Slots Hero

Almost any brick and mortar casino has a high limit room. Players of slot machines know that there are slot machines in that high limit room. These machines usually are $5 per spin if not more. But there are also $5 slot machines on the regular casino floor as well.

This leads players to wondering if there is a difference between the two slot machines. Some believe that the $5 slot machines in the high limit room have a better payout percentage, a higher one than those on the regular casino floor.

This is one of those slots myths.

While I cannot say for sure 100%, it is unlikely that there is going to be a significant difference between the $5 slot machines in the high limit room and the $5 machines on the regular casino floor.

The reason for this is that the people in casinos that manage the slot machines, called slot directors, are the ones who order the casino’s slot machines. When they order them they tend to order slot machines with the nearly the same payout percentage as the other slot machines in that denomination.

This means that when a slot director orders $5 slot machines, in this instance, he or she will order them all with nearly the same payout percentage regardless if the slot machine’s final destination is the high limit room or the regular casino floor.

I believe this slots myth is something that is perpetuated by the casinos, perhaps not directly, but they certainly do not mind players being lured into the high limit rooms and being tempted to play other high limit casino games.

It is best to keep in mind as a bit of slots strategy that there is no significant difference between the payout percentages of the slot machines on the floor versus those in the high limit rooms.

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Players often wonder about the long term payback on the slot machines in brick and mortar casinos. Many players feel that they have to wager the maximum in order to get the highest percentage of a long term payback.

And they would be right.

The truth is that slot machines have different long term paybacks depending on how many coins you are wagering. The more coins you are wagering per payline, the higher the long term payback will be.

For players who are lucky enough or who are ‘in’ enough with the staff at their favorite brick and mortar casino, and can get their hands on the par sheet for a slot machine, they will see that the long term payback of one machine will have different percentages for each coin level wagered.

And of course the more coins you wager the higher the long term payback will be.

But also bear in mind that just because you are wagering the maximum in coins, it does not mean that you are more guaranteed to win a jackpot.

All a long term payback is is the amount of money paid back over a period of time from the slot machine. It is not a gauge of slots odds for that slot machine.

So it seems that this idea of maximum coin wagers to have a shot at the best long term pay back percentage is a bit tricky. You have to wager more to have a shot at winning more back.

But really that should not be surprising. The more money a slot machine takes in on maximum coins wagers, the more it has to pay out to stay within the payout percentage it is programmed with.

If the slot machine is not paying out within its payout percentage then it is considered ‘not working’ and must be taken off the floor.

So really it is not surprising that the highest long term pay back goes with the maximum coin wager.

If players still want a shot a slot machine’s highest long term pay back but do not want to wager the maximum coins on a particular machine, they should consider playing a slot machine with a smaller maximum coin wager.

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Okay so we are back to talking more about what players can do in terms of slots strategy to manage their bankrolls.

This morning I talked about playing only one coin per line on non-linked and non-progressive slots games. The cost of playing these cash cows does not have any decent odds for you to win the huge, life changing jackpot that thousands of others slots players are spinning for.

Nothing comes for free. And progressive slots games are meant to take your money. After all, that totally amazing jackpot has to come from somewhere.

So now we move on to other ways to manage your bankroll.

Going along with the ‘play one coin per payline and avoid linked and progressive slots games’ is ‘also avoid slots games that reward players for wagering extra coins.’

There are some slot machines and online slots games out there that only make certain bonus features triggerable when the maximum amount of coins is wagered.

This means that if you are playing one of these slots games and the maximum number of coins per line is 10 and wagering $0.01 per payline, that twenty five payline game will not cost you $0.25 per spin. It will cost you $2.50 instead.

On top of wagering a lot more than you probably intended, the chances of triggering this now unlocked bonus feature is still slim. The odds of triggering this special maximum coin wager only bonus feature does not balance out the cost of the spins it will take. It is not even close.

These ‘triggerable only with maximum coin wager’ slots games are like the linked and progressive slots games. They are meant to suck your money out of you faster without paying you hardly a thing back.

Smart players who want to use an effective slots strategy to manage their bankroll will do well to avoid any slots game that wants a maximum coin wager to make bonus features available.

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It is no secret that there is no slots strategy out in the world that will allow a player to influence the Random Number Generator (RNG) of a slots game. No amount of holy water or rabbits’ feet is going to make the RNG like you more.

However, there is one thing that a slots player can control: their bankroll.

Approaching bankroll management with the idea of saving money is a good attitude to have. But then this depends on how you judge the quality of your time playing. If you judge the quality of playing based the amount of time or money you put into playing then bankroll management can be done.

Managing your slots bankroll is similar to using coupons—the more you save the more you have in your pocket.

