fountainfiend
Hi all,
Long time lurker, but I had a question I haven't quite seen before, so decided to join up. I have always been a 'smart' gambler, playing mostly full-pay VP and Craps, with the occasional Blackjack, but have never played a slot machine until recently. We had an offer at a local casino for a few hundred in free play, so we went and the full pay video poker machines were full, but we wanted to see how much value we could extract from the offer and then take off. So, we decided to play a Double Diamond Wheel of Fortune machine, which actually turned out to be pretty lucrative, and ended up a few hundred dollars in real money walking out over the inital free play.
I am heading to Las Vegas next week, and I thought it might be fun to play a slot machine, but given that I don't have any idea of what the payback is on any of them, what is a 'smart' gambler to do? (Other than not play them at all, which I totally agree is the smartest move. Just something entertaining to try.). Any ideas on how to find the 'best' payback at a Strip casino? (Also realize, that the strip is going to be worse than most other places in LV.)
Thanks!
Long time lurker, but I had a question I haven't quite seen before, so decided to join up. I have always been a 'smart' gambler, playing mostly full-pay VP and Craps, with the occasional Blackjack, but have never played a slot machine until recently. We had an offer at a local casino for a few hundred in free play, so we went and the full pay video poker machines were full, but we wanted to see how much value we could extract from the offer and then take off. So, we decided to play a Double Diamond Wheel of Fortune machine, which actually turned out to be pretty lucrative, and ended up a few hundred dollars in real money walking out over the inital free play.
I am heading to Las Vegas next week, and I thought it might be fun to play a slot machine, but given that I don't have any idea of what the payback is on any of them, what is a 'smart' gambler to do? (Other than not play them at all, which I totally agree is the smartest move. Just something entertaining to try.). Any ideas on how to find the 'best' payback at a Strip casino? (Also realize, that the strip is going to be worse than most other places in LV.)
Thanks!
Pick slots with the highest “Return to Player Percentage” If you’re looking for slot machines that are most likely to hit, then you want slots that have the highest percentage of RTP.
However, in making this assumption, they fail to see a lot of valuable information to help determine if they should play a particular slot machine. Surprisingly perhaps, machines aren't all the same. The best way to separate one from another is to learn how to “read” a machine by looking at the payout schedule on the front. Watch this video and you’ll know how to choose the best Slots – the ones that pay out the most. And the ones that are ready to pay out NOW. More tips on how to pick a winning Slot machine here. When you set for yourself an ambitious goal such as to learn how to win at Slots or how to pick a winning Slot machine, hard work is key. You need to have a clear process in place, a defined bankroll to invest in your tests, and a lot of patience. The secrets to winning on Slot machines are not easy to uncover, especially since Casinos don't want you to know them.
DeMango
I have that problem with a casino in Biloxi. Despite only playing table games, the offers they send me are ALWAYS slot free play. So I usually also do the double diamond thing at a level that gets me off my feet for 15 minutes or so. But as a smart gambler the only other sitdown is at a JOB machine. Again close to an even game to get a breather after a lengthy stand at a craps table.
Mission146
Check out any of the threads on the WMS Progressives or on Quick Hits. I have to get ready for work right now, but I'll link you to some tomorrow if you have not found them by then.
ewjones080
It's always been my understanding that the higher the denomination, the higher the payback. A penny slot might pay back 80% but a $5 slot might pay back at 99%. And whatever you play, best to play max credits.
There's lots of things I've heard that I suspect are myths, like slots near the door are looser/tighter, slots on the ends of banks are looser/tighter. Don't know if there's anything to it.
There's lots of things I've heard that I suspect are myths, like slots near the door are looser/tighter, slots on the ends of banks are looser/tighter. Don't know if there's anything to it.
Mission146
It's always been my understanding that the higher the denomination, the higher the payback. A penny slot might pay back 80% but a $5 slot might pay back at 99%. And whatever you play, best to play max credits.
1.) True enough about the high-denoms, but only a Progressive slot can have a return at 100+%, with some very few exceptions.
2.) I also recommend looking at the paytable. They are few, but some slot machines have what I term a, 'Perfectly graduated payout,' which simply means that there is no benefit to Max Betting. However, some machines require Max Bets for Bonus Games and other features (even if the payout is otherwise perfectly graduated), so make sure to look out for that.
