Let It Ride is a favorite table game at online casinos and retail locations. Here is your complete guide to playing Let it Ride poker in New York, including:
- A list of anticipated NY online casinos with Let It Ride
- Detailed instructions for playing Let It Ride, including odds and payouts
- Strategy advice for Let It Ride
Choose an online casino to play Let It Ride in NY
In states with legal real money online casinos, Let It Ride is often included among the available popular table games. Generally speaking, the game includes similar features wherever Let It Ride is available. When evaluating an online casino’s Let It Ride game, be certain to check the following:
- Game design (graphics, animation, sound)
- Functionality of the game both on web browser and mobile app
- Selection and range of available betting limits
- Any extra side bets or bonuses
- Any deviations from standard Let It Ride payouts.
As noted, Let It Ride tends to play similarly across the different online casinos, so you should probably be wary of sites with unorthodox versions of the game. You might also look at social and sweepstakes casinos that feature table games to see if they offer Let It Ride.
Expected Let It Ride online casinos in New York
New York has yet to legalize real money online casinos, but when they do, you can expect many of the top operators to launch in the Empire State. Many already operate online sportsbooks in NY as well as New Jersey online casinos, which means we anticipate many of those same operators to open NY online casinos.
Here are some top online casinos we expect to see in NY, all of which offer Let It Ride:
How to play Let It Ride
Let It Ride is a poker-based table game in which you aren’t playing against other players as in traditional poker. Indeed, the game is sometimes called Let It Ride poker. You don’t play against a dealer, either, as you do in blackjack or Three Card Poker.
Instead, in Let It Ride, you are simply trying to make the best five-card poker hand you can. If your hand is strong enough, you win money according to a predetermined paytable. In this way, the game resembles video poker, although the betting and order of play are different.
Online Let It Ride rules
In Let It Ride, you must make a pair of 10s or higher in order to win anything, so that should primarily guide your play. Here’s a step-by-step explanation of how a standard hand of Let It Ride unfolds.
Step 1: Place your bets — three of them.
Before the hand begins, you make three bets of equal amounts by placing chips in the designated spots, circles marked 1, 2, and $. Depending on how the hand goes, you might not actually wager all of this money, but to start, you must place bets in all three circles.
You can bet however much you like (within the table limits), but all three of the bets must be for the same amount. When playing online, this is all automated for you, which makes it easy to place these initial bets.
Step 2: Receive your first three cards.
You are then dealt the first three cards of what will eventually be a five-card hand. By the way, in a casino, you receive your cards face down, but when playing online, all cards will be face up.
At this point, two more cards—the community cards—will be dealt face down in the middle of the table. You’ll be using those cards to make your five-card hand, but you don’t know what they are just yet.
Step 3: Pull a wager back or let it ride.
If you like your hand so far, you can “let it ride” and leave all three of your bets where they are. If you don’t like your hand, you can withdraw the first of the bets, pulling it back and no longer wagering it.
We’ll talk about strategy more specifically below, but if you already have a pair of 10s or better in your first three cards, you’re obviously going to keep all your bets in play. You might also do the same if your hand has the potential to improve to a pair of 10s or better. Know, however, that even if you withdraw your first bet, you’re still in the hand.
Step 4: Make the same decision after the first community card is revealed.
Once you decide what to do in the first round, the first of the two remaining community cards is revealed. Now you know four of the five cards of your hand, and you’ll have a chance again either to pull back your second bet or let it ride and keep all remaining bets in play.
Step 5: Last community card is revealed, and bets are settled.
Now the second and last community card gets turned over, and you’ll know whether you’ve won or lost. If you make a pair of 10s or higher, you win and will get paid according to how many of your bets you have in play. If you fail to make a pair of 10s or better, you’ll lose whatever bets are still in play.
That’s it, although you’ll find there are often side bets in Let It Ride that also get settled at this point as well. Read on to learn more about the different bets and their payouts.