Translation: Throwing the maximum amount of money into a slots game is not going to make you any likely to win. Slots games do not recognize the amount of money as large or small, and use that to determine the likelihood of you winning.

Winning slots is based on chance and on luck. If you just so happen to be sitting in front of the game when the RNG pulls that jackpot winning combination then congrats to you. But the amount of your wager is not a factor.

So what are some ways to manage your bankroll as your slots strategy?

First off, stick to wagering only one coin on non-linked and non-progressive slots games.

Yes, those progressive jackpot slots games offer those life changing jackpots, but they are just carrots being dangled in front of players. Casinos and online casinos make money off of players who play progressive jackpots.

This is because you have to wager the maximum amount, meaning multiple coins, in order to be eligible to win that amount. Progressive jackpot slots games are linked so there are more players, which decrease everyone’s odds of winning it. Between the maximum wagering and the thousands of players, these are cash cows for casinos and online casinos.

This is why playing only one coin should be a part of your bankroll management and your slots strategy.

More to come in Part II.

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I think we might have some crossover players, players who once played blackjack, and maybe still do, but are now into playing slots games.

The reason I say this is because I have heard tell of a new slots strategy: count the symbols.

The way this works is that players will count the symbols on the reels. It is believed that the number of symbols on the reels will reveal the likelihood of landing a particular winning combination.

For example if you were playing a three reel slots game with twenty symbols per reel, you would multiply 20 x 20 x 20 to equal 8,000. Then you would divide 1 into 8,000 then multiply it by 100%.

True this will tell you the odds of landing that winning combination, but it does not in any way reveal when that combination will happen. Knowing the odds of landing a particular winning combination could either depress you or just add to the trivia knowledge you possess.

But it does not give you an edge, or increase your chances of landing that combination.

And when it comes to modern day slots games—both online slots games and slot machines—this so-called slots strategy is actually useless.

Both online slots games and slot machines are video slots. This means that they do not have actual reels. The symbols are programmed into the game’s software and the RNG pulls a result for a spin when Spin is clicked or hit.

Without actual physical reels it is impossible to count the number of symbols present as the positions and visible number of symbols could change from resulting spin to resulting spin.

And without the ability to accurately count the symbols this slots strategy gives even less than it originally did back when there were actual reels.

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It seems that slots players will never tire of trying to find ways to crack the Random Number Generator (RNG) of online slots games and slots machines. I think they feel that if they can crack the RNG that they will then be able to beat the slots game, and collect that jackpot.

But the truth is that the RNG is not something that can be cracked.

Today’s ‘concern’ pertains to the RNG and previous spins.

Some players seem to think that the RNG takes into account the previous spin when pulling a result for the current spin. The truth is that the RNG does indeed take anywhere from the last spin to any number of spins into account when pulling a result for the current spin on an online slots game or slot machine.

Now, do not jump the gun on this. This is not by any means the secret, long sought after key to cracking RNGs and slots games open. There is a logical explanation to this:

The RNG has to take previous spins into consideration when pulling a result for a current spin simply because it would not due to have the exact same results as the last spin.

Actually that would be a pretty cool random jackpot idea—award a jackpot for landing exactly the same symbols in the same places as the previous spin.

The point is that, yes, the RNG does take precious spins into consideration. And if you were to go back in time and hit Spin on an online slots game or slot machine, you would get the same results on the next spin as you did the first time.

But there are two sides to this. While the RNG considering previous spins keeps the same results from being landed, this also means that it keeps the online slots game or slot machine from paying out the same jackpot too frequently.

This is a part of balancing the payout percentage of an online slots game or slot machine: the previous spin consideration of RNGs keeps the spins varied and also keeps the payouts from going crazy, paying out too much or not enough.

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Within the last couple of years developers of online slots games have begun to work another feature of the Vegas style slot machines: the ability to wager multiple coins.

What exactly is multiple coin wagering?

When you wager multiple coins you are wagering more than one coin on a single payline. For example you could be wagering $0.01 on a payline. A penny is your coin. If you were to wager, say, three coins on a single payline you would be wagering $0.03 per payline at that point.

This does not sound like a big deal but multiple coin wagering does have an impact on your slots strategy.

Remember your wagering is the only aspect of slots that you can control, so it is what you build your strategy on.

First off you need to check what the coin setting is on when you first open up an online slots game. Many online casinos will have the coin denomination set at its highest setting. If you do not check you could wind up wagering a lot more. Say you are a nickel player and want to wager $0.05 per payline. If you do not check the coin setting and it is set at 5 coins, you will be wagering $0.25 per payline; and your spins will get expensive quick.

If you do intend to wager multiple coins per line, think first about how much you want to wager in total. If you only want to spend no more than $1 per spin and are playing a twenty five payline online slots game, you could wager at most 4 $0.01 coins per payline.