The perfectly graduated payout machines with no penalty for not Max betting will typically be single-line, three-line or five-line machines with no frills.
Vultures can't be choosers.
onenickelmiracle
Since it's your first post, you should go play a flashy game at Venetian like Wizard of Oz.
Since you said long time lurker, really whatever you do go as big as you can denomination wise, but try to get 20-40 spins.
If you go too big, the chance of a total bomb is too great. Just diversify a bit to get some spins in, then quit, and don't feed if it doesn't work out. Be prepared for failure and play it first before you start losing money.
Since you said long time lurker, really whatever you do go as big as you can denomination wise, but try to get 20-40 spins.
If you go too big, the chance of a total bomb is too great. Just diversify a bit to get some spins in, then quit, and don't feed if it doesn't work out. Be prepared for failure and play it first before you start losing money.
ThatDonGuy
It's always been my understanding that the higher the denomination, the higher the payback. A penny slot might pay back 80% but a $5 slot might pay back at 99%.
There seems to be one exception: dollar Megabucks machines don't pay back as much as other dollar machines. (At least, that's the impression I get from the statewide data, which I may be reading wrong.)
Otherwise, there's an explanation: in order for the casino to make $1 on a slot from 100 credits played, a dollar slot would have to have a 99% payback, a quarter slot would have to have a 96% payback, and a nickel slot would have to have an 80% payback.
Also, I have found that the slots downtown pay off better than the ones on the Strip, just as you're more likely to find full-pay VP downtown..and I have even heard stories that they have blackjack where a blackjack pays 3-2!
onenickelmiracle
There seems to be one exception: dollar Megabucks machines don't pay back as much as other dollar machines. (At least, that's the impression I get from the statewide data, which I may be reading wrong.)
Otherwise, there's an explanation: in order for the casino to make $1 on a slot from 100 credits played, a dollar slot would have to have a 99% payback, a quarter slot would have to have a 96% payback, and a nickel slot would have to have an 80% payback.
Also, I have found that the slots downtown pay off better than the ones on the Strip, just as you're more likely to find full-pay VP downtown..and I have even heard stories that they have blackjack where a blackjack pays 3-2!
Otherwise, there's an explanation: in order for the casino to make $1 on a slot from 100 credits played, a dollar slot would have to have a 99% payback, a quarter slot would have to have a 96% payback, and a nickel slot would have to have an 80% payback.
Also, I have found that the slots downtown pay off better than the ones on the Strip, just as you're more likely to find full-pay VP downtown..and I have even heard stories that they have blackjack where a blackjack pays 3-2!
Megabucks used to be 89% and has since been changed to 86% with the progressive structure neutered which effectively makes the record jackpots realistically unbreakable.
#FreeNATHAN #Paytheslaves
terapined
I was listening to gambling with an edge radio show earlier this year and they had a AP slot player on the show. He looks for the progressive jackpot slot machines and if he thikks the machine will pay over 100% due to the progressive, he plays the machine hard.'Everybody's bragging and drinking that wine, I can tell the Queen of Diamonds by the way she shines, Come to Daddy on an inside straight, I got no chance of losing this time' -Grateful Dead- 'Loser'
AlanMendelson
There's lots of things I've heard that I suspect are myths, like slots near the door are looser/tighter, slots on the ends of banks are looser/tighter. Don't know if there's anything to it.
Years ago the casinos actually did do things like this -- 'seed the floor' with looser machines in visible areas to generate interest.
But the latest thing I heard was that the 'looser machines' are now put in the back of the casino to force players to walk through the casino to get to them.
But I haven't played slots in years except for the occassional $20 in Megabucks.
- Page 1 of 2
Introduction to Choosing Slot Machines
Once a specific casino has been determined to currently be the best of any available, choosing slot machines becomes the next step towards making a profit at slots.
Remember, statistics supplied to state gaming commissions show that the odds of winning are, on average, somewhere around 90%. By assessing all available casinos, then selecting the best possible, you’ve already improved your odds of winning – perhaps by several percentage points.
Whatever your gambling goals are, we’ll talk about those in the next step Identifying Gambling Goals. For now, we need to consider choosing slot machines that will most likely improve our overall odds even more.
So, we’ve walked into our best casino to choose slot machines with the highest odds of winning we can find. How do we select a good slot machine? Most people don’t – they dive right in without much of a plan. Well, we have a plan.
