Your Guide to Beating Oasis Poker
Online casinos do not only offer pokies but dozens of tables games too. Blackjack, roulette, and baccarat are the most popular tables games but there are many others. Oasis Poker is one of the more obscure games but one that is growing in popularity.
Oasis Poker is a variation of the ever-popular Caribbean Stud Poker. Indeed, the rules are almost identical with one key exception. It is possible to exchange cards before the raise/fold decision. Exchanging cards comes at a price, although that price is worth it with the correct strategy.
House edge is very low at only 1.04%, if you follow the correct strategy. This puts Oasis Poker behind blackjack but ahead of roulette.
An Oasis Poker Hand In Action
Playing Oasis Poker is straightforward and you will not have any problems learning the rules. Playing Oasis Poker at an online casino is even easier because it is impossible to make a mistake.
Each hand starts with the player making an ante wager plus an optional side bonus bet. Players and the dealer receive five cards, which are all face down. However, one of the dealer’s cards is exposed. Rules permit the player looking at their five cards but sharing information is not allowed.
The player can swap one card of their choice for the next card in the deck. This comes with a non-returnable fee. Swapping one card costs 1x the ante, swapping two costs 2x the ante. Three-times the ante is the cost for changing three cards, but only 2x the ante for switching four. Last, changing all five cards costs 1x the ante bet. Not all casinos allow more than one card.
The player has two choices: raise or fold. He must raise if he previously swapped all five cards. Folding forfeits your cards, ante bet, and any other bets wagered. Raising comes with a raise wager that is exactly twice the size of the original ante bet.
The dealer turns over his cards once a player raises.
How Do You Win?
Dealers need a qualifying hand, like most casino card games. The dealer needs at least ace-king in their five cards. Therefore, the weakest possible dealer hand is A-K-4-3-2.
Players win even money on their ante wager if the dealer does not qualify. However, the raise bet is a push. The dealer wins if his hand qualifies and beats the player, thus, the players loses all bets.
The player wins if the dealer’s hand qualifies and the player’s hand is better than it. Ante bets are paid at even money with the raise bet paid in accordance to the below structure.
- Royal flush: 100 to 1
- Straight flush: 50 to 1
- Four of a kind: 20 to 1
- Full house: 7 to 1
- Flush: 5 to 1
- Straight: 4 to 1
- Three of a kind: 3 to 1
- Two pair: 2 to 1
- All other: 1 to 1
When Should You Switch Cards?
Computerized programmes show players, on average, switch cards 8.4% of the time. The following situations warrant switching cards if the casino allows the switching of one card.
- One card for a possible straight flush and royal flush; it is worth breaking up a pair here
- Four to a flush with no pair
- Four to an outside straight with no pair
There are a handful of other situations where switching is a good idea. However, these depend on the dealer’s exposed card.
There are two situations where you should never switch cards. Do not ever switch when you have two pair and do not switch if you have three of a kind. Furthermore, do not switch two or more cards if the casino allows. The casino does not allow the switching of cards from the goodness of its heart; the odds are against you.
