Let It Ride

Play starts with each player makes three bets of equal size. Then the dealer gives every player three cards and two community cards are placed face down. After seeing their first three cards every player has the choice to take one of their three bets back or to "let it ride" and leave it out. Then the dealer turns over one of the two community cards. Then each player has the option to pull out another bet or "let it ride." The player may leave their bet in or take it out the second time regardless of their first decision. Finally the second community card is flipped and the players are paid according to the following payoff table:

Note: The table will probably have a maximum payout. At Casino Niagara in Niagara Falls the maximum aggregate payout is $75,000 per round. As a result the player should not bet more than the maximum payout divided by 3000. Any bet above this quotient will not pay the full odds on a royal flush, thus depressing the house edge.

Strategy

With three cards you should only "let it ride" if you have:

• Any paying hand (tens or better, three of a kind)
• Any three to a royal flush
• Three suited cards in a row except 2-3-4, and ace-2-3
• Three to a straight flush, spread 4, with at least one high card (ten or greater)
• Three to a straight flush, spread 5, with at least two high cards

With four cards you should only "let it ride" if you have:

• Any paying hand (tens or better, two pair, three of a kind)
• Any four to a royal flush
• Any four to a straight flush
• Any four to a flush
• Any four to an outside straight with at least one high card
• Any four to an outside straight with no high cards (zero house edge)
• Any four to an inside straight with 4 high cards (zero house edge)

A lot of people have asked me what I mean by "inside straight", "outside straight", "spread 4", and "spread 5." An inside straight is one in which an 'inside' card is missing, such as (4,5,7,8). An outside straight is one in which an outside card is missing, such as (4,5,6,7). Outside straights are much better because there are 8 cards that can complete them as opposed to 4 for an inside straight. Spread 4 means that the cards in question span 4 ranks in a row, for example a (5,6,8). Spread 5 means the cards in question span 5 ranks, for example a (5,7,9).

House Edge

To summarize, there are 311,875,200 ways to choose 5 cards out of 52, with regard to the order chosen. The total amount the player would lose, assuming perfect strategy, over all possible combinations is 10,933,344. The house edge is defined as the average player loss to the minimum bet, or 10,933,344/311,875,200 = 3.5056792%.

The total amount bet over all combinations is 384,256,512. The "element of risk" is defined as the average loss to the average bet or 10,933,344/384,256,512 = 2.8453243%.

The Side Bet

Some, but not all, casinos allow a side bet of $1 for which you will receive an additional payoff with certain paying hands. This is a sucker bet that should be avoided. Based on a small sampling of casinos in Las Vegas and Laughlin the house edge varies from 13.77% (Lady Luck) to 36.52% (New York, New York). Below are some casinos, their payoff table, and their house edge, in order from best to worst.

The following is a list of which casinos have which pay tables based on my small sampling. Unless otherwise stated all casinos are in Las Vegas:

• Table 1: Lady Luck
• Table 2: Las Vegas Club, Freemont, Californian, Plaza, Main Street Station, Ballys, Circus Circus, Hilton, Grand (Biloxi), Beau Rivage (Biloxi), Horseshoe (Tunica), Grand (Tunica)
• Table 3: Golden Gate
• Table 4: Bellagio, Excalibur, Mandalay Bay, Harrah's, Imperial Palace, Paris, Venetian
• Table 5: MGM Grand, Golden Nugget
• Table 6: Colorado Belle (Laughlin), Sky City (New Mexico)
• Table 7: Four Queens, Flamingo Hilton
• Table 8: New York New York