How To Play and Win at Let It Ride
Casino players are creatures of habit. They stick the roulette, blackjack or their favourite table game without much through for anything else. Let It Ride is one online casino game that often gets overlooked. You shouldn’t just walk by a Let It Ride game because it’s fun and super-simple to play.
All About Let It Ride
Let It Ride is a casino table game based on five-card stud poker. Players make the best five-card poker hand using three of their own cards and two community cards.
John Breeding invented the game. Breeding founded Shuffle Master and designed the game to fuel demand for the company’s shuffling machine. Let It Ride became extremely popular at launch but popularity waned since. This is because it has a relatively high house edge of 3.51%.
A player’s decision effects the Let It Ride house edge, as does the payout table used. An optimal strategy results in a 3.51% house edge. Compare that to the 0.5% of blackjack and you see why Let It Ride isn’t overly popular these days.
It’s possible to win up to 1,000x your bet, although you need a Royal Flush for that to happen. Here is a typical payout table for Let It Ride.
| Hand | Payout |
|---|---|
| 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 pair | 2 to 1 |
| Pair of 10s or better | 1 to 1 |
How Does a Typical Game Work?
Let It Ride has a unique feature that allows the player two chances to withdraw one-third of their initial wager. The first chance is after the player looks at their hand but before the first community card is revealed. Chance number two comes occurs after the first community card is revealed.
A game starts with all players placing their initial bets. The dealer deals each player one card followed by a face-down community card. Each player receives another card and the second face-down community card is dealt too.
Players decide to pull back one-third of their bet or Let It Ride. The first community card is revealed. Players have their final chance to pull back one-third or their bet or Let it Ride. The second community card is flipped over and any winning hands are paid using the able table. Non-qualifying hands result in the house winning. The game moves quickly, especially at an online casino.
What Is The Optimal Strategy?
Let It Ride optimal strategy is easy to learn. Either write it down or simply commit it to memory. The optimal strategy is divided into two: when you have three cards and when you have four cards.
You should Let It Ride in the following scenarios when you have three cards. Pull back your bet in all other circumstances.
- Any paying hand, which is a pair of tens or better or three of a kind at this time
- When you have any three cards to a Royal Flush
- Three suited cards in a row with the exception of A-2-3 and 2-3-4
- Any time you have three to a straight flush with at least one card greater than 10 and the spread of the cards is four. For example, 5,6,8.
- Three cards to a straight flush with at least two cards 10 or better and the spread is 5.
Only Let It Ride when you have four cards and the following situations occur.
- Any paying hand
- Any four cards that are the same suit
- Four cards to the outside straight when you have at least one high cards
- Four cards to an outside straight with no high cards
- Any four to an inside straight with four high cards
Here is one final piece of advice. Never bet on the 5-Card Bonus side bet. There are almost a dozen pay tables for this and they’ll all rinse your bankroll. The house edge ranges from 12.77% up to a ridiculous 35.14%!
It’s a similar story for the 3-Card Bonus which is 7.1% in favour of the casino.
