Let It Ride Poker
In Let It Ride you place three equal bets, get three cards, and share two more cards with the table. You can take back your first bet after seeing your three cards, and your second after the first shared card; the third always plays. A pair of 10s or better pays. With the right decisions the house keeps 3.51% of one bet on average.
What each hand pays
| Final hand | Pays | Chance |
|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 1,000 to 1 | 1 in 649,740 |
| Straight flush | 200 to 1 | 1 in 72,193 |
| Four of a kind | 50 to 1 | 1 in 4,165 |
| Full house | 11 to 1 | 1 in 694 |
| Flush | 8 to 1 | 1 in 509 |
| Straight | 5 to 1 | 1 in 255 |
| Three of a kind | 3 to 1 | 2.11% |
| Two pair | 2 to 1 | 4.75% |
| Pair of 10s or better | 1 to 1 | 16.25% |
| Anything else | loses | 76.12% |
How a round works
- Place three equal bets, in the circles marked 1, 2 and $.
- You get three cards. The dealer places two shared cards face down.
- Look at your cards: take back bet 1, or let it ride.
- The dealer turns over the first shared card: take back bet 2, or let it ride. You can let bet 2 ride even if you took back bet 1.
- The dealer turns over the second shared card. Your five-card hand is paid on every bet still on the table. The $ bet always plays.
There's no dealer hand to beat, and other players' cards don't affect yours.
When to let it ride
After your three cards, let bet 1 ride only with:
- a paying hand already: a pair of 10s or better, or three of a kind;
- three suited cards from 10 to ace (three to a royal flush);
- three suited cards in a row, except 2-3-4 and A-2-3;
- three suited cards with one gap, like 8-9-J, if at least one is a 10 or higher;
- three suited cards with two gaps, like 9-J-K, if at least two are 10 or higher.
One exception: take bet 1 back with suited A-2-4 and A-3-4. At the bottom of a straight the ace doesn't count as a high card, and riding them loses about 7 cents per dollar. Many strategy cards say only “at least one high card” here, which reads as if these two should ride. Take bet 1 back with everything else.
What letting bet 1 ride is worth (the average result per $1 left to ride, from our count of every hand):
| Your three cards | Per $1 |
|---|---|
| Three of a kind | +$5.41 |
| Pair of 10s or better | +$1.44 |
| Three suited cards from 10 to ace | +$1.00 to +$1.48 |
| Three suited in a row (not 2-3-4 or A-2-3) | +$0.21 to +$0.60 |
| Three suited, one gap, a 10 or higher among them | +$0.17 to +$0.36 |
| Three suited, two gaps, two cards 10 or higher | +$0.12 |
| Three suited, one gap, nothing above 9 | −$0.03 |
| Pair of 2s to 9s | −$0.06 |
| Suited 2-3-4 or A-2-3 | −$0.03 to −$0.07 |
| Suited A-2-4 or A-3-4 | −$0.07 |
| Anything else | −$0.02 to −$0.85 |
After the first shared card, let bet 2 ride only with:
- a paying hand: a pair of 10s or better, two pair, or three of a kind;
- four cards of the same suit;
- four cards in a row that can be filled at either end, like 8-9-10-J, if at least one is a 10 or higher.
Take it back with everything else. Two kinds of hand break even on average, so either choice is fine: four in a row with no card above 9, like 5-6-7-8, and four different cards from 10 to ace other than 10-J-Q-K, like 10-J-Q-A or J-Q-K-A.
We checked this strategy against every possible hand: all 22,100 three-card starts and 270,725 four-card hands. It makes the best choice in each one.
A round, step by step
You bet $5 three times. Your cards are 9♥ 10♥ J♥: three suited cards in a row, so you let bet 1 ride. The first shared card is the Q♥: four hearts, open at both ends, so you let bet 2 ride too. The last card is the J♣, which gives you a pair of jacks. It pays 1 to 1 on all three bets: you win $15.
The 8♥ or K♥ would have made a straight flush (200 to 1: $3,000), and any other heart a flush (8 to 1: $120). An 8 or a king of another suit would have made a straight (5 to 1: $75).
Mistakes that cost money
- Letting it ride on hope. A low pair or a weak draw loses more often than the pay table makes up for; taking the bet back costs nothing.
- Expecting the strategy to beat the game. Even with the best play, the 3.51% house edge costs about 18 cents a round at $5 a bet.
- Side bets. Many tables offer a bonus side bet with its own pay table. The common five-card bonus costs 13.77% to 36.52%, depending on its pay table, against 3.51% for the main game (Wizard of Odds).
Questions
What is the house edge in Let It Ride?
3.51% of one bet, with the standard pay table and the strategy above.
Can you take back the third bet?
No. The bet marked $ always plays.
Do you play against the dealer?
No. You're paid by the pay table, whatever the dealer or other players hold.
What are the odds of a royal flush?
1 in 649,740 five-card hands.
More table games: baccarat rules · Casino War · poker hand rankings · video poker.
How we checked. By the casin.com team. Last checked November 6, 2026. We worked out the odds with our own program, which plays out every possible hand with one 52-card deck and the standard pay table, and picks the better choice at each decision. The house edge, 3.51%, matches the published analysis of the Wizard of Odds (wizardofodds.com).
