Let It Ride poker was invented by Shuffle Master, Inc., based on the Five-Card Stud poker. This game was made as a shrewd marketing ploy to draw in slot gamblers to table games, which, hopefully, created more demand for Shuffle Master, Inc. products – table games and automatic card shufflers.
At first glance, this game looks complicated with those three betting circles. But it’s in reality, quite easy to understand because you aren’t facing against the dealer or other players. In fact, in this poker game, players want the dealer to have an excellent hand!
Let It Ride is played on the blackjack-style table with a normal 52-card deck. The goal of Let It Ride is to come up with a hand that has a pair of 10s or higher and eligible for the posted payouts. If you have a weak hand, you can remove up to 2 of the 3 bets as the game moves on or keep your bets in place and just let it ride.
Your cards are ranked based on the normal poker rules. You get three starting cards, while two face-up community cards can be used to make a five-card hand. The better your hand value, the larger you winning.
This list walks you through a common Let It Ride game.
- You make three identical bets on a table in front of you, in the circles marked as 1, 2, and $. The minimum bet is usually $5, although there is a lower minimum bet in the online casino version.
- You may choose to place $1 as a side bet for bonus payout.
- All players are dealt three cards face-down.
- A couple of community cards (used by all players to complete their hands) are placed face-down in front of the dealer.
- You look at your hand and judge whether those two community cards (still unknown at this point) and your three cards may make a good poker hand.
- Just let it ride if you have a payout-worthy hand (a pair of 10s or a higher) – or a hand with a strong potential to become a worthy hand, keep your bet in Circle 1 by putting your hand under that circle.
- If you have a weak hand, scratch your hand on the table, to indicate that you wish to withdraw your bet from Circle 1. Always remember that touching the chips after they’re inside the betting box is considered as a table taboo, so just wait for your dealer to push the chips back to you.
- The first community cards are turned over.
- You need to choose whether to withdraw your bet inside the Circle 2 or let it ride according to how the value of the first community card affects into your present three-card hand.
- You can’t look at other player’s hand, nor allow them to peek at yours. Why? The card you want (to make a straight flush, for example) can be owned by a player next to you, and this can affect your betting decision – or his. Of course, the house is somewhat nervous about you acquiring an extra edge from it and perhaps threatens to take back your bet if you try to peek at other player’s hand.
- The second community card is turned over and the house collects or pays out according to the player’s hand value.
The thrill is predicting whether those three cards are strong enough to continue with your bets or withdraw. The best starting hand is when you get a pair of 10s or higher. After the cards are dealt, you need to tuck your hand under the $ Circle, which indicates that you want to let all your bets ride and stop making more decisions. However, if your winning prospect is slim – after you know the value of the first community card. You need to scratch, and the dealer will push back your chips from the circle.
A typical mistake, many novice gamblers make; is thinking that they can get their second bet back only when they forfeited the first bet. But the decisions for the second bet; is entirely independent of the first bet. Although you let the first bet ride, you may still take down your second bet or vice versa.
The basic rule of Let It Ride is comparable to video poker or Caribbean Stud poker. Excellent hands (like a royal flush) get the largest payoffs.
The List of 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 pairs = 2 to 1
- A pair of 10s or better = 1 to 1
After you know the typical payout and the rules for Let It Ride, now, let’s assume that you get an ace of spades, a king of hearts, and a 4 of club. This is a mediocre hand, and you choose to give up the first $10 bet. Then the dealer reveals the first community cards and it’s another ace. All of a sudden your hand is an automatic winner. So it’s better to let the second bet ride. The dealer turns over the last community card and it’s a king. Because you have two pairs, the payout is 2 to 1 for all the remaining bets – you can’t collect from Circle 1 as you have forfeited it. However, you get $20 on other two bets, giving you a profit of $30 ($40 subtracted with the $10 losing bet).
Let It Ride Poker is available at most (if not all) online casinos listed on this site, and with each new depositing account you get a online casino bonus that you can use to increase your bankroll.
