Let It Ride Quiz
by John Grochowski
Let's take a Let It Ride Quiz and discover the ins, outs and
strategies of this poker game.
Like
many casino games that have their roots in the 1990s,
this game is based on five-card stud poker.
Each player is
dealt three cards
face down, and two cards are dealt face down in front of the dealer.
Those last two cards are common to all hands --- your three cards plus
the two
common cards make up your final five-card hand.
The dealer does not get a hand.
This is not a game of beat
the dealer; it's a
game of looking for the best poker hand possible, with payoffs made
according
to a
video poker-like pay table.
1) When playing with a $5 minimum posted, a
player must
initially wager at least $15, but his real minimum risk per hand is:
A.
$5
B.
$10
C.
$15
2)
Compared with other poker-based table games, the
frequency of winning hands is
A.
Relatively high.
B. Relatively
low.
C.
About average.
3) The minimum hand for a payoff is
A.
Ace-King high.
B. Any
pair
C.
A pair of 10s
4) Without making a side bet, a
player has a chance at the
largest potential jackpot in
A.
Caribbean
Stud.
B. Let
It Ride.
C.
Three Card Poker Pair Plus.
D.
Three Card Poker vs. the dealer.
5) In this game, an 'aggregate limit' on winnings
A.
Puts a cap on a potential
jackpot.
B. Means
that some bets may be
paid at less than posted odds.
C.
Raises the house edge.
D.
All of the above.
E. None
of the above.
6) If the player's
first three cards are 6-7-8 of mixed suits, the
player
should
A.
Pull back the first bet.
B. Let
it Ride.
7) If the player's first three cards
are Ace-9-9, the player
should
A.
Pull back the first bet.
B. Let
It Ride
8) If the player's three cards plus
the first community card
are 2-6-9-Jack, all of hearts, the player should
A.
Pull back the second bet
B. Let
It Ride.
9) If the player's three cards plus
the first community card
are 5-6-8-9 of mixed suits, the player should
A.
Pull back the second bet
B. Let
It Ride.
10) If the player's first three cards
plus the community
card are 7-8-9-10 of mixed suits, the player should
A.
Pull back the second bet.
B. Let
It Ride.
Answers:
1)
A. $5. You start with three equal-sized
bets, each at least meeting the table minimum. However, after you've
seen your
own three cards, you may pull back one bet. And after you've seen the
first
common card, you may pull back the second bet.
The final bet
must remain in action. So depending on whether you
like the cards you see, you're $15 minimum initial wager at a $5 table
can
leave you with $15, $10 or $5 at risk at the end of the hand.
2)
B. The frequency of winning hands is
relatively low, compared with other poker-based table games. We'll win
about 24
percent of our hands in Let It Ride, compared with 26 percent in Three
Card
Poker's Pairs Plus option, 38 percent in Caribbean Stud and 42 percent
in Three
Card Poker ante and bet against the dealer. However, because many Let
It Ride
hands are paid at even money, there is not a large gap in the house
edges among
those commonly played games.
In the original pay table offered, the house edge in Let It Ride is 3.5
percent
of one wager, or 2.8 percent of total action, while in Caribbean Stud
the house
edge is 5.2 percent of the ante or 2.6 percent of total action. In
Three Card
Poker, house edges are
2.3 percent on the best Pair Plus pay table, and 3.4 percent of the
ante or 2.0
percent of total action in ante-and-bet.
3) C.
The minimum paying hand is a pair of 10s, which brings
an
even-money payoff.
4)
B. Let It Ride. The 1,000-1 payoff on a royal flush in
Let It Ride is the biggest we'll find with no side bet. Caribbean Stud
pays
only 100-1 on royals, Three Card Poker Pair Plus pays 40-1 for a
straight flush
and Three Card Poker vs. the dealer adds a 5-1 straight flush bonus to
the even-money payoff we're likely to win on the basic
game.
In the original, and still most common, pay table,
you'll get
even money if the final five-card poker hand is a pair of 10s or
better, 2-1 on
two pair, 3-1 on three of a kind, 5-1 on straights, 8-1 on flushes,
11-1 on
full houses, 50-1 on four of a kind, 200-1 on straight flushes or
1,000-1 on royal
flushes.
5)
D. All of the above. An aggregate limit puts a cap on a
potential jackpot, means that some bets may be paid at less than posted
odds
and raises the house edge.
I've seen casinos put a $15,000 aggregate limit on winnings. Bet $5 per
spot and
get a royal flush and you get the full 1,000-1 payoff. But if you bet
$10 on
each of the three spots, spot, 1,000-1 would give you $30,000.
A
$15,000 limit
would mean you're paid only 500-1, in effect lowering the pay table and
raising
the house edge.
6) A.
Pull back the first bet. If straights happen with the last bet on the
line, great, but we don't play for them on the first and second bets.
If
the 6-7-8
were all the same suit, giving
us a chance at a flush or straight flush as well as a straight
possibility,
then we'll leave the first bet on the table.
7)
A. Pull back the first bet. With no straight flush
possibilities, we'll only leave the first bet on the table if we have a
winning
hand made. That means a pair of 10s or better, not 9s or less.
8)
B. Let It Ride. With four cards of the same
suit,
you have 9 chances in the 48 cards you've not seen to complete a flush,
so
you'll complete one flush per 5.3 hands in that situation.
With
an 8-1 payback on flushes, the odds are in your
favor, and well worth leaving that second bet in action.
9)
A. Pull back the second bet. This is an ‘inside’ straight
draw, with the card needed to complete the straight being ‘inside,’ or
between,
the 6 and 8. Only four cards will complete this straight --- the four
7s. There
is a 4 in 48, or 1 in 12, chance of ending up with a straight.
Those
odds are far longer than the 5-1 payoff on straights,
so we pull back the second bet.
10)
B. Let It Ride. This time we have a straight that's open
on both ends. It can be completed with either a 6 or a Jack, so 8 of
the
remaining 48 cards will give us a straight and a 5-1 payback.
Most
of the time,
that's a break-even situation.
For every six times we have a
four-card open ended straight,
we will lose five hands and win one. With $5 wagers, that means we lose
$25 on
the five losing hands, but win $25 with a 5-1 payoff on our one
straight.
This example, though, is better than
break-even. In addition to the eight cards that will complete a
straight, the
three remaining 10s in the deck would give us a winning hand of a pair
of 10s
or better, making 7-8-9-10 a profitable situation.
Rule of thumb: Four-card open-ended straights whose highest card is 9
or lower
are break-even situations, and it's up to you whether to gamble and let
the second
bet ride.
If the high card is 10 or higher, it's a
profit-making
situation, and to your advantage to Let It Ride.
Let
It Ride Quiz is followed by Online Strategies
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