The thing to remember about multiple coin wagers is that you need to take into consideration what denomination you assign to a single coin, and then figure what you are wagering in total so that you are not surprised at the cost of a spin. This is a part of managing your betting in your slots strategy.

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This morning I discussed elements of slots strategy that can be controlled by a slots player, the first point being to not even bother doing battle with the RNG as there is no way to beat it.

The one aspect of gambling with a slots game that a player can control is their bankroll. And bankroll management is the key to having a slots strategy. Rate of play is a part of such a slots strategy, but betting strategy is the other aspect.

Whether you are playing slot machines in a brick and mortar casino, or play online slots games, you will at some point, either from other players in the casino or in forums online, hear of something called a betting system.

Do not confuse a betting strategy with a betting system.

A betting system is a plan for betting with steps that you follow and do not deviate from.

An example of a betting system would be the Martingale betting system.

The way that this betting system works is that you double your wager on the next round if you lost the previous, and you keep doubling until you win.

So let’s say that you wager $0.25 on your first spin and you lose. You would wager $0.50 on the next, and a $1 on the next, and then $2, then $4. Well you see how this is going. In five spins, which can take less than five minutes, you would have gone from a quarter a spin up to $4.

With a betting system the wagers ad up quickly when used with a slots game. You can see how easily and how quickly you could run through your bankroll.

Now a betting strategy would be, in its easiest format, wagering the same thing and only increasing or decreasing the amount of your wager if your bankroll could handle the change. The change in your wager is dictated by you, and not by the rules of some silly betting system.

Any slots player worth their chips is going to steer clear of a betting system and focus on sticking with a betting strategy.

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Yesterday I talked about slots strategy in regards to the RNG of a slots game—how both online slots games and slot machines alike have RNGs, and how RNGs pull outcomes for a spin of the reels.

I ended my explanation of RNGs and slots strategy by clarifying that there is no slots strategy out there that can do battle with the RNG of a slots game and outsmart the RNG.

However, not all hope is lost. There is a way to create a slots strategy that can be used when spinning the reels. And it can be used when playing online slots games or slot machines, which is nice should you play both.

So what is this slots strategy? It is bankroll management.

No, no, wait, hear me out!

Think of it like this: strategy is about taking advantage of opportunities to make money and about making action that minimize your losses. Think about that last part: minimize your losses. That is what slots strategy is for.

Slots games—both online slots and slot machines—are designed to take a player’s money. Sad, but true fact of life. Some slots games will take players’ money faster than others.

Since the RNG of a slots game cannot be impacted by the player, there is no strategy that can be applied to take advantage of opportunities to make money since all opportunities are the same. So that leaves the other side of strategy’s purpose in your hands: to minimize your losses.

The best way for a player to minimize their losses in terms of slots strategy is bankroll management.

There are two ways to go about bankroll management. You can control your rate of play. Or you can use a betting strategy to control your bankroll—do not confuse that with betting system.

Rate of play means that you do not use the Stop Spin feature because it speeds up your playing, and you play more games per hour. The more games you play per hour, the faster you lose your money.

Also to control rate of play you can set yourself a certain number of games per hour or give yourself a set time limit to play—like play for ten minutes and take a break.

Bankroll management is key to a player’s slots strategy as it is the only aspect of playing slots games that the player can control.

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Something that puzzles me about some slots players is that they swear that they can beat the RNG. They will build whole slots strategies for tricking a slots game out of its jackpot like the game is the troll on the bridge, and they have to trick it to cross the bridge.

But slots games—both online slots and slot machines—are not trolls that can be tricked.

In fact, the RNG is one of the things the two types of slots games have in common. An RNG is a Random Number Generator. It is the portion of the game that pulls the results of a spin of the reels.

When a slots game is created, the game developers program the RNG with every single possible outcome the reels could have. I imagine that this takes a lot of time to do. Anyway, when a player clicks or presses Spin, the RNG will randomly pull an outcome for that spin.

And the RNG pulls that outcome the second Spin is clicked or pressed. That is why the Stop Spin feature that some slots games have is pointless—the outcome has already been pulled.

But some players swear that this is how to outsmart the RNG. They are advocates of Stop Spin being a part of any slots strategy. These players believe that if they click or press Stop Spin at just the right moment, they will fool the RNG into giving up its jackpot.

This is untrue since the RNG pulls an outcome as soon as Spin is hit. All Stop Spin does is increase your rate of play, and that increases the amount of money you stand to lose in an hour.

Because slots games are games of chance there is no slots strategy available to beat or trick the game. The best that a player can do in terms of slots strategy is to manage their playing and their bankroll.

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