Keep Reading … or Listen Instead!
Subscribe to the Professor Slots podcast at Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio | Spotify | Stitcher | Pandora | Tune-In | SoundCloud | RadioPublic | Android | RSS and wherever else you find podcasts!
Why? Because everybody says it’s all about luck. If you pick wrong, “Well,” they say, “better luck next time.” Remember, casino employees are trained to say things like that. If you’d won a jackpot instead, you can believe they would have said, “You’re lucky! I’ll see you later when you win another jackpot!”
Slot attendants have a job to do, and it most certainly isn’t to get you to leave when you should. And, it’s difficult to not to influenced by such comments. But, try not to be.
In the following sections, I’ll briefly explain the following aspects of choosing slot machines:
- How odds are set within a slot machine
- Choosing denomination and maximum credits based on bankroll
- Basics of reading a slot machine’s paytable
- A simple way to use paytables to pick the best machines, and avoid the worst
Two Separate Odds of Winning
How To Pick The Right Slot Machine To Win
The odds of winning for a slot machine is a limited number of settings from the manufacturer. Besides understanding limited settings are available, it may help to understand that slot machines have two odds of winning to determine:
- If a player will or will not win anything
- How much that win will be, i.e., the jackpot amount
Why is understanding these two types of odds significant when choosing slot machines? Because winning slot machines come in all jackpot sizes. You’re still winning if you’re getting enough small jackpots that your bankroll isn’t shrinking. Even if it is slowly depleting, the bankroll can last quite a bit longer, so that’s also a winning slot machine.
Winning many jackpots this way is bankroll cycling. It may not seem very satisfactory, but whether it does or not depends entirely on what your gambling goals are. One type of gambling goal, earning maximum complimentary gifts, is most often achieved via bankroll cycling.
Another point about setting slot machine odds is, how often they change? Of course, it depends on the age of the casino, as discussed in the previous step Assessing Casinos for Success, or if it’s been renovated lately.
In my experience, older-style casinos change their slot machine odds every 7-10 days. Newer-style casinos can change their slot machine odds whenever the machine has been idle for 15 minutes or more, without a players club card inserted or the machine temporarily locked by a slot attendant.
Matching Bankrolls to Denomination/Credits
Only you can decide how much bankroll you want to risk gambling. I highly recommend bringing only as much money you can safely afford to lose comfortably.
Bankrolls quite literally determine which slot machines you can play. But, there’s more to it than understanding a $100 bankroll lets you play a 1-credit, $100-denomination exactly once, with very, very little chance of winning.
Whatever bankroll you have limits which slot machines can be played and how much it can be played. Slot machines have denominations ($0.01, $0.25, $1, $5, $10, etc.) and the maximum credits that can be placed in a single bet.
Slot machines typically must run for a while before wins become more likely. Yes, wins can occur at the first press of a button. They can also happen within the first few bets, where casinos offer a taste. But, usually, they need to run for a while. High 5 casino free slots games.
About 100-120 bets is the right amount to be prepared to play to determine if you’re sitting at a winning (or breakeven) slot machine. Yes, be careful initially, perhaps making as few as 20 bets, to determine if it happens to be a “bad” machine. Planet 7 no deposit bonus codes sept 2019. Trust your instincts!
How To Play Slot Games
If it is a poorly performing machine, a “tight” slot machine, it won’t pay out anything at all. Quick decisions are necessary here, so limited betting gives a clue to its performance, yet still leaves enough to gamble with on another machine if it isn’t – assuming you stop playing it as soon as you notice it’s not performing well enough.
So, again, you determine how much bankroll you can afford to spend. Now, take that number and divide it by 120 bets. If your bankroll is $60, then that’s 50 cents per bet. In such a way, the right choice is a 2-credit, quarter-denomination slot machine. Or, a 50-credit, penny-denomination slot machine.
Always remember to play maximum credits for the highest odds of winning. Meaning, your casino may not have a 2-maximum-credit quarter or 50-maximum-credit penny machines. But, perhaps they have a 1-maximum-credit quarter or less-than-50-maximum-credits penny machines. Such slot machines would provide more than 120 bets of play, which is going in the right direction!
Reading a Slot Machine’s Paytable
When choosing a slot machine to play, a crucial aspect of winning is to review its paytable before playing. Frankly, the casino industry gains an advantage over players that don’t read slot machine paytables.
