Let It Ride is a poker-based table game in which you build the best five-card hand from three of your own cards and two shared community cards. There is no dealer hand to beat. You are paid according to a fixed paytable, and your only choices are whether to take back two of your three bets. You can practise it at the free shared table further down this page.
Play Online Let It Ride
Join a shared Let It Ride table with visitors from Casino News Daily and Real Money Action, with a strategy coach after every decision. Free practice chips only: no deposits, cash prizes or real-money wagers.
What Let It Ride is
Every player at the table shares the same two community cards, but each player’s result depends only on their own five-card hand. The dealer plays no hand, so nobody competes against anyone else. You win when your final hand is a pair of tens or better, and the size of the win depends on how strong the hand is. Casinos sometimes call the game Let ‘Em Ride, and you will see both names online.
How to play, step by step
- Place three bets of equal size, one in each of three betting spots. The total stake is three times your unit bet.
- You receive three cards face down, and two community cards are dealt face down in front of the dealer.
- Look at your three cards. You can take back the first bet or leave it in play (“let it ride”).
- The dealer turns over the first community card. You can now take back the second bet or let it ride.
- The dealer turns over the second community card. The third bet cannot be taken back.
- Your final five cards are settled against the paytable. Each bet you left in play wins the amount shown, and a hand that does not pay loses every bet still on the table.
For example, with a unit bet of 10, suppose you took back the first bet and left the other two in play, and you finish with a flush paying 8:1. You win 160 on the two bets in play, and the 10 you took back is returned to you.
Paytable
The paytable below is the standard one, and it is the one on our free-play table. Each payout applies per bet left in play.
| Hand | Pays |
|---|---|
| Royal flush | 1000:1 |
| Straight flush | 200:1 |
| Four of a kind | 50:1 |
| Full house | 11:1 |
| Flush | 8:1 |
| Straight | 5:1 |
| Three of a kind | 3:1 |
| Two pair | 2:1 |
| Pair of tens or better | 1:1 |
Many land-based casinos set a maximum payout for each round, which matters for large bets on the top hands. Online games state any limit in their rules.
Odds and house edge
With the standard paytable and correct play, the house edge is 3.51% of a single unit bet, according to Wizard of Odds. You place three units to begin with, but by the end of a hand you have taken back an average of 1.77 bets, so about 1.23 bets stay on the table. Measured against the money actually left in play, the loss rate is closer to 2.85%. Both figures describe the same game.
Results swing widely. Most hands lose, and the long-run edge depends on rare large wins, so a short session can look nothing like the average. Optional side bets, such as one paying on the final five-card hand, usually carry a much higher edge than the main game and are better avoided. Paytables with smaller payouts than those above also raise the edge, so always check.
Strategy
Both decisions come down to one question: does the hand you hold justify leaving the bet in play? Wizard of Odds gives these rules for the standard paytable.
First decision, with three cards. Let the bet ride if you have:
- a paying hand (a pair of tens or better, or three of a kind);
- any three cards to a royal flush;
- three suited cards in a row, except 2-3-4 and ace-2-3;
- three to a straight flush with a gap of one card or two, if you also have high cards (ten or above). One high card is enough with a single gap, and two are needed with a gap of two.
Otherwise, take the bet back.
Second decision, with four cards. Let the bet ride if you have:
- a paying hand (a pair of tens or better, two pair or three of a kind);
- four cards of the same suit;
- four to an outside straight with at least one high card.
Four to an outside straight with no high cards, and four to an inside straight with four high cards, carry zero house edge, so either choice costs you nothing. Anything weaker, take the bet back.
Playing online
Our game database lists the game under several names. These are Let ‘Em Ride Poker from Real Time Gaming (RTG), Let It Ride Poker from NextGen, Let ‘Em Ride from GamesOS and Let It Ride from Rival. We list none from Playtech, Games Global or NetEnt. As with every table game, the paytable in the help screen is what counts, so compare it with the one on this page, and look for any cap on payouts before you raise your stake. For another casino poker game with a published house edge, see our Pai Gow Poker guide.
Only gamble if you are of legal age where you live, and set a limit before you start.
Sources
- Wizard of Odds, Let It Ride: rules, standard paytable, strategy, house edge and element of risk
- Casino News Daily game database (software providers)
