How to play Let It Ride: the three bets, when to pull them back, the pay tables, the odds of every hand, the side bets and the real house edge.
Let It Ride: Rules, Payouts, Strategy and House Edge
UltraGambler earns a commission if you sign up through some links on this page. It never changes our ratings. 18+. How we make money
Quick answer: Let It Ride is a casino poker game where you don’t play against the dealer or other players. You put down three equal bets, get three cards, and two shared cards are turned over one at a time. Before each one you can pull back one of your bets or “let it ride”. The third bet always stays. At the end, a pair of tens or better pays on every bet still in play, up to 1,000:1 for a royal flush. With the best strategy the house edge is 3.51% of one bet, or about 2.85% of everything you actually bet.
| Let It Ride at a glance | |
|---|---|
| Cards | One 52-card deck; 3 cards each plus 2 shared cards |
| Bets | Three equal bets, marked 1, 2 and $ |
| Your choices | Pull back bet 1 after your 3 cards, and bet 2 after the first shared card; the $ bet always stays |
| Lowest paying hand | A pair of tens |
| Top payout | 1,000:1 for a royal flush (standard table) |
| Chance of a paying hand | 23.88% |
| House edge (best strategy) | 3.51% of one bet (about 2.85% of everything you bet) |
| Created by | John Breeding of Shuffle Master, 1993; now owned by Light & Wonder |
How to play Let It Ride
- Place three equal bets on the spots marked 1, 2 and $. Some tables also offer a side bet.
- Look at your three cards. The dealer puts two shared cards face down.
- Decide on bet 1. Pull it back, or let it ride.
- The first shared card is turned over. Now decide on bet 2: pull it back or let it ride. This choice doesn’t depend on what you did with bet 1.
- The second shared card is turned over. Your three cards plus the two shared cards make your final hand, and every bet still in play is paid from the pay table, or loses.
The dealer has no hand, so you can’t lose to a better one: the pay table is all that matters. The $ bet can never be pulled back, so every hand risks at least one bet. Hands rank as in normal poker; see our poker hand rankings.
Top-Rated Casinos
18+. T&Cs apply. Check that online gambling is legal where you live.
How does Let It Ride pay?
Each bet still in play is paid at the same odds. This is the standard pay table:
| Final hand | Pays | Chance |
|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 1,000:1 | 1 in 649,740 |
| Straight flush | 200:1 | 1 in 72,193 |
| Four of a kind | 50:1 | 1 in 4,165 |
| Full house | 11:1 | 1 in 694 |
| Flush | 8:1 | 1 in 509 |
| Straight | 5:1 | 1 in 255 |
| Three of a kind | 3:1 | 2.11% |
| Two pair | 2:1 | 4.75% |
| Pair of tens or better | 1:1 | 16.25% |
| Pair of nines or lower | Loses | 26.00% |
| No pair | Loses | 50.12% |
So about one hand in four (23.88%) pays something, and three in four lose. Your strategy decides how much you have riding, not which cards you get. Some casinos use other pay tables:
| Royal flush | Straight flush | Four of a kind | Full house | Flush | Straight | House edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 200:1 | 100:1 | 40:1 | 15:1 | 9:1 | 5:1 | 3.03% |
| 500:1 | 100:1 | 25:1 | 15:1 | 10:1 | 5:1 | 3.43% |
| 1,000:1 | 200:1 | 50:1 | 11:1 | 8:1 | 5:1 | 3.51% (standard) |
| 500:1 | 200:1 | 50:1 | 11:1 | 8:1 | 5:1 | 3.74% |
All four pay 3:1 for three of a kind, 2:1 for two pair and 1:1 for tens or better. A smaller royal flush payout with bigger full house and flush pays is actually better for you, because those hands come up far more often.
Two worked examples
You bet £10 on each spot (£30) and get 10♥ J♥ Q♥: three to a royal flush, so you let bet 1 ride. The first shared card is K♣, giving you four to an open-ended straight, so you let bet 2 ride too. If the last card is an A♠ or a 9, you have a straight: 5:1 on all three bets, £150 profit. If it is a 3♦, you have no pair and lose all £30.
Now you get 2♣ 7♦ 9♠. That is nothing, so you pull back bet 1. The first shared card is 9♥: a pair of nines doesn’t pay, so you pull back bet 2 as well. Only the £10 $ bet is left. If the last card is 9♣, three of a kind pays 3:1: £30 profit. Anything else loses £10, not £30.
When should you let it ride?
Most of the time you should pull your bets back. With the best strategy, only about 1.23 of your 3 bets are still in play at the end of an average hand. These are the only hands worth letting ride on the standard pay table:
Bet 1 (your three cards): let it ride with
- A paying hand already: a pair of tens or better, or three of a kind.
- Three suited cards in a row, from 3-4-5 upwards (not 2-3-4 or A-2-3).
- Three suited cards with one gap and at least one card of 10 or higher, such as 7-8-10.
- Three suited cards with two gaps and at least two cards of 10 or higher, such as 8-10-Q. This also covers any three to a royal flush.
