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Let It Ride strategy

The best Let It Ride strategy is short: let a bet ride only when your cards already pay or you hold a strong draw, and pull it back every other time. With three cards that means a pair of 10s or better, three of a kind, or a strong straight flush draw. With four cards it means a paying hand, four to a flush, or an open straight draw with a 10 or higher.

Bet 1: your three cards

Let it ride with:

• Any paying hand: a pair of 10s or better, or three of a kind
• Three to a royal flush: three suited cards from 10 to ace
• Three suited cards in a row, except 2-3-4 and A-2-3
• Three to a straight flush with one gap and at least one card 10 or higher
• Three to a straight flush with two gaps and at least two cards 10 or higher

Pull it back with everything else.

• Q♦Q♣3♠ A pair of queens already pays: let it ride.
• K♣Q♣J♣ Three to a royal: let it ride.
• 5♠4♠3♠ Suited and in a row: let it ride.
• 10♠8♠7♠ One gap, and the 10 counts as high: let it ride.
• 9♠J♠K♠ Two gaps, two high cards: let it ride.
• 4♠3♠2♠ Suited and in a row, but 2-3-4: pull it back.
• 9♠9♥2♦ A pair of 9s doesn't pay: pull it back.

Bet 2: four cards

Let it ride with:

• Any paying hand: a pair of 10s or better, two pair, three or four of a kind
• Four cards of one suit
• Four in a row, open at both ends, with at least one card 10 or higher: 7-8-9-10, 8-9-10-J, 9-10-J-Q or 10-J-Q-K

Pull it back with everything else.

• J♠J♥9♦4♣ A pair of jacks already pays: let it ride.
• 8♥6♥4♥K♥ Four to a flush: let it ride.
• 9♠10♥J♦Q♣ Open at both ends with high cards: let it ride.
• K♠Q♥J♦9♣ Needs a 10 in the middle: pull it back.
• 9♠9♥2♦5♣ A low pair still doesn't pay: pull it back.

Two hands where either choice is right

Some four-card hands are worth exactly nothing either way: letting bet 2 ride wins as much as it loses, on average.

• Four in a row, open at both ends, with no card 10 or higher: 2-3-4-5 up to 6-7-8-9. 2♠3♥4♦5♣ has eight cards that make a straight and forty that miss.
• Four cards 10 or higher that need one card to make a straight: 10-J-Q-A, 10-J-K-A, 10-Q-K-A or J-Q-K-A.

Our table grades both choices as right on these hands.

Bet 2 doesn't follow bet 1

Decide bet 2 on the four cards in front of you, not on what you did before. 9♠10♠J♠ lets bet 1 ride. If the first community card is 2♦, the straight flush draw is gone and so is the flush draw: pull bet 2 back. The other way round, K♠10♦4♣ pulls bet 1 back, but a 10♥ makes a pair of 10s and bet 2 rides.

Why so few rides

Each bet that rides is paid at the same odds as your final hand. When the hand is more likely to lose than to pay, the bet costs money on average, so it comes back. The best play lets bet 1 ride on only 7.3% of hands and bet 2 on 15.1%. The $ bet is the only bet on most hands.

A note on aces

An ace is a high card when it plays high. A suited draw that needs the ace to play low, like A♠2♠4♠, doesn't count: pull it back. A-2-3 suited is pulled back for the same reason.

Where the strategy comes from

This is the basic strategy published by the Wizard of Odds. Our own count of every three-card hand and every four-card hand, worked out over every card still to come, matches it line for line. It gives the lowest house edge the game allows: 3.51% of one bet. Let It Ride odds.

Make it automatic

The lists look long, but most hands are quick: no pair and no suited draw means pull it back. Our free table grades every choice against the best play, and in Practice "Show me the right play" shows the answer before you choose. The strategy as a chart · Practice with hints.

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