Online Let It Ride payouts
The Let It Ride card game uses standard poker hand rankings. As noted, Let It Ride payouts start with 10s or better and go up from there. Thus, if you fail to make a pair or make only a pair of 9s or worse, you lose your bet(s).
Here’s what you win, though, if you make a pair of 10s or better:
- One Pair (10s, jacks, queens, kings, aces) — 1-to-1 (even money)
- Two Pair — 2-to-1
- Three of a Kind — 3-to-1
- Straight — 5-to-1
- Flush — 8-to-1
- Full House — 11-to-1
- Four of a Kind — 50-to-1
- Straight Flush — 200-to-1
- Royal Flush — 1,000-to-1
Let’s say you make a pair of queens. You win a payout of 1-to-1, which means you double your money. If you bet $20, you’d win another $20 (getting back $40 total). Or let’s say you make a straight. The payout for that is 5-to-1, which means if you bet $30 total, you’d win $150 (getting back $180 total).
How much you win depends on whether you withdrew any bets along the way. For example, imagine you originally bet $15, placing $5 each on the 1, 2 and $ spots, and you ultimately made a pair of kings to win a 1-to-1 payout. If you kept all three bets out there, you’d win $15. But if you withdrew one, you’d win only $10. If you withdrew two, you’d win $5. Basically, however much you kept in play, you’d double that amount.
There are also a couple of common Let It Ride side bets with their own set of payouts (discussed below).
Online Let It Ride odds
What are the odds of making various hands in Let It Ride? We can be fairly precise about that since the game involves dealing out a five-card poker hand. Here are the approximate odds of completing winning Let It Ride hands:
- One Pair (10s, jacks, queens, kings, aces) — 3-to-1
- Two Pair — 20-to-1
- Three of a Kind — 46-to-1
- Straight — 254-to-1
- Flush — 508-to-1
- Full House — 693-to-1
- Four of a Kind — 4,164-to-1
- Straight Flush — 72,192-to-1
- Royal Flush — 649,739-to-1
When playing Let It Ride, it’s also worth having some idea of your odds of completing certain hands after receiving your first three cards, as well as after receiving your fourth card. We won’t go through all of those, although we are taking those odds into account with our Let It Ride strategy advice below.
The 3 Card Bonus bet
There is a common side bet in Let It Ride called the 3 Card Bonus. This is an optional wager you can choose to place before the hand begins. It is a bet that your first three cards (on their own) will make a strong Three Card Poker hand.
When placing a 3 Card Bonus side bet, you can wager whatever you like within the table limits. Here are the payouts:
- One Pair — 1-to-1
- Flush — 3-to-1
- Straight — 6-to-1
- Three of a Kind — 30-to-1
- Straight Flush — 40-to-1
- Mini-Royal (suited A, K, Q) — 50-to-1 (sometimes higher)
Notice that a straight pays more than a flush because it is harder to make a straight with three cards (three cards consecutive in rank) than to make a flush (three cards of the same suit). Incidentally, here are the approximate odds of making each of these hands in your first three cards:
- One Pair — 5-to-1
- Flush — 19-to-1
- Straight — 30-to-1
- Three of a Kind — 424-to-1
- Straight Flush — 459-to-1
- Mini-Royal (suited A, K, Q) — 5,524-to-1
Let It Ride games in retail casinos sometimes feature another side bet called the Let It Ride Progressive Jackpot bet, but that isn’t commonly seen online.
Let It Ride strategy
Much like in blackjack or Three Card Poker, you can improve your chances of winning when playing Let It Ride if you follow a few basic tips. The main strategy involves whether to pull your bets or to “let it ride” as you move through the different stages of the hand.
After receiving your first three cards, you should “let it ride” and keep all your bets in play whenever you have:
- a winning hand already (a pair of 10s or higher)
- any three cards to a royal flush (e.g., As-Js-10s, Kd-Qd-10d, etc.)
- three consecutive cards to a straight flush down to 5-4-3 (e.g., 9d-8d-7d, 5c-4c-3c, etc.)
