Need some feedback on MG's Poker Ride

**Rettahs** · 15th January 2007, 06:57 AM

I like to play Let em Ride and I enjoy the game at every other casino but the MG ones. Heck even the RTG Let Em Ride has given me some hours of fun but I have yet to have one good session in any MG casino playing their version of Let Em Ride "Poker Ride". I fully understand that 85% of the hands will be losing hands, and if you play a session and look at the stats it almost looks normal, a few three of a kinds, several tens or better, a flush or a straight thrown in with the rest around 85% losing hands.

That all looks good on paper but during play those three of a kinds seem to be low cards so you don't catch it until the second or final pass and the tens or better well rarely do I get them on the flop and more than likely it is the last card that completes the pair.

I am just interested if anyone on here has had more than one good session playing MG's poker Ride. I myself have only had one out of twenty or so, I caught 4 of a kind so it put me up for that session. I keep going back because I really enjoy the game and keep telling myself the last few times were just my bad luck.

Before anyone flames me here about questioning if it is fixed that is not my intention. I am just asking if anyone else has the same bad luck as me or good luck for that matter so I can get a feel for how others have done. Thanks :-).

**vinylweatherman** · 15th January 2007, 11:43 PM

The Wizard of odds has a review of the MG games on his site. One indication is that the house edge is a little higher due to slightly lower payouts on some winning hands.

Let it ride is simply a kind of 5 card stud poker. The odds of getting winning hands are the same odds as those related to being pat dealt those winning hands at 10's or better video poker. Winning hands are pair of 10's or better in both cases. In let it ride, you can increase your bet if you think the first three cards are a good hand. Very often, it takes the latter two cards to make the winning hand, and it is even possible that a pair of 10's or better are dealt in the last two cards.
Look on the Wizard's site and there will be a strategy guide for the MG variant, along with the house edge, which will indicate the best playes following the first three cards. The most common hands to end with are indeed 10's or better or 2 pair, but they only pay out evens and 2:1 . The big wins are in getting all three bets down and ending up with something like 4OK and above, very rare hands indeed.
In terms of house edge, these games are not much better than the slots, but the variance is likely to be a little lower. The best MG table poker game seems to be Three Card poker, with a house edge of under 3% for the Pair+ (high variance) bet and just over 3% for the Ante/Play game (lower variance).
Cyberstud pays more for the better hands, and you get to see all 5 cards before you play. As the play bet is 2x the Ante, you are staking the same amount as you would playing the let it ride and making both raises. The disadvantage is that the dealer has to qualify for the main play bet to be paid, else only the Ante paus evens and the play bet is pushed. This could lead to you having a great hand, such as 4OK, but having the dealer fail to qualify and only winning evens on the Ante, or a mere one third of the total amount placed.