$5 Slot Machine Strategy
Posted By admin On 22/03/22- $5 Slot Machine Strategy Software
- Gta 5 Slot Machine Tricks
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- $5 Slot Machine Strategy War Games
Basically, when it comes to slot machines, strategy boils down to this: Know the rules, your probability of winning, and the expected payouts; dispel any myths; and quit while you’re ahead. If you win $100, cash out $50 and play with the rest, for example. Not all slot machines are based on the same RNG, therefore always look for loose slot machines with the highest payback. Most casinos advertise the slots payback percentages. However, if you cannot figure out the payback statistics remember that as a rule $5 (or higher) slot machines provide the highest paybacks of up to 99%.
If you’re at all familiar with slot machines, you probably think there’s no strategy involved in this particular gambling game. In a sense, you’re right. The slot machine results are entirely random, and none of your decisions can affect those outcomes.
But you do get to decide which games to play and at what stakes. You can also decide how fast you play and where you play.
These kinds of decisions are what strategy is really about anyway. Most people confuse strategy with tactics.
A tactic is an individual decision, like how you’re going to play a specific blackjack hand.
A strategy is an overall approach to an activity or to achieving a goal.
Once you understand the basics of how slot machines work, you can devise a strategy. You might not like some of the basics of slot machine strategy, but the observations in this post are accurate.
The last thing you (or anyone else) needs is another guy selling you an information product about how to beat slot machines. Those expensive products are worthless. This post contains more helpful information about slots than all those ebooks combined.
Here are the basics of a realistic slot machine strategy:
1- The Best Slot Machine Strategy Is Counter-Intuitive: Don’t Play Slots at All
No game in the casino is more expensive for a gambler than slot machines. The combination of rapid-fire betting and high house edge is deadly to your gambling bankroll.
$5 Slot Machine Strategy Software
Understanding why these things matter requires and understanding of how to calculate your average expected hourly loss on a slot machine game.
The first thing to understand about a slot machine is that the house edge varies dramatically from machine to machine, even if you’re playing what looks like an identical game.
A gambling game’s payouts are determined in the long run by the odds of winning compared to the payoffs for winning. If you’re playing a game where the odds of winning are even, but you only win 90 cents on the dollar every time you win, the way the house gets its edge is clear.
With slot machines, we measure the “payback percentage” for the machine. That’s the percentage of each bet you can expect to win back on average over the long run. It’s a mathematical expectation, not a certainty.
But if you play long enough, your actual results will start looking more like your expected results.
The flip side to the payback percentage is the “house edge.” This is the amount of each bet the casino expects to keep in the long run on average.
The average slot machine has a payback percentage of 92% or 93%, but it can be significantly more or less than that. We’re going to go with 92% for this illustration.
The average slot machine player spins the reels 600 times per hour. At 75 cents per spin, the average slot machine player is putting $450 per hour into action.
Compare this with the expected loss for a game like blackjack or roulette.
An average blackjack table might deal you 100 hands per hour on a good day. The house edge might be as low as 1%. At $5 per hand, which is the usual minimum, you’re looking at $500 in action each hour, but your expected loss is only $5.00.
An average roulette table is even slower. You might only get 50 spins per hour. The house edge is higher, 5.26%, though. At $5 per spin, you’re putting $250 into action each hour.
Your expected loss per hour is $12.50 in that situation—worse than blackjack, but far better than slot machines.
The first strategy you should consider when thinking about playing slot machines is simple—play a different game.
2- If You’re Still Going to Play, Do Everything You Can to SLOW DOWN
Just because the average player spins the reels 600 times per hour doesn’t mean you have to play that fast. You’d think that the house edge is the most significant factor determining how much you lose when playing a casino game, but it turns out that the number of bets you make per hour is probably more important.
You can have a good time playing slots making 200 spins per hour. And you can still enjoy the free cocktails. If you just reduce your speed of play from 600 spins per hour to 200 spins per hour, in the above situation, your expected hourly loss would drop from $36 to $12.
How do you slow down?
There are a number of ways.
I spent some time at a casino in Oklahoma once with a recovering speed addict. He just whacked on the speed button as fast as he could repeatedly. He didn’t even watch the results.
On the other hand, every time I hit the spin button, I watched the game play out on the computer monitor in front of me. I can promise you that I was making 1/3 as many spins per hour as my friend.
I would also stop occasionally and try to have a conversation with my buddy. He didn’t like that much, because his eyes were as glued to that screen as his hand was to the spin button.
Another way to slow down your slot machine play is to use the lever on the side instead of the spin button. It’s just for show, and it doesn’t change the odds, but it does make sure you slow down.
Taking occasional breaks to go the bathroom or just to step outside for some fresh air can also slow down your rate of play. In fact, if you’re one of the many people who lose track of time in the casino, you can also set an alarm on your cell phone. Every 45 minutes or so, take a 15 minute break.
