Slots Hero

I used to only like playing slots in actual brick and mortar casinos because I thought online jackpot winning was non-existent, and online casinos had no one to audit them. I soon found out that my perception was actually a misconception. Every online casino has Random Number Generation installed in their software; well the reputable ones anyway. What the software does is ensure that the game you are playing is completely fair and random.

Random Number Generation (RNG) can take three different forms. There is the computational form, the physical form and the human form. Your favorite online casino uses the computational form which uses complex formulas and algorithms. This method is used on a variety of different things including cryptography, completely randomized design, and statistical sampling.

The physical method is used at your favorite casino. This method comes in the form of a dice throw, a wheel spin, even a card deal.

The least common method is the human method. Although humans claim to be completely random they are not. This method is truly unreliable and therefore not favored by many scientists.

So now you’re wondering how to know if your casino complies with RNG standards, right? Every casino is audited regularly by the Technical Systems Testing (TST) for complete randomization. There is no way a casino can “tighten up” their machines. In fact every casino has a payout percentage. This means that for the amount of money put into a casino, they have to payout a certain percentage of that money. So you know that if you are playing at a casino with a payout percentage of 98% you are going to hit more often.

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No matter how many times it is explained that the Random Number Generator (RNG) of an online slots game does not adjust itself once the game’s jackpot is won there will still be players who believe otherwise. They base this on the fact that they do not immediately win the jackpot on their next spin right after winning the jackpot. Because they do not immediately win again they assume that the online slots game’s RNG has adjusted itself to not land the winning symbols again.

So we are going to look at how an online slots game could not award another jackpot immediately after awarding a jackpot without adjusting the RNG.

An online slots game has thousands of possible outcomes for a spin. Possibly even tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands. It all depends on the number of symbols in the game. So let’s say that you spin the reels and win the jackpot. The RNG will keep on cycling through possible outcomes; it never stops cycling, not even for a jackpot. And all of those thousands and thousands of possible outcomes could come up on the next spin.

So let’s say that in a year you win two jackpots. That means that you have two spins, two opportunities, to land the jackpot combination out of the thousands of possibilities.

Say there are 50,000 possible outcomes. The RNG is cycling through them in microseconds. You only have one chance after winning a jackpot to land the winning combination again. One in say fifty thousand.

This is not to say that it could never happen. This is to say that it is highly unlikely that it will. The smart online slots player understands the probability of a double jackpot and of the RNG landing on the winning combination two times in a row. They look at the thousands of spins that it took to land the jackpot once, and recognize that it could take just as many spins to land it again. This is just how online slots and their RNGs work.

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Since online software developers seem to lack an interest in launching new online slots games, we are going to go back and talk about a slot machine myth.

This is a slot machine myth that I had heard of before but forgot about.

How often has it happened to you that you are sitting in a casino at a slot machine? You then get up either to find a drink, take a break, something. When you get back someone else is sitting at the slot machine you were just playing at. So you sit down a couple machines down from them.

Both you and this other player are just sitting there, spinning the reels on your slot machines, when the other player hits the jackpot. On the slot machine you just left.

Immediately you start berating yourself for getting up and leaving that machine. It was just about to hit and you got up and left. You also immediately start thinking that if you had not gotten up you would be the player dancing around the casino floor happy as a pig in mud because you would have hit the jackpot.

Well I am sorry to burst your downer bubble, but it does not work that way. The odds on you winning the jackpot were the same as the other player. There was no countdown happening or anything like that. Each spin has the same odds to be the jackpot win.

Even if you were to have stayed at that same slot machine, there is no guarantee that you would have hit the jackpot. It is all chance. That is what it comes down to.

So when the slot machine you were playing on a bit ago hits, do not beat yourself up for not knowing that it was going to hit. How could you? It is all chance no matter how you spin it.

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No, this is not about picking up a slots game. Get your mind out of the gutter. We are talking odds on a slots game.

On average, players can expect a house edge of around 15% on a slots game. Yes, there will be some that have a better house edge, and some that have a worse house edge. But on average a slots player is looking at 15%.

To give you some perspective, using basic strategy with blackjack offers the best house edge of all the casino games: 0.5%. And without that strategy players are looking at 3-5%.

This is not necessarily a bad thing, a 15% house edge. While there are other casino games with better odds, if it is slots that you like to play then do not let anyone tell you differently. Go enjoy spinning the reels.

However, slots players should be realistic.

Slots games are the cash cows of both brick and mortar casinos and online casinos. They are meant to take your money, except for the few people who win big. This means that slots players cannot walk up to a slot machine or log into an online casino and expect to win big. It happens for some, but not for many.

As a result, so-called slots strategies abound. Things such as tracking a slots game to predict when it will hit, or theories on what happens when a slots game is hot or cold and when it will turn.

None of them are true. Slots games’ results are pulled by a Random Number Generator (RNG) so there is no way of predicting when a slots game’s jackpot will hit. There is no way of tracking it to see when it will go hot or cold.

Slots games are the true games of chance in that they are never predictable and they are meant to take your money. Hence the 15% average house edge. With a house edge like that, the best a slots player can do is to utilize some bankroll management and to simply enjoy playing slots games. Do not look at them as means to making an income.

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Understanding how the Random Number Generator (RNG) of a slots game, be it an online slots game or a slot machine, is very simple yet not the easiest of concepts to understand.

The general explanation is that a slots game is programmed with every possible outcome or combination of symbols. A slots game also has an RNG. The RNG is constantly picking combinations even when the game is not eve being played. When a player sits down and hits Spin the RNG will immediately pull one of those combinations and the reels are set to match that combination.

