Let It Ride was invented by the company Shufflemaster. Shufflemaster produces card shuffling machines, and the invention was part of a clever marketing campaign to attract slot machine players to the tables. The aim was to create additional demand for Shufflemaster products and table games. Let It Ride is based on the old five-card stud poker. In Austria, the game is offered in the state-run Casinos Austria or at TonyBet under the name Easy Poker.
At first glance, the game looks complex because of its three circular betting fields. It is a very simple game. You don’t play against the others at the table, not even against the dealer. Let It Ride is a game in which you hope that the dealer gets an excellent hand.
Let It Ride: an overview
Let lt Ride is played on a semi-circular table (shaped like blackjack) with 52 cards.
The game aims to form a poker hand that contains a pair of tens or better and thus qualify for a win according to predetermined odds. With a bad hand, you can take back up to two out of three bets. With good cards, you leave the stakes standing.
Card combinations are classified according to the normal poker ranking. Flushes are possible. You are dealt three starting cards and use two community cards to form a hand of five. The better the combination, the more you win.
It is very easy to grasp the basics of Let It Ride. The following points describe the typical game flow.
1. Before the dealer deals cards, place three equal bet amounts in the circles marked 1, 2, and $ in your seat. The minimum is usually $5.
2. You have the option of risking an additional $1 for a bonus bet.
3 The dealer deals three cards face down to each player (standard deal).
4. The dealer places two community cards (valid for all players) face down in front of him.
5. You examine your three cards and assess whether they could make a good poker hand in combination with the two community cards (unknown at the time).
6. You continue to play (you let it ride) if you already have a good hand (two tens or better) or think that the hand could turn into something. To do this, leave the bet on field 1 and slide your cards underneath it.
7. If you have a weak hand, scratch the cloth with your cards to indicate that you want the bet from field 1 back.
Players may not touch chips on the betting field, but must wait until the dealer pushes them back to them.
8. The dealer reveals the first community card.
9. You decide again whether to take back your bet – this time from field 2 – or whether to continue riding because the card matches your three.
Players are not allowed to exchange information about their cards with each other. The reason: The card you need (to complete the straight flush) could be in your neighbor’s hand, which would, of course, influence your – or his – betting behavior. No wonder the casino is a little nervous about this. Additional information reduces the house advantage, and that is not at all desirable. If players exchange information about their cards, they immediately lose all their bets.
10. The dealer turns over the second community card and pays or collects according to the rank value of a player’s total combination.