- three cards to a straight flush with one gap as long as one card is 10 or higher (e.g., 10d-8d-7d)
- three cards to a straight flush with two gaps as long as two cards are 10 or higher (e.g., Qh-10h-8h)
The idea is to keep all your bets in play only if you’ve already got a winning hand or if you have a relatively strong drawing hand.
After receiving your fourth card, you want to “let it ride” and not pull back your second bet only if you already have a winning hand (a pair of 10s or better) or have a very strong drawing hand. Namely, with four cards, only let it ride if you have:
- a winning hand already (a pair of 10s or higher)
- any four cards to a royal flush, straight flush or flush (i.e., any four suited cards)
- four consecutive cards to a straight with at least one card 10 or higher (e.g., 10d-9s-8h-7c)
Follow that strategy, and you’ll avoid chasing hands that have a low probability of coming to fruition. You’ll also minimize your losses as you won’t always be wagering all three bets on every losing hand but will often lose only one bet or sometimes two bets. That’s really the key in Let It Ride: bet 3x on winning hands, but only 2x or 1x on the losing ones.
What is the Let It Ride house edge?
If you look closely at those odds and payouts listed above, you notice that the payouts for Let It Ride don’t quite match the odds. The differences between the two contribute to the house edge for Let It Ride. You’re noticing larger differences between the odds and payouts for certain hands than for others, with huge differences for the highest-paying hands and smaller ones for the lower-paying hands.
Averaging all the hands’ odds and payouts together, the house edge for Let it Ride is usually tabulated as a little over 3.5%. That’s less than what you find in some real money casino games like roulette, though not as good as other games like baccarat or blackjack when played optimally. By the way, the house edge for the 3 Card Bonus is higher: just over 7% (using the payout table listed above).
Of course, there are other factors that can affect the house edge, too, such as how skillfully you play your hand. If you keep chasing inside straights and “letting it ride” without having made winning hands or good draws, the house will have a bigger edge than if you stick to basic Let It Ride strategy.
Land-based vs. online Let It Ride in New York
You can already play Let It Ride in New York retail casinos. The online version of Let It Ride plays very similarly, and you’ll usually find the same payouts and the 3 Card Bonus bet available. When playing live, you may also find other side bets available, such as progressive jackpot bets or a 5 Card Bonus.
There are differences between live vs. online Let It Ride, though, including some that many players find make playing Let It Ride online preferable. These differences include:
- There is no need to learn how to signal your betting preferences to dealers online, whereas live Let It Ride requires sliding cards under bets to show your intentions, scratching the table with your cards and other nuances.
- You can play hands faster online than you can live.
- Live games have higher minimums than Let It Ride poker online where you can play for very low stakes if you like.
- Your winnings go straight into your online account, whereas when playing live, you must exchange chips at the cashier cage.
Play free or real money Let It Ride in NY
When you get the opportunity, give online Let It Ride a try. Keep an eye out for the future launch of New York online casinos offering Let It Ride.
Let It Ride online NY FAQs
What is the best online casino to play Let It Ride in New York?
Currently, there are no real money online casinos in NY, which means no opportunities to play online Let It Ride for real money in New York. A quick search online will, however, lead you to free-play Let It Ride games. There are also a number of New Jersey online casinos offering Let It Ride.
How does betting work in online Let It Ride?
Betting rules for online Let It Ride work just like they do in the physical game, but without the need to signal to the dealer your intentions each round. You begin by placing three equally sized bets. After being dealt your first three cards, you have the option to pull back one bet. After being dealt your fourth card, you can pull back a second one. That means with each hand, it is up to you whether to bet 1x, 2x, or 3x your wager. Side bets are placed before the hand begins.
What are some tips for playing online Let It Ride?
Let It Ride strategy is fairly easy to learn. The most important thing to remember is to pull bets back unless you already have a winning hand or a very strong drawing hand. Don’t be stubborn and leave all three bets in play while hoping to hit a miracle card. For more specifics, review our Let It Ride strategy tips above.