The Basic and Advanced Strategies for Let It Ride

If you’re a fan of video poker and want to make the transition to casino table poker, then Let It Ride is probably the single best game you can start with. While final poker hands are paid according to a paytable, you have multiple strategic decisions that are based on betting options instead of a draw, so it adds enough of a different strategic element that it’s something video poker players can really get into. There are both basic and advanced strategies for this game, and we want to introduce you to both.

On the most basic level, you’ve made three bets of equal sizes, and you’re given a choice of pulling back two of them. You get the option to pull back one when you’re dealt three cards, and you have the option to pull back a second when you’re dealt the fourth. The third bet is always live, so after the fifth card is dealt, you either get paid out or not based on a multiple of whichever bets are left in play. Knowing when to keep the first two bets in play is the key to all strategy in Let It Ride.

Basic strategy regards how to play if you have four cards. You should keep your bet in if you’re guaranteed a payout by having at least a pair of tens as a made hand. Four to a flush will always be a profitable hand to keep your bet in. Open-ended straight draws are also profitable to play as long as you have at least one card in the hand that’s a ten or higher. With something like 9876 or lower, you do not have the high card required to keep your bet in the hand.

The more advanced strategies come into play when you have three cards in your hand. Any three to a royal should be kept, as should any made hand of a pair of tens or higher. If you have any three suited cards in a row where all of the cards are three or higher, then you’re also in good shape to keep your bet in. Three-card straight draws with one gap are profitable as long as you have at least one card in your hand that’s a ten or higher so that you have pair outs. A straight flush draw with two gaps is fine as long as you have two cards that are ten or higher as well.