The Only Casino Table Game Where You Can Take Back Bets!
Let it Ride stands out from most casino table games by including a skill element.
This adds a welcome strategy component to this casino poker variant. Get the strategy right, and you keep the house edge to a minimum. If you start with a promising hand, you get to go for the maximum by keeping your bets on the table. Get dealt 7-2-9 off suit, and you can claw back those bets to keep losses to a minimum. Add big prizes for the best poker hands, and you will see what makes Let it Ride such a popular game.
Of course, getting the best odds means you need to know the base strategy – you’ll find this key information below.
How Let it Ride Poker Works
Let it Ride is a casino poker version of five card stud.
Each hand starts with you making your bets. You make three initial bets of the same size. For example, if you decide you wanted to stake $30 in total on a hand, you’d need three equal bets of $10. The bets are usually placed on markers indicating 1, 2 and $, the final dollar sign marker indicates that this is the only wager that will 100% be in play at the end of the hand.
Hands Start with Three Face Up Cards
Three of cards are dealt face up, they are called the ‘player cards.’
The two other cards, the ‘community cards,’ are initially dealt face down.
Your first decision point is based on your three cards. You can keep your bet (Let it Ride) or take it back and see the first community card before making your decision. Once the first community card is dealt, you decide again whether to take back bet number 2. The third bet stays regardless and is based on your final hand when the river is dealt.
Strategy for Let it Ride: First Round
Your first decision is simple, with only straight flushes complicating whether to let your initial bet stand or to take it back.
Play any pair tens or over, any three cards to a royal flush, any three suited cards in a row (above 2-3-4) and straight flush cards with gaps – if one is 10 or higher (two high cards if there are gaps of five between the highest and lowest).
Strategy for Let it Ride: Second Round
With four cards you will have a strong idea of your chances of making a paying hand. Here the strategy choices add in draws to straights and flushes.
Naturally, you let your bet ride with any paying hand (10’s or better). You also keep your 2nd bet with four suited cards, outside (open ended) straight draws, and inside (gutshot) straight draws with four high cards.
The final shared card will then be revealed. Even if you took your 2nd bet back, the final wager stays in play. You can make a pair, or even a small straight and still win here – though the strategy component of the game is now over.
Pay Table for Different Hands in Let it Ride Poker
The aim of the hand is to make the best possible hand you can with your 5 cards, which pays out based on the following table:
- Royal Flush: 1,000 to 1
- Straight Flush: 200 to 1
- Four of a Kind: 50 to 1
- Full House: 11 to 1
- Flush: 8 to 1
- Straight: 5 to 1
- Three of a Kind: 3 to 1
- Two Pairs: 2 to 1
- Pair of 10s or Better: 1 to 1
When you take the odds of hitting these high-ranking hands into account, the strategy makes a lot more sense.
Hitting a pair of 10’s plus with the initial three cards is the ideal outcome. This lets you let all your bets ride, with a win guaranteed and potential to improve your hand. Draws to royal or straight flushes are valuable because the odds are huge when you make them. An added advantage is that the high cards they include can ‘save’ your bets with pairs many times.
Side Bets for Let it Ride Casino Poker
In addition to the main game, you can also place a voluntary side bet at some casinos based on the strength of just those three initial player cards. Pay tables and progressives vary between casinos, the pay table below is a typical example of the three-card side bet (based on the first three cards dealt only).
- 3 Card Royal Flush: 50 to 1
- 3 Card Straight Flush: 40 to 1
- 3 of a Kind: 30 to 1
- 3 Card Straight: 6 to 1
- 3 Card Flush: 3 to 1
- Pair@1-to-1
Let it Ride at Live Dealer Casinos
As well as having the chance to play Let it Ride at the casino, you can also enjoy popular casino variations online at live dealer casinos.
These offer the chance to play a completely lifelike game on your laptop, desktop, or mobile device. You will be playing with a live dealer and with other players and you can interact with both via the game’s chat options. You will be playing with real cards and making those real-life cash decisions just like you would at the casino itself.
Best of all, the stakes are low compared to your local venue.
US readers will find an excellent live dealer casino at BetOnline.
If you are an international player, your best bet is Unibet Casino
How Does Let It Ride Compare with Other Casino Poker Variants?
Let it Ride is a super-popular casino poker variation. It sits up there with Three Card Poker and Casino Hold’em in the pit at casino venues around the world.
It has a unique format, where you start off by placing three bets, but have the option of taking two of those back. This leads to an interesting strategic element, where you get to decide exactly how much you want to stake when the final card is turned. Picking the right spots to ‘Let it Ride’ can make for a very profitable session.
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