Even the best poker players can struggle at the Oasis Poker table. While many consider this online casino game to be closely related to the Caribbean stud poker variant, we find brings to the green felt a battle between player and dealer that transcends its origins and opens to a whole different range of scenarios and possibilities.
Playing Oasis Poker at online casinos can be fun and rewarding - provided you know what is the optimal strategy that helps you lower the house edge of this casino poker game and give you more chances to beat the dealer.
In this guide to the best Oasis Poker strategies, you find proven tips that could dramatically change the game in your favor. While the majority of them are exclusive to Oasis Poker, you will also find some that can help you also with other easy casino games like Caribbean stud poker.
While there is no stud poker strategy that guarantees a win or turns this into an 'even money' game, the ability to draw new cards does add a little more strategic advantage to Oasis Poker compared to similar sorts of games like Caribbean Stud Poker and Russian Poker.
Our team of gambling experts has put together a detailed guide that helps you understand the best way to use your own cards the next time you pick this game at an online casino.
Table of Contents
- How to Play Oasis Poker
- Oasis Poker Variants
- Oasis Poker Strategies
- Basic 5-Card Stud Poker Strategies
- Basic 7-Card Stud Poker Strategies
- Winning Strategies in Oasis Poker
- The Odds of Winning in Oasis Poker
- Oasis Poker Side Bet
- Oasis Poker House Edge
How to Play Oasis Poker
As a player, you need an initial bet (the 'ante bet') to join the action. As soon as the ante bet is on the table, the dealer hands out five cards to you and themselves. This is one of the many casino games that use a standard deck of 52 French cards.
To keep the playing field level between player and dealer, the deck is shuffled after every round is finished. This makes it impossible for the player to reduce the house edge by keeping track of the dealer's cards.
The cards have their facial values and they go in order from highest to lowest, i.e., Ace to 2 ( Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2). Out of the five on the table, one of the dealer's cards is dealt face down and it is referred to as 'hole card'.
Once you have received your five-card hand, you need to decide whether you want to fold or stay in the hand and pay a raise bet.
If you are not satisfied with your cards, you can exchange up to five of them. If you want to switch cards, you need to pay the amount equal to the ante bet for each card you switch. To continue the hand, you'll need a 'raise' bet of at least twice the size of the ante wager.
Once your chips are on the table, the dealer reveals the hole card so everyone can see his or her own cards. If the dealer qualifies, the objective of Oasis Poker is to beat the dealer by getting a higher poker hand. If the dealer does not qualify, the player wins.
To know more about the gameplay and basic rules, you can visit our guide on how to play Oasis Poker.
Oasis Poker Variants
Like it happens to all forms of Caribbean Poker and many other live poker games online, there are numerous variants that take the basics of this casino card game and apply a few small yet significant changes that either improve or reduce a player's chances to win. The three most common ones are:
- Belgium variant: Everything plays like in the base game, except that the player loses the option to fold after switching cards.
- Finland variant: It offers you to change one card for a free that is equal to the ante bet. In this variant, if the dealer does not qualify, you have the option of exchanging one card from the dealer’s hand. You can't exchange cards in most of the other variants.
- Nicaragua variant: Oasis Poker is quite popular in Nicaragua, where it is often considered to be a form of Caribbean Stud Poker where players can switch cards. The pay table and the ways hands are paid when a player wins change depending on the exchange of cards.
Oasis Poker Strategies
Given that Oasis Poker ultimately simulates a head-to-head showdown between the player and the dealer, the best way to get more chances to win is to master the stud poker games as Oasis Poker draws its lineage from there.
To do this, let’s take a look at the strategies, gameplay, and odds of both 5-Card Stud and 7-Card Stud poker.
Basic 5-Card Stud Poker Strategies
A traditional 5-card stud game most closely resembles Oasis poker strategy on the surface, as each player is ultimately dealt a hand of 5 cards. The game starts with each player receiving one card face down and a second card face up.
Based on the probability of drawing the strongest possible hand compared to the cards your might opponents have, you engage in three rounds of betting where you have the option to check, raise or fold. By the end of which, all remaining players will have one card face down and have been dealt a total of 4 face-up cards.
While this may sound counterintuitive, a strategy that all players need to perfect is knowing when to fold a weak hand.
Players who are more familiar with the game know how to recognize a statistically weak hand and exit the round before over-investing in calls and raises.
The second tool you need to add to your arsenal is the ability to bluff. With all the players at the table attempting to work out the odds of drawing the cards needed for a strong hand, playing an aggressive bluff to convince someone you have a strong hand can shift the game in your favor.
On the flip side, playing slow when you have a good hand to raise the pot is also an intelligent early game strategy. The Pot is the central area of the poker table where the ante wager chips are placed, which a player collects after winning a hand. Raising the pot will become difficult once cards are dealt open to the table.
Basic 7-Card Stud Poker Strategies
Playing 7-card stud follows the same pattern as 5-card, except that the opening hand dealt to each player consists of three cards, with two being face down and one facing up for all to see. This first betting round in stud is referred to as Third Street.
