Learn how to play poker

Let It Ride Betting Features

Here's how it works:

Assuming that you are betting the minimum table requirement (in this example I will use $5 as that minimum); you place your $5 chips in the three circular spots in the betting area of the table layout directly in front of where you are sitting. By this time the shuffling machine has already shuffled the deck, and the game is ready to begin.

When all players at the table have made their bets, the dealer pushes a button on the shuffling machine, and the machine proceeds to spit out player hands. Each player hand consists of three cards. The dealer picks up the cards from the machine and spreads them face down in front of each player position. The last hand out of the machine is the dealer's hand. The dealer places the topmost card in the dealer's card box 1, the next card in the dealer's card box 2, and the third card, the bottom card from that set of dealer's three cards, then becomes the burn card and is placed by the dealer in the discard tray.

When all hands, including the dealer's, have been properly distributed, the dealer presses the machine's button again and the machine spits out the rest of the unused cards. The dealer then places the remainder of this deck in the discard tray, and the game is ready to continue.

Once you have received your cards, you look at the three cards in your hand. At this stage, both the dealer's cards are face down. If your three-card hand already constitutes a winner, or if you think that it may make a winner during the next two rounds, you can choose to stay. You indicate this by either waving your hand slightly indicating "stay," or, which is more accurate, you stack your cards together and gently place them face down under the middle bet. If you do not wish to continue with this current first bet, you "scratch" your cards on the table, in which case in LIR the dealer will push back to you the first bet in that first-bet betting area circle. This goes on for each player at the table.

Once all players have made their decisions in this first round of the current hand in progress, the dealer turns one of the dealer's cards face up.

Remember that both the dealer's cards count as all players' cards, so you can use both of these dealer's cards as part of your hand.

If, on the dealer's turn, your hand has improved to an immediate winner, or you think that it may do so on the last turn, you can then stack your cards and place them face down under the third circle betting area bet. This signifies to the dealer that you have chosen to "let it ride." If, on the other hand, you do not wish to "let it ride," you can again repeat the "scratch" procedure, and the dealer will return your second bet to you. At this point you have no further options, and you must place your cards under the third circled betting area bet. That bet then rides for the final decision. This entire procedure is repeated for all players at the table.

The final, and third stage, involves the dealer turning over the dealer's second down card (the dealer's second turn). Again, this card is also common to all players at the table. Therefore, in the end, each player has three cards in hand (actually tucked under the third bet), and two common cards (the dealer's two cards), thus making each player's hand a total of five cards.

Players' decisions are based solely on a hierarchy of winning hands. The payoff chart is as follows:

Royal Flush = 1,000 to 1 Straight Flush = 200 to 1 Four-of-a-kind = 50 to 1 Full House = 11 to 1 Flush = 8 to 1 Straight = 5 to 1 Three-of-a-kind = 3 to 1 Two pair = 2 to 1 Pair of 10s or better = 1 to 1