Located somewhere on a slot machine is one or more tables showing the number of credits won if specific combinations of reel symbols appear in the pay line after the player makes a bet. Below is a relatively generic example of a paytable.
The figure shows reel combinations along with their jackpot depending on the number of credits bet. Paytables don’t typically explain how much credits are worth. In general, the top row is the maximum jackpot of the machine.
Not every reel combination and its associated jackpot are usually shown in a paytable. Other reel combinations not shown in the top rows are also presented in the paytable area. Slot machines with WILD symbols can represent it with a myriad of other possible reel symbols.
A final element of paytable example provided is specific information on winning reel combinations, which can include an indication of how the slot machine operates during play. The bottom row of symbol explains that that slot machine has reel symbols which will move after the reels stop momentarily.
Such additional features may not activate until the maximum credits are bet. It can sometimes be difficult, or impossible, to determine this. Most slot machines with bonus rounds will provide at least some information about it within its paytable.
Developing a habit of reviewing and studying a slot machine’s paytable can help improve your ability to judge the financial risks involved with playing that slot machine.
How to Avoid the Worst Slot Machines
The best way to improve the odds of winning via slot machine gambling is to stop making “sucker bets”. In less colorful language, avoid playing slot machines with terrible odds of winning.
First and foremost, understand when choosing slot machines that there are indeed terrible slot machines at a casino. By merely avoiding them whenever possible, on average, your long-term gambling return will improve. Each time we raise our odds like this, we’re pushing closer to achieving our gambling goals. So, let’s make sure we do that, shall we?
Calculate this “Goodness Ratio” as follows:
- When choosing slot machines, as discussed above, find the paytable with the denomination and maximum credits that best matches your available bankroll.
- Take a close look at the paytable. What is the maximum possible jackpot when maximum credits are bet?
- If the top jackpot is displayed in currency, divide it by both the denomination of the machine and the maximum credits
- If the top jackpot is displayed in credits, divide it by only the maximum credits
This “Goodness Ratio” tells us how worthwhile a specific slot machine is to play relative to others. By using this approach, any slot machine can be compared to any other slot machine.
Example: In the paytable above, the maximum jackpot is 2,400 credits with three maximum credits. Therefore, its Goodness Ratio is 2,400 / 3 = 800.
Repeat this calculation for slot machines of interest. While this Goodness Ratio will be similar for many slot machines, it can be startling to find “sucker bet” slot machines that might not otherwise be avoided.
Summary for Choosing Slot Machines
After a casino has been chosen, it’s time to select candidate slot machines most likely to result in a relatively high-value win. The size of your available bankroll, whatever it is, is an essential factor in this selection process. The bankroll size needs to be matched to the slot machine’s denomination and the number of maximum credits.
Here, we’ve also discussed how slot machines calculated odds twice: once to determine if you’ve won, and again to determine how much you’ve won. Another critical aspect discussed to improve a player’s performance was the basics of reading a slot machine’s paytable.
Finally, we talked about the “goodness” ratio to help select candidate slot machines and, perhaps critically important when improving our odds of winning, knowing precisely which slot machines must be avoided.
Next Steps
The next step on your journey to improving slots performance is Identifying Gambling Goals. Enjoy!
My research indicates I’m the first to share this information and offer personal coaching for slots enthusiasts.
I sincerely hope you find it both enjoyable and useful. For questions, call my voicemail hotline at 702-90-SLOTS, email me at Jon Friedl, or reach out to me through social media:
Further, I suggest that you sign up for my Free Report on the Best 7 Online Resources for Gamblers. Not only will you immediately receive a great list of online resources, but also other tips, tricks, and slots-related articles as I post them.
For the foreseeable future, this email subscription is my only request of you:
Finally, to provide further assistance if needed, I’m offering inexpensive, 50-minute-long, one-to-one Personal Coaching Sessions with me, your fellow slots enthusiast and friendly slot machine expert. Let’s talk! With only a dozen openings available most weeks, this is a strictly limited opportunity!
How To Beat Keno Machines
Have fun, be safe, and make good choices!
By Jon H. Friedl, Jr. Ph.D., President
Jon Friedl LLC
By Jon H. Friedl, Jr. Ph.D., President
Jon Friedl LLC