Pull back everything else, including every mixed-suit hand without a paying pair.
Bet 2 (your three cards plus the first shared card): let it ride with
- A paying hand already.
- Four cards of the same suit (a flush draw).
- Four to an open-ended straight, such as 10-J-Q-K. With no card of 10 or higher (2-3-4-5 up to 6-7-8-9) it breaks even, so riding or pulling back makes no difference.
Pull back everything else, including a pair of nines or lower and most inside straight draws. The one exception: an inside straight made of four cards of 10 or higher (such as 10-J-Q-A) breaks even, so either choice is fine.
What is the house edge in Let It Ride?
With the best strategy and the standard pay table, you lose 3.51% of one bet per hand on average. Because you usually pull bets back, your average total bet is only about 1.23 units, so that is about 2.85% of all the money you actually put in play (the “element of risk”). Sites that quote a 2.8% house edge mean this second figure.
Measured that way, Let It Ride costs more than Three Card Poker (2.01% of everything bet) and much more than Ultimate Texas Hold’em (0.53%). The trade-off is that it is slow and simple: you never risk more than three bets, and most hands cost you one. Our list of casino games with the lowest house edge compares more games. No system changes these numbers, and a run of losing hands doesn’t make a winner “due”; see the gambler’s fallacy.
Let It Ride side bets
3-Card Bonus. This pays on your own three cards only, whatever happens in the main game. Some versions pay extra for a “mini royal” (A-K-Q suited). Without the mini royal it is the same bet as Pair Plus in Three Card Poker:
| Mini royal | Straight flush | Three of a kind | Straight | Flush | Pair | House edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| None | 40:1 | 30:1 | 6:1 | 4:1 | 1:1 | 2.32% |
| None | 40:1 | 30:1 | 5:1 | 4:1 | 1:1 | 5.57% |
| 50:1 | 40:1 | 30:1 | 6:1 | 3:1 | 1:1 | 7.10% |
| None | 40:1 | 30:1 | 6:1 | 3:1 | 1:1 | 7.28% |
$1 Bonus. A $1 bet on your final five cards, paid in fixed dollar amounts, usually $20,000 for a royal flush. The house edge runs from about 13.8% to 36.5% depending on the table, so it is an expensive lottery ticket.
Progressive. Some tables link a jackpot to a royal flush. Its house edge depends on the size of the jackpot, so check the meter and the pay table before you play it.
Who invented Let It Ride?
John Breeding, the founder of Shuffle Master, created Let It Ride to boost demand for the company’s card shufflers. Nevada approved it in 1993. Shuffle Master (by then SHFL Entertainment) was bought by Bally Technologies in November 2013, Bally by Scientific Games in November 2014, and Scientific Games renamed itself Light & Wonder in 2022, which owns the game today.
Where to play Let It Ride online
Online, look for Let It Ride in a casino’s table-games or live-dealer lobby; see our guide to live dealer casinos. Our top-rated casino, 1win (9.9/10), has large table-game and live lobbies; search them for Let It Ride, and use the promo code Ultragambler if you sign up. Check the pay table in the game rules before you bet. Online gambling isn’t legal everywhere, so check your local laws first, and set a limit with our gambling budget calculator.
Play table games at 1win
18+. New players only. T&Cs apply.
How we checked this
- Rules and pay tables: the Wizard of Odds, the Maryland regulator’s rules and the manufacturer’s rules filed with the Washington State Gambling Commission.
- House edge, element of risk and average bet: the Wizard of Odds, Casino.org and the Las Vegas Advisor, plus our own calculation over all 2,598,960 hands.
- Strategy: the Wizard of Odds and Casino.org, checked with our own calculation.
- Hand odds: Wikipedia and our own calculation.
- Side bets: the Wizard of Odds, Casino.org and the Washington State filing.
- History: the original US patent, CDC Gaming, the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Light & Wonder. The worked examples are our own maths.
Figures last checked: 9 October 2026. If gambling stops being fun, our responsible gambling guide lists ways to get help.
Let It Ride FAQs
Can you take back all three bets in Let It Ride?
No. You can pull back bets 1 and 2, but the third ($) bet always stays in play.
What is the lowest winning hand in Let It Ride?
A pair of tens. It pays 1:1 on every bet still in play. A pair of nines or lower loses.
Do you play against the dealer in Let It Ride?
No. The dealer has no hand. Your final five cards are paid from a fixed pay table.
What is the best Let It Ride strategy?
Let bet 1 ride only with a paying hand or a strong three-card straight flush draw, and bet 2 only with a paying hand, a four-card flush draw or an open-ended straight draw. Pull back everything else.
What is the house edge in Let It Ride?
3.51% of one bet with the best strategy on the standard pay table, or about 2.85% of everything you actually bet. Side bets cost more: 2.32% to 7.28% on the 3-Card Bonus and 13.8% or more on the $1 Bonus.
Top Online Casinos
18+. T&Cs apply. Check that online gambling is legal where you live.
