Let It Ride, or ‘Let Them Ride‘ poker, is a very popular casino game that deals a player the first three cards of a five card poker hand, then allows you to fold or let your bets ‘ride’ on the outcome of the hand’s two community cards.
Play in Let It Ride starts with each player making three bets of equal size. The dealer then deals each player three cards, and two community cards are dealt face down. The dealer does not have a hand of their own.
After seeing their first three cards each player has the choice to either take their second bet back or “let it ride”. One of the community cards is then revealed, and each player now has the option to take back their third bet or ‘let it ride’. The player may let their bet ride in or take it back the second time regardless of their first decision. Finally the second community card is flipped and the players are paid according to a poker hand pay table.
Most casinos will pay out on a pair of tens or better, and players are paid at odds on all bets that they ‘let ride’.
Let It Ride Poker Strategy
The basic object of the game is to take back your 2nd & 3rd bets if you don’t think you are going to get 10s or better and let them ride if you have a good hand.
More specifically, with 3 cards showing you should let it ride on;
- Any paying hand (pairs of tens or better, three of a kind)
- Any three cards that could make a royal flush
- Three suited cards in a row (except A-2-3 & 2-3-4 if you are a real stickler for the odds)
- Possible straight flush, with a ten or greater
With four cards showing you should only let it ride if you have:
- Any paying hand (pairs of tens or better, 2 pair, three of a kind)
- Any four cards of the same suit
- Open straight draws*
- Gutshot straight draws if you have 4 high cards*
* An open straight draw is when you have 4 cards in sequence and there are two possible cards (8 cards in the deck) that will make your straight. A gutshot straight draw is when there is only one possible card (4 in the deck) that will make your straight. Learn about more poker terms in our Poker Glossary.
