Online casinos have been able to offer us a much wider range of casino games than we could ever have expected to find at a real land based casino, although with the exception of the slots most of the more traditional casino games have been around for a very long time. There are however several new versions of the more traditional casino games, one of which is Caribbean Stud. Playing poker at an online casino has probably been one of the biggest success stories of the online gambling revolution we have seen since we had access to the internet, and more and more people in Ireland are becoming interested in playing poker online. Caribbean Stud is a form of poker which is ideally suited to online casino games players who want to try playing poker online but are wary of playing Texas Hold’em on a poker forum, either because they are inexperienced or because they simply do not have the budget. Playing Caribbean Stud at an online casino is a simple poker game played against the house. The player will usually place an ante bet at least equal to the minimum table stake, and will then receive five cards face up. The dealer is also dealt a five card hand, one of which face up and the rest blind. The player then has the chance to raise their bet by at least the minimum table stake or fold, after which the hands are revealed. The value of the hands in Caribbean Stud is exactly the same as other poker formats, and a winning hand for the player is paid at even money. There is a slight twist in Caribbean Stud when played at an online casino which for once is in favour of the player, and that is that the dealer must have what is called a qualifying hand to win. This is usually at least Ace, King high on most online casino sites. If not, the raised stake money is returned to the player and the ante bet paid at even money. Caribbean Stud is a quick and easy casino game, popular with blackjack enthusiasts and ideally suited to those casino games players who want to learn more about playing poker.