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Players and cards
One player faces a dealer representing the bank. Use 52 cards without jokers. This is stud with a completed 5-card hand: there are no draws, community cards or bets between participants. This guide selects the BetMGM base profile and the pay table below; bonus wagers and the progressive jackpot are excluded.
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Deal and opening
The player places Ante 1. Deal the player 5 face-up cards and the dealer 5 cards with only one face up. Choose Fold, surrendering the hand and losing the Ante, or Call, adding 2, twice the Ante. There are no further decisions in the round. After Call the dealer reveals the remaining cards; compare all 5 cards of each hand.
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Hand rankings
From strongest to weakest: straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, high card. A royal flush is the highest straight flush, A–K–Q–J–10. A straight needs 5 consecutive ranks; A may be high or low in A–2–3–4–5, but K–A–2 cannot wrap. A flush has 5 cards of one suit; a full house has a triple and a pair.
Within a category compare the straight’s top card; four of a kind then its kicker; the full house’s triple then pair; a triple or pair followed by the other cards in descending order. With two pair compare the higher pair, lower pair, then kicker. Compare flushes and high-card hands card by card in descending order until different. Suits are equal; identical ranks in the best 5 cards produce a tie.
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Dealer qualification
The dealer qualifies with A–K high or any pair or better. If the dealer does not qualify, Ante wins 1:1 and Call is returned, even if the player’s hand is weaker. A qualified dealer with the stronger hand takes both bets; an exact tie returns both. When the player beats a qualified dealer, Ante pays 1:1 and Call pays by the player’s hand category.
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Scoring
Net Call payouts are: royal flush 100:1; other straight flush 50:1; four of a kind 25:1; full house 10:1; flush 7:1; straight 5:1; three of a kind 3:1; two pair 2:1; pair or high card 1:1. Multiply these ratios by the Call, not the Ante. Return each winning stake in addition to its profit. Fold gives net −1; losing after Call gives −3; dealer nonqualification gives +1. Other operators may publish different tables.
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Ending the game
Use notional units and record net results; there is no shared pot between players. Agree on 20 rounds. Gather all 52 cards and shuffle after each. Void an incomplete or incorrect deal, return all stakes and replay it without counting the void round. A positive total is a player win, a negative total a bank win, and 0 a draw. If counters run short, continue on a ledger without changing the stakes.
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History and selected variant
Caribbean Stud belongs to house-banked poker: the dealer follows fixed procedures rather than bargaining with the player. Its name is established in casino play, but the selected rules do not establish a sole inventor or exact origin date. It is distinct from Texas Hold’em: there are no community cards from which to select a hand.
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Worked example
The player holds Q♥ Q♠ 9♦ 6♣ 2♥; the dealer shows J♥. The player adds Call 2 to Ante 1. The dealer reveals J♥ J♣ A♠ 8♦ 3♣: the pair of J qualifies but loses to the pair of Q. Ante wins 1 and Call wins 2, for net +3. Including returned stakes, the player receives 6. The dealer’s A cannot overcome the stronger pair.
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Common questions
May I exchange a card?+
No. The selected base profile allows neither exchanges nor card purchases.
Which suit wins?+
None: suits never break a tie between hands.
Does the payout include my stake?+
Ratios show net winnings; the winning stake is returned separately. A push returns only the stake.