How to play Let It Ride
Let It Ride is a five-card poker game played against a fixed pay table rather than against a dealer or other players. It first appeared in casinos in the early 1990s, and it has stayed popular because it lets you take back part of your bet once you have seen some cards. This guide covers everything you need to play it here, and most of what you would want to know at a real table.
The short version
- You place three equal bets and receive three cards.
- Two community cards are dealt face down. They belong to your hand as well.
- You may take back bet 1 after seeing your three cards, and bet 2 after the first community card is shown.
- Bet 3 always stays. The finished five-card hand is paid on whatever is still riding.
- A pair of tens or better pays. Anything less loses the riding bets.
Setting up: the three bets
At a casino table you will see three circles in front of each seat, usually marked 1, 2 and $. Before any cards appear, you put the same amount in each one. On our table you choose a unit of 5, 10 or 25 coins and the Deal button places all three for you, so a 10-coin unit means 30 coins go out at the start.
Those three bets are identical in every way except one: when you are allowed to take them back. Whatever your final hand pays, it pays the same multiple on each bet that is still out.
Pulling back, or letting it ride
This is the heart of the game. After you look at your three cards, you decide about bet 1. Pulling it back returns it to you untouched. Letting it ride leaves it on the table for the showdown.
Then the first community card is turned over and you decide about bet 2, using four known cards. The two decisions are separate: pulling back bet 1 does not stop you from leaving bet 2 out, and the other way round. In a casino you signal by sliding the bet back towards you or by tucking your cards under the chips; here you simply press a button.
Finally the second community card is shown. Bet 3 cannot be taken back at any point, so every hand risks at least one unit.
What pays: the full table
Your hand is the three cards you were dealt plus the two community cards. Standard poker rankings apply, and an ace can count high (10-J-Q-K-A) or low (A-2-3-4-5) in a straight. The payout is per riding bet, quoted as winnings to one, and your bet comes back on top.
- Royal flush10♠J♠Q♠K♠A♠1,000 to 1
- Straight flush5♥6♥7♥8♥9♥200 to 1
- Four of a kind8♣8♦8♥8♠K♦50 to 1
- Full houseQ♦Q♣Q♥4♠4♦11 to 1
- Flush2♦7♦9♦J♦K♦8 to 1
- Straight6♣7♦8♠9♥10♣5 to 1
- Three of a kind5♠5♥5♣J♦2♣3 to 1
- Two pair9♣9♦3♥3♠A♣2 to 1
- Pair of tens or better10♥10♠4♦7♣Q♠1 to 1
- Pair of nines or lower9♦9♠A♥K♣3♦bets lost
Note the line between the last two rows. A pair of tens, jacks, queens, kings or aces pays even money, while a pair of nines or anything smaller pays nothing at all. Many decisions in the game come down to that line.
A hand played through
Say your unit is 10 coins, so 30 go down. You are dealt 2♠7♥K♦. Nothing connects and there is only one high card, so you pull back bet 1 and 10 coins return to you.
The first community card is 7♣. You now hold a pair of sevens, which is below the paying line, and no flush or straight is possible. You pull back bet 2 as well.
The second community card is K♠, giving you two pair, kings and sevens. Bet 3 was always riding, and two pair pays 2 to 1, so that bet wins 20 coins. You end the hand 20 coins up, having risked only one unit for most of it.
Had you let everything ride on a hunch, the same cards would have won 60 coins. Over thousands of hands, though, riding on hands like that one loses far more than it gains, which is where strategy comes in.
Basic strategy that actually holds up
Each decision has a correct answer that can be worked out exactly, because every bet is paid the same way: leave a bet out only when its average result is better than zero. We checked the rules below against a computer that played out every possible hand. They agree with the exact answer on all 22,100 three-card starts and all 270,725 four-card positions. The few four-card hands where riding and pulling back are worth exactly the same are noted.
Bet 1, after your three cards: let it ride with
- a pair of tens or better, or three of a kind, because you are already paid;
- three suited cards that are all ten or higher, for example 10♣Q♣A♣;
- three suited cards in a row, from 3-4-5 up to Q-K-A, but not 2-3-4 or A-2-3;
- three suited cards with one gap and at least one card ten or higher, such as 8♥9♥J♥;
- three suited cards with two gaps and at least two cards ten or higher, such as 9♠J♠K♠.
Pull back bet 1 with everything else. That includes small pairs, unsuited high cards, and suited hands that use the ace as a low card, such as A-2-4.
Bet 2, after four cards: let it ride with
- any paying hand: tens or better, two pair, three or four of a kind;
- four cards to a flush;
- four cards in a row that can be finished at either end and include a card ten or higher: 7-8-9-10, 8-9-10-J, 9-10-J-Q or 10-J-Q-K, as in 9♣10♦J♠Q♥.
Pull back bet 2 with everything else. Two kinds of hand are an exact tie, where riding and pulling back are worth precisely the same over time: four in a row with no card ten or higher, such as 5-6-7-8, and four high cards that can only become a straight one way, such as 10-J-Q-A or J-Q-K-A. Pulling back on those keeps your risk lower for the same average result.
On our table, the strategy hint switch does this maths live for the cards in front of you and tells you how much a riding bet is worth on average.
The house edge, honestly
Played with the strategy above, Let It Ride returns an average of 96.49% of one bet unit per hand. Put the other way, the house edge is 3.51% of a unit. Our own exhaustive calculation came to 3.5057%, which matches the figure published by casino mathematicians.
There is a second way to look at it. Good play pulls back most bets: bet 1 should ride on only about 7% of hands and bet 2 on about 15%. On average, only 1.22 units stay out until the end, so the edge measured against coins actually risked is about 2.86%. Either way, the game is built for the house to come out ahead over time, and no system changes that. Treat it as entertainment.
The exact chance of each hand is printed on the Let It Ride table page.
Things that surprise new players
- There is nobody to beat. No dealer hand, no opponents. Your cards meet the pay table and that is all.
- Pulling back is not cowardice. It is the main tool the game gives you, and using it well is what keeps the house edge down to 3.51%.
- The third bet always plays. Even a hand that looked hopeless after three cards can still pay through bet 3.
- Casino side bets are separate. Real tables often offer an optional bonus bet on top. We leave it out here, because those bets usually carry a much higher house edge.
Ready to try it?
Head to the Let It Ride table, switch on the hint and play a few hands with the smallest unit. If you would rather try something lighter first, Poker Dice uses the same hand rankings with dice.