Sounds simple enough but if you stop and try to think about it, it brings to become less easy to understand.

So let’s this explanation I heard of:

Imagine that every single possible symbol combination is written down along with its payout—be that a $0 payout or the jackpot—on an index card. Now imagine a separate RNG. Someone comes up and presses or clicks Spin. The RNG twitters its way to over to the stack of index cards and randomly pulls one. That randomly chosen index card has the symbol spin result and the payout for that spin. The RNG then takes the index card to the reels and the reels then align themselves to match what the index card says. The payout that is on the index card is then given.

That is the simplest and most picturesque way to explain what the RNG actually does in a slots game. It does not determine which symbols and payout are given. It merely takes one of the predetermined results and ferries it to the reels. That is all it does. It does not even do any real thinking.

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Slots games nowadays will usually come with a Stop Spin button. This button can be found on slot machines as well as online slots games, although the ones on online slots games can sometimes be the Spin button that turns into a Stop Spin button when the reels are set to spinning.

The purpose of this is quite obvious and simple: to stop the reels when they are spinning.

Players believe and build whole slots strategies around this button. Unfortunately it is all for naught. The Stop Spin button does not do anything for your slots odds. In fact, it does not do much of anything.

The reason for this is the Random Number Generator that is built into slots games. It is programmed with all of the possible outcomes of the slots game. When a player places their wager and pushes the Spin button, the reels are activated and the RNG will immediately pull one of the possible outcomes.

Just because the RNG has selected an outcome does not mean that the show is over. The RNG immediately pulls that outcome in nanoseconds, and we all know that the reels spin for a couple of seconds minimum. So just what is that slots game doing if the outcome is already chosen?

That slots game is merely putting on a show. That is all. With the outcome already selected, pushing Stop Spin does nothing but stop the show.

In other words you would have the same outcome regardless of whether you let the reels spin out and stop on their own, or if you pushed Stop Spin.

Stop Spin only increases your rate of play—meaning the number of spins you make per hour—which in turn increases your opportunities to lose money. So in effect you are actually decreasing your slots odds when you use the Stop Spin button.

Instead of pushing Stop Spin, just sit back and enjoy the show.

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Often enough I get asked how can I be sure that there truly is no strategy for slots.

The answer lies in the game itself.

First picture a slots game. It can be a slot machine’s playing screen or the window of your computer with an online slots game on it. What do you see?

You will see a varying number of paylines, a varying number of reels, all the bright happy colors of the graphics and symbols. All the things that make up the surface of a slots game.

Now I want you to picture the buttons, the only part of the slots game that the player can do anything with. There are two buttons that are used to increase and decrease the amount of your wager. There are two buttons to increase and decrease the number of active paylines. And there are buttons to show the paytable, set auto play going or bet the maximum amount. Then there is the Spin button and, on some slots games, a Stop Spin button.

Based on those buttons, a player can adjust their wager, the number of active paylines, view the paytable, use auto play, bet the max and set the reels spinning; and in some cases stop the reels.

That is all.

There are no buttons that influence the reels at all. Once a player hits Spin, the Random Number Generator (RNG) will immediately pull one of the thousands of possible outcomes for that spin.

On the surface it might appear that the Stop Spin button might have an impact. There are supposed slots strategies based on that idea. But because the RNG pulls an outcome immediately, all the Stop Spin button does is stop the show, the entertainment portion of the game.

You would still get the same outcome whether you hit Stop Spin or not.

In all actuality the reels are not really necessary for a slots game. I am serious. I will explain this afternoon why reels are not necessary for a slots game. Perhaps once I explain that, it can be further understood why there is no strategy for slots.

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Slots—be they online slots games or slot machines—are games of chances. This means that there is no slots strategy out there in the world that is going to beat the house edge and cause the slots game or slot machine to pour forth its coins.

Not that slots games use coins anymore, but that is beside the point.

The point is that there is nothing that a player can do that will have an effect on the slots game. This is because the game is controlled by a Random Number Generator (RNG). This is a part of the slots game that is programmed by the creators with all the possible outcomes for that came. When a player hits Spin the RNG will pull one of the possible outcomes at random.

Hence, the ‘random’ in Random Number Generator.

But I never tire of hearing about the things player will do to try to have an impact on a random game anyway. I think this derives from our culture’s need to dominate and control all aspects round it.

And while the stories about blessing a slot machine with holy water, mathematically calculating a pattern of spins to make, and the trinkets and statues that players will play with to combat the RNG, there have been times when what sounds like a silly hope is actually mildly true.

Such is the case with slot machines and pacemakers.

Pacemakers are generators of electromagnetic interference (EMI). EMI is similar to radio frequency interference (RFI).

Some of the older patrons of slot machines are either concerned that their pacemakers will interfere with the workings of the slot machines and hurt their chances of winning. Others are hopeful that it will interfere in a positive way, and cause the machine to pay out.

To the relief and sadness of both parties, while RFI has been known to play with slot machines from time to time, the EMI from pacemakers will not have an effect on slot machines.

So add pacemakers to the list of things that will not work on a slot machine with holy water, tiki statues and lava rocks from a sacred volcano. The truth is that slot machines—and online slots games—are truly random and players will not be able to have an impact. So, humans, give up that compulsion to control this aspect in your lives.

And put that sacred lave rock back because chances are you have irritated some Hawaiian deity, and while that will not impact your slots odds, it just might have an impact on the bigger aspects of your life.

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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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