Added: December 17, 2015
Let It Ride is an intriguing table game at online casinos because it reverses the order of betting as compared to normal poker games. In poker you start with the ante bet and then increase the stakes as more cards are revealed if you feel that you have a winning hand. In Let It Ride you start with three wagers and can withdraw bets as more cards are revealed if you feel that you will not end up with a winning hand. Let It Ride is also known as Let ‘Em Ride, Poker Ride or Let Them Ride. It is listed under the Table Games category at online casinos.
You start the game by placing three equal bets. After this you will be dealt three cards face up and two cards face down. At this stage you have the option to withdraw one of the bets. The other option is to let all three bets ride. This option gives the game its name. Then one of the two face down cards will be exposed and you will be able to see four of the five cards from your final poker hand. Again you have the option to pull out another bet or let the remaining bets ride. You can exercise any of the options irrespective of the choice you made earlier. Then the last card is exposed and you have your full poker hand.
In Let It Ride there is no dealer hand that your hand will be compared with. So a payout table is used as in online video poker games. If your hand matches with any of the payout table rankings then all the remaining bets are paid as per the payout table. The hand rankings start with Tens or Better, which pays 1 to 1. These then follow the usual poker hand rankings with an increase in the payouts. The highest ranking is Royal Flush that pays 1,000 to 1.
You make two decisions in Let It Ride online casino poker. There is an optimum strategy involved at each stage. If you play according to this strategy then you can expect an average return of 96.5% in the long run. The strategy involves memorizing the hands with which to let the bets ride. The obvious decision is to let the bets ride if you already have a paying hand. With three cards exposed these can be Tens or Better or Three of a Kind. With four cards exposed these can be Tens or Better, Two Pairs, Three of a Kind or Four of a Kind.
