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Let It Ride

Unfortunately I cannot teach you how to beat this game, but if you'll play it my way, the casino will have the smallest possible edge and you might get lucky.

Let It Ride (TM) is a 'nice' game to play, because you aren't in competition with the other players or the dealer; each hand stands on its own and the dealer just serves to pass out the cards and act as banker. LIR is played on a modified Blackjack table which has 7 players' spots, each of which has three betting circles which are marked "1", "2" and "$" as well as a payout table for winning hands. The player places an equal bet in all three spots and then the cards are dealt. Each player receives 3 cards and the dealer takes two more 'community' cards, face down. The player looks at the 3 cards s/he has been dealt and may let the first bet 'ride', or ask for it back. The dealer then turns over the first community card and then each player decides whether or not to let the second bet ride, or take it back. The dealer then turns over the second community card and settles the hand, since the player may not request the "$" bet back. Winning hands are paid by the following schedule:

If the player has left all 3 bets up, they will all be paid; if two are left, just they will be paid and, of course, if just the last bet is left, that is paid. If the hand didn't produce a winner, all remaining bets are lost.

How to Play to Win

The biggest mistake most players make is letting all bets ride on a pair of 9s or lower. The game only pays for 10s or better, so holding a 'small' pair isn't justified by the possibility of getting trips or something more. You should let bet #1 ride only on the following hands (which will be the 3 cards dealt to you):

Let bet #2 ride only on the following hands (which will be the three cards dealt to you, along with the first community card):

You can see that it's possible to have a hand where you've pulled bet #1, but would let bet #2 ride, like 3 high cards which are dealt to you. You should pull back bet #1, but if the first community card is also a high card, you'd have either an inside straight draw, or the possibility of pairing one of the cards, so you'd let #2 ride.

Played this way, the house still has a 2.8% edge over you and that's pretty stiff. There is an 'optimized' strategy available for this game which will improve your edge a bit, so if you're a big LIR player, it's probably worth the investment. The strategy's in a book called "Mastering the Game of Let It Ride" by Stanley Ko which is available from Conjelco at www.conjelco.com and other specialty book stores.

As always, I wish you luck.