The following three rounds – Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Street – are all dealt face up, allowing for exciting bluffs, and the seventh card, known as the River, is dealt face down.
How are winners determined in 7-Card Stud?
The lowest possible holding in this game is High Card (five random cards that don’t make any useful combinations) and the best possible hand is the Royal Flush (five cards of the same suit, i.e., AKQJ and 10). Though, in this game you play with seven cards, you can use five of them to make the best combination.
If you are not familiar with the rankings of poker hands, make sure you check this table before you begin playing Oasis Poker:
| Hand Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Royal Flush | Five cards of the same suit |
| Straight Flush | Any five cards of the same suit, in sequential order |
| Four of a Kind | Four cards of identical value |
| Full House | A combination of a three of a kind and a pair |
| Three of a Kind | Any three cards of identical value |
| Two Pairs | Any two pair combinations in the same hand |
| One Pair | Any two cards match |
| High Card | The highest-ranked card in your hand |
If two or more players have the same lowest card, suits are used to determine the bring-in or forced bet starting from the lowest:
- Clubs
- Diamonds
- Cards
- Spades
The player who receives the lowest ranking card must post a bet or bring-in. For example, if the player decides to post $0.50, the next player will have an option to fold, raise, or just complete the bet. The first three betting rounds are played using the small bet.
Winning Strategies in Oasis Poker
Your ability to make a smart early call on whether to fold or play will depend on your knowledge of the strongest card combinations, and the probability of drawing the cards needed to complete these combinations.
While putting your money on an open-ended straight flush or royal flush may seem the right thing to do when you look at the pay table, remember that the odds of you hitting a royal or straight flush are very small — especially since you can't see all of the dealer's cards.
Another great skill to learn here is to keep track of discarded cards. These cards are out of play and, depending on your hand, can limit your chances of drawing a royal flush or any other strong winning hand. In other words, if you are trying to hit a four of a kind or you have an open-ended straight but the dealer has discarded a card you need - you should fold and forfeit your ante wager.
Considering the costs involved, try not to exchange more than one card.
Whenever you can, hold on to any two pairs or three cards of the same denomination (three of a kind). This will give you an opportunity to improve your hand.
In case you choose to switch all five cards then you may also want to consider why you are playing - because this, together with investing in a bonus bet, is almost a sure way to throw your money away and depend on the result of a coin flip.
You should raise a bet with a pair or a better hand or fold with anything lesser than Ace/King. An Ace can be a high or low card with regards to the denomination. It is of the highest value when it comes in the following sequence: A, K, Q, J,10 and it is lowest in a straight of 5, 4, 3, 2, A.
The best point of Oasis Poker is that you only have to worry about the dealer's hand. The dealer must contain both an ace or a king or any high-ranked poker hand to qualify. If the dealer doesn’t qualify, the player will win money on their ante bet.
The Odds of Winning in Oasis Poker
We've mentioned knowing the strongest possible hands a few times now, so here's a list of the top 10 strongest hands in Oasis Poker and their values in the pay tables when the player wins.
| Hand | Payout |
|---|---|
| Royal flush | 100: 1 |
| Straight flush | 50: 1 |
| Four of a find | 20: 1 |
| Full house | 7: 1 |
| Flush | 5: 1 |
| Straight | : 1 |
| Three of a kind | 3: 1 |
| Two pairs | 2: 1 |
| One pair | 1: 1 / Even Money |
| High card | 1: 1 / Even Money |
In Oasis Poker, you also have the advantage of being able to choose which card to keep and which cards to discard in pursuit of the best possible hand for the round.
Keeping the above probabilities in mind will help you make the essential decisions.
Oasis Poker Side Bet
The side bet is also known as Progressive Jackpot or Bonus Bet. It is very similar to the one that is offered at Caribbean Stud Poker tables.
Usually, the Oasis Poker game begins with placing the bet on Ante, but there is also an option of placing a bet on Jackpot. Here you can take part in Progressive Jackpot with a chance to receive a bonus payout.
The progressive jackpot increases each time the game is played, but the jackpot is not won. Following are the most common bonus payouts, but they might vary from casino to casino:
| Poker Hand | Jackpot Bonus Bet Payout |
|---|---|
| Royal Flush | 100% of Jackpot |
| Straight Flush | 10% of Jackpot |
| Four of a Kind | $100 |
| Full House | $75 |
| Flush | $50 |
Oasis Poker House Edge
Frequently Asked Questions about the Best Oasis Poker Strategies
To conclude this guide to the optimal strategy to beat the dealer when you play Oasis Poker online, we aim to answer all the most popular questions about this game, no matter how big or small.
Where can you play Oasis Poker Online?
A number of online casinos offer different variants of this game, including those from Net Entertainment and Evolution Gaming. On this list of live dealer casinos, you find all the best sites available to play online.
Can you guarantee to win at Oasis Poker?
While you can learn probabilities and play a good strategic game, Oasis Poker is still a game of chance at its core. This means that no one can ever guarantee a winning result, so please play responsibly.
