Everything You Need to Know About Caribbean Hold’em
We love playing pokies, hence our website’s name, but also enjoy playing other casino table games. Caribbean Hold’em is one such game that we always keep an eye out for at a new online casino. It’s a fun game that King Johnnie hosts, meaning you can play it from the comfort of your own home.
It’s never a good idea to jump into a casino game without first arming yourself with the facts. So keep reading to discover everything you need to know about Caribbean Hold’em.
What Is Caribbean Hold’em?
Caribbean Hold’em is a casino table game powered by the Realtime Gaming software. It is extremely similar to Casino Hold’em but with two key differences.
The ante bet pays even money only if the dealer doesn’t qualify. There’s also a progressive jackpot side bet for you to try your luck with.
Realtime Gaming created the game after tweaking Casino Hold’em, which Stephen Au-Yeung designed. Au-Yeung created Casino Hold’em to help him improve at Texas Hold’em poker. He realised he could turn it into a casino game, which is what he did.
Caribbean Hold’em is play against the house and not other players. You’ll find it has a house edge of 3.09%. This is larger than the 2.16% house edge of Casino Hold’em.
How Do You Play Caribbean Hold’em?
The game is relatively simple and quite fast-paced. It starts with the player making an Ante wager. The dealer gives the player and himself two hole cards face down and three community cards face up on the table.
Each player decides whether to call or fold. Anyone who folds gives back their hole cards and loses their ante bet. Calling results in the player placing a call bet that’s twice the size of the ante bet.
Two more community cards are dealt and the dealer turns over his own cards.
The aim of Caribbean Hold’em is to make the best five-card poker hand using the five community cards and two hole cards/. The dealer needs a pair of fours or better to qualify. You win even money on your ante bet if the dealer doesn’t qualify and the call bet is a push.
You lose both your ante bet and call bet if the dealer qualifies and has the best hand. Your ante bet is paid out according to the table below if the dealer qualifies and you beat him. The call bet is paid 1-to-1.
Congratulations! You’ve just played a hand of Caribbean Hold’em!
Ante Payout Table
| Hand | Payout | |
|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 100 to 1 | |
| Straight flush | 20 to 1 | |
| Four of a kind | 10 to 1 | |
| Full House | 3 to 1 | |
| Flush | 2 to 1 | |
| All other hands | 1 to 1 |
Is There An Optimal Strategy To Employ?
There is a strategy to employ to improve your chances of winning. That’s the good news, but there is bad news too. There are so many different permutations because of the community cards that it’s almost impossible to describe! There are solvers available online that work out the most optimal play, however.
Don’t worry if that seems too complicated because we have a basic strategy to follow. You should call with 82% of the hands that are dealt to you, which is plenty. Conversely, you fold approximately 18% of the hands you receive.
These are broadly when you have two single cards in the hole that are low compared to the flop and have little or no chance of a straight or flush.
You play a lot of hands, as you can see, which means you can quickly burn through your bankroll. Make sure you price your ante bet to match the funds you have available.
Why not try Caribbean Stud Poker if you enjoy your Caribbean Hold’em session? It is a fun game too and not too dissimilar to this game.
