure applies. At typical jackpot levels it is a much more expensive wager than the base game. The chart above is unchanged whether or not the side bet is placed.
Live Tables Versus RNG Tables
The chart applies to both, provided the table deals from a single deck shuffled before every hand, as assumed above. The game rules screen states the deck and shuffle procedure. Some RNG versions alter the raise paytable, for example paying 1 to 1 on two pair or lowering the straight pay. Any such change alters the edge, and the paytable in the game's help screen takes priority over every figure here.
Responsible Gambling
Online casino play in Great Britain is restricted to adults aged 18 and over on sites licensed by the UK Gambling Commission. Perfect play on this chart still leaves a 5.22% edge: over a long run of hands, Caribbean Stud costs money however accurately each decision is made. Each raise puts three units at risk on a single hand, so a session can swing faster than the ante size suggests; setting a deposit limit in advance takes that into account. GAMSTOP offers free self exclusion from all UK licensed sites, BeGambleAware provides information and support, and the National Gambling Helpline is available on 0808 8020 133.