Slots Hero

As promised, here is this afternoon’s post on why reels on a slots game are not necessary and why that can help explain why there is no slots strategy.

As I have stated before, reels are just for show, part of the entertainment of a slots game, be it a slot machine or an online slots game.

The only part of the slot game that make up the actual game are the RNG, the activation button (the Spin button) and a means of collecting a wager and paying out for any wins that occur.

Really all a slots game really is, when it comes down to it, is a sort of random drawing game.

Seriously! A drawing game works like this: you put money in—the wager—and activate the game, if one of any of the set winning combinations is drawn then you receive a payout. Otherwise your money is taken.

Another way to look at is like drawing to see who is going to take out the trash. The ‘wager’ is the unwanted chore, and each person has a chance of receiving the ‘winning combination.’ The one that drew the chore is the ‘winner,’ depending on how you look at it. But the process is similar.

In the case of pushing a button to activate a random drawing game, the player cannot influence the outcome. There is no way for the player to do anything other than put money in and activate the game.

When you take all the flashy show from a slots game and get down to its basic core, it becomes obvious that there is nothing a player can do to influence the outcome. No influence equals no slots strategy.

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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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Online slots started off as similar to the good ol’ slot machines as was possible by their software creators.

In order to play a slot machine, players would have to put coins into the machine and pull the handle and eventually push the Spin button.

For online slots, players could not put actual coins into their computers to play an online slots game. First they make a deposit to their player account. Once they have money in their player account, players would then click the + or – buttons to set how much they were wagering per payline.

Even though it required a deposit to a player account and was all electronic, players were still playing online slots games with coins like they would on a real slot machine.

But recently players have begun to see credits on their online slots games instead of coins. It seems the new online slots games are having players wager credits. Is there a difference?

No. Despite what online casinos would like players to believe there is not a difference between coins and credits. It is just a different name for the same thing.

When players are playing an online slots game they are well aware that they are playing with real money. After all they can see just how much they are wagering in cents right there on the interface.

By switching from coins to credits for wagering, online casinos are hoping that players will not attach the idea that credits are money, and will wager more. After all it is only credits is what they are hoping players will think, and then spin the reels some more.

For slots strategy and bankroll management, players need to keep in their minds that credits are indeed the same as money, and not forget that they are playing with real money. After all it is only money.

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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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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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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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