Often considered the most popular casino poker game around, Caribbean Stud Poker is often just called "Caribbean Poker" at some online casinos due to its immense popularity. The stud version of this game is pretty simple in its presentation, and that makes it interesting strategically because that creates a situation where the terms used when discussing strategy are fairly simple. If you know the rules of this game, you know that everything comes down to deciding when you should raise and when you should fold. A majority of the cases in this game are easy to play, but the ones that are difficult and where you can maximize your payout rate compared to the average player.

The dealer qualifies with AK-high in this game. If you don't know what that means, then you'll need to learn poker hand rankings first before you try to tackle Caribbean Stud Poker because it's sort of a requirement before you can understand the strategies involved. If you have a hand that's a pair or better, then you should always raise no matter what. Along similar lines, if you have a hand that's worse than AK-high, as in AQ-high or lower, then you should always fold. This covers a majority of hands.

The hands that really matter the most and that require the most thought are the hands where you are dealt AK-high. With these hands, you really have to think about the cards in your hand and the single card of the dealer's that you can see. With this information, you'll have to make the best decision possible about how to play your hand when it comes to either raising or folding. The two most important pieces of information that you should look at with this are your third-highest card and the card that the dealer is showing.

If the dealer's card is a queen or lower, and it matches one of your cards, you should raise since it makes it harder for the dealer to have a pair. If the dealer is showing a king or higher and your third highest card is a queen or jack, then you should also raise. Finally, if your third highest card is a queen and the dealer's card is lower than your fourth-highest card, then you should raise. These are somewhat tricky rules to remember, but they're effectively the only three difficult things you have to learn about strategy in this game.