Let It Ride Poker Strategy
Perfect Let It Ride poker strategy is both easy to learn and easy to use in real life. It requires just a little bit of memorization but it really doesn’t take long to learn. If you apply this strategy to your next Let It Ride session, you’ll lower the house advantage to about 3.5%.
The proper strategy for Let It Ride is exactly the same as the strategy for Let Em Ride Poker. There are just a few basic rules of thumb and then everything else takes care of itself. The only decision you have to make in each hand is whether to pull back each bet or “let it ride.” As a result, the strategy for this game is nice and straightforward.
Optimal Let It Ride Poker Strategy
The following rules of thumb can be used to help you decide whether to invest more money in each hand or cut your losses early. When you follow this strategy, you will only rarely let all three bets ride all the way. But that doesn’t mean you’ll be bored – you’ll always get to see each hand to the showdown with at least one bet still out there.
After seeing the first three cards, let it ride if any of the following statements are true:
- You have a pair of 10s or better
- You have three consecutive cards of the same suit, except for A-2-3 and 2-3-4. For example, if you have 4-5-6 of hearts, you can let it ride.
- You have three consecutive cards of the same suit with one gap AND at least one of those cards is a 10 or higher. For example, if you have 7-8-10 of hearts, you can let it ride.
- You have three consecutive cards of the same suit with two gaps AND at least two of those cards is a 10 or higher. For example, if you have 8-10-Q of hearts, you can let it ride. Or if you have 8-J-Q of hearts, you can let it ride.
After seeing four cards, you can let your second bet ride if any of the following statements are true:
- You have a pair of 10s or better
- You have an open-ended straight draw. For example, if you have 3-4-5-6, you can let it ride.
- You have any four cards ranked 10 or higher
- You have any four cards of the same suit
In total, there are only 8 rules to remember for optimal Let It Ride poker strategy. It may look like a long list but if you practice a few times, you’ll see that these rules are pretty easy to remember. Once you have these rules down pat, you will be able to play mathematically perfect Let It Ride poker.
Let It Ride Poker Strategy Tips
The above strategy is the most important to remember but there are a few other tips that might help. The main thing to remember is that the optional side bets are almost always sucker bets. Most Let It Ride poker tables have an optional bet that you can place for $1.00 in order to earn special payouts for strong hands.
The side bet in Let It Ride is a bad one to take unless there is some sort of monstrous progressive jackpot. At most live casinos, Let It Ride has a jackpot of $15,000 to $20,000 for Royal Flushes. It may sound like a good deal for just $1.00 but the house advantage on that bet is massive (around 15%).
Finally, make sure to find out if your Let It Ride table has a maximum payout rule. If your table says something like “maximum payout is $100,000,” you will want to place your bets so that you don’t go over that maximum payout rule if you catch a Royal Flush. The reason is because it gives the house a significant advantage if you place bets that cannot be paid to the fullest.
For example, if you place three $100 bets on a single hand and catch a Royal Flush, the 1000:1 payout would dictate a $300,000 payout. The problem is that you would only get $100,000 because of the maximum payout rule. Make sure that the total dollar value of your three bets does not exceed 1/1000th of the maximum payout.