Let It Ride
In this casino banking game three cards are dealt to each player and two face down to the dealer. The player is paid according to how good a poker hand is made by the player's three cards plus the dealer's two cards.
To play this game you must place three equal stakes before the deal. After the cards are dealt you may look at your three cards and withdraw one of your stakes if you wish. The players must not see each other's cards. One of the dealer's cards is then faced and you have another opportunity to withdraw one of your stakes. So you will have one, two or three of your stakes still in front of you when the dealer's second card is exposed.
After exposing the second card, the dealer collects the remaining stakes of any players whose three cards together with the dealer's two cards to not form a pair of tens or better. The other players are paid according to their remaining stakes at the following fixed odds:
| Pair (10s or better) | .... | evens |
| Two pairs | .... | 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 | .... | 1000 to 1 |
Clearly the only skill is in deciding when to withdraw a bet. The optimal strategy is given in the Let It Ride FAQ of the newsgroup rec.gambling.misc.
A guide with further information about Let It Ride and its optimal strategy, was formerly published at ThePogg (archive copy).