3- Reduce the Size of Your Bets
One of the most often repeated slot machine myths on the internet is the legend that you’ll see a better payout percentage if you play the maximum number of lines for the maximum number of coins per line.
This might be true on some games, but it’s not true for most of them.
How do you know the difference?
You look at the pay table for the slot machine game you’re playing. If it doesn’t have a correspondingly higher set of jackpots for the people placing the maximum bets, there’s no advantage to playing for max coins or max lines.
This is an insidious way that penny slot makers ensure so much profitability on their machines. Yeah, you can bet a single penny on a single payline.
But most players bet 5 coins on 25 paylines, for a total wager per spin of $1.25.
You’d almost always be better off playing a dollar slot machine for $1 per spin than you would placing 25 bets at a nickel apiece on a penny slot machine.
4- Find the Boring Games with the Lowest Jackpots
The newer and flashier the slot machine game is, the lower the payback percentage is.
The higher the jackpot is, the lower the payback percentage is.
That’s because big jackpots and flashy bonus games all cost money. And casinos aren’t in the business of losing money. That’s why these features reduce your payback percentage on these games.
In the case of progressive jackpot games, your payback percentage will be lower than the theoretical payback percentage most of the time anyway. You’re unlikely to hit that $10 million jackpot, and that factors into the theoretical payback percentage.
Since you won’t hit that jackpot, it won’t factor into your real payback percentage.
Also, bonus games slow down the number of spins you make per hour. They also result in additional prize amounts for the players.
The only way the game has to pay for that is to reduce the payouts for the other prizes on the game.
This means most of the time you’ll be getting an inferior payback percentage.
On the other hand, the games that look like old-time, mechanical 3-reel slot machines don’t need to save money to pay for bells and whistles. That’s because these games don’t any bells and whistles to pay for.
Combine this strategy with #2 and #3, and you’re well on your way to preserving your bankroll.
5- Change Your Goals
Most people play slot machines because they want something for nothing. That’s the wrong way to think about these games.
Sure, in the short run, you can sometimes get ahead and win a big cash prize.
But in the long run, the payout structures and the odds of winning combine to make it impossible to win.
Your bankroll is crushed by the math behind the game.
Once you accept that, you can change your perspective.
Instead of wanting something for nothing, you see that you’re really exchanging money for entertainment. The more entertainment you can get for your money, the better deal you’re getting.
That’s why you should play slot machines that are expensive enough to be exciting, but only just.
I know people who play penny slots for a single penny per spin and have a good time. But I don’t see how you could have much fun doing that. Even if you win a 2500 coin jackpot, you’re only looking at a $25 win.
I don’t get out of bed in the morning for $25. I just need more money to justify what I’m playing.
But you SHOULD play for the lowest amount per spin that keeps the game interesting for you. Don’t play slots at all unless you’re having fun.
And start measuring your success on these games by how much fun you’re having.
I have another friend who goes to the Winstar Casino at least once a week. He loses a fortune on the slots almost every time.
But once in a while he comes home with $70 or $80 in winnings.
He always seems dejected when he returns having lost his entire bankroll.
If he considered the gambling an entertainment expense, he might have more realistic expectations. He might think that was money well spent.
6- Don’t Spend Money on Books or Information Products Offering “Secrets” to Winning at Slots
You’ll find plenty of books and other information products on the web claiming to have the secrets to winning at slot machines. Some of these authors even claim to have been slot machine technicians. These books and information products are all equally worthless.
Here’s the thing about slot machines:
They’re completely random. You can’t get an edge playing them, no matter what kind of silliness the system sellers have on their sales pages.
In fact, think about this:
If you had a system that would beat slot machines, would you sell it on the internet?
Or would you spend your time winning money on the slot machines?
If you were winning consistently on slot machines, you wouldn’t need to sell a book about how you’re doing it. In fact, if you had any sophistication as a casino gambler at all, you’d realize that any time a player gets an edge at a game, the casinos figure it out and plug that hole.
Look at the countermeasures in place to prevent counting cards in blackjack. If you really had a system for beating slot machines that worked, you’d never expose it by selling a book about it. Any casino manager in the country could buy such a book, read it, then take steps to prevent your system from working.
And the systems are ludicrous.
- Some of them involve trying to find the “loose” slot machines based on their location in the casino.
- Some of them involve figuring out when a slot machine is “due” to pay out. (Sorry, that’s not how it works.)
- Some of them involve raising and lowering your bets based on how the game is going.
- Some systems involve switching from one machine to another based on how often or seldom you’re winning.
Most of these so-called strategies incorporate more than one of these factors.
The money you spend on books about how to beat slot machines is money that would be better spent on ANYTHING else. If you like playing slots, use that money to get more spins instead.
7- Take Advantage of Free Spin Offers at Online Casinos
If you know