This table follows the Pierre Charron Caribbean Stud rules with card buying. Solo has one player; a private room has two independent players facing the same dealer. Each seat begins with 1,000 virtual chips. The casino bank is simulated and uncapped: every scheduled payout is honoured.
Post a positive ante. In this v1, your chosen ante is the table-minimum unit, so the optional bonus is exactly one fifth of that ante (bonus = ante / 5). Chip amounts use hundredths; an ante with bonus must be a multiple of 0.05. Keep enough chips for four times the ante plus bonus before posting, so every decision stays affordable. Only the actual bets are deducted at each step. Posted bets cannot be withdrawn or changed, even while waiting. A room cannot post until a friend joins; both independently post before each deal, including the next hand.
Each player receives five private cards. The dealer receives five, with the last card face up and four hidden. Use the upcard to help choose:
The dealer qualifies with any pair or better, or an ace-king high card hand. If the dealer does not qualify, raised players win even money on the ante and get their raise stake back. A qualifying dealer compares the complete five-card ranking vector, including every kicker. A player win pays even money on the ante and the raise profit below, with both stakes also returned. A loss loses ante and raise. A tie returns ante and raise; our chosen v1 tie rule loses the bonus because the reference does not specify this case. Buying fees are lost on every outcome.
Standard five-card poker rankings apply, without jokers. A-2-3-4-5 is the lowest straight (five high); A-K-Q-J-10 suited is the royal flush. Suits do not break ties.
A bonus pays automatically, without an announcement, only for a flush or better when you raised without buying, and either the dealer does not qualify or you beat a qualifying dealer. It never pays on a fold, buy, qualifying loss or tie. Every ineligible bonus is lost. For example, ante 10 + bonus 2 + raise 20 with a winning pair nets +28; a nonqualifying dealer nets +8. Buying then winning with a pair nets +18, including the fee and void bonus.
Look at the dealer upcard first. Pairs often favour raising; weak hands can favour folding. A buy costs a full ante and voids the bonus, which especially matters for strong bonus contenders. A bonus is never guaranteed against a qualifying dealer.
BASIC evaluates fold, raise and all five single-card buys using 160 deterministic conditional Monte Carlo samples. It knows only your original five cards, the upcard, ante and bonus. Each sample draws plausible dealer holes, a burn and replacement from unseen cards; all seven options use the same sampled world. The best affordable estimated net wins; exact ties prefer raise, then fold, then buys in stable card order. “Use BASIC” selects an action and discard; you still press Lock. This is a finite estimate, not solved optimal strategy. The room server uses the same policy and retains the authoritative baseline.
For the recommended play, sample net-positive results score 1, zero results 0.5, negative results 0. Luck = 1 + 9 × average score, to one decimal. Estimated EV is average net chips after all stakes, fees and bonus losses. Both estimates condition only on your original five and dealer upcard, never your friend's private cards or the actual future deck.
Decision skill is your actual net minus the BASIC action's realised net against the same revealed dealer. If the baseline buys, replay the original undealt deck with only your decision replaced, holding other seats' choices fixed and applying burns in seat order. This never changes the real deck. Following BASIC exactly gives skill 0 for fold, raise and buy. This measures a realised decision effect, not long-run expertise; simulation EV is separate. Session figures average luck and show skill in chips per hand. The dealer has no skill score.
Share the room code or invite, never seat credentials. Each browser remembers its seat for reconnect; names are labels, not passwords. Both players lock independently before the dealer and final hands are revealed. Discards and burns remain private. Either player can end a session outside a committed hand; empty waiting rooms can close. Rooms expire after seven days without a mutation. Solo progress is stored on this device. End a session and start again for fresh chips.
Card faces: PNG-cards-1.3 from the installed Revenge assets; locally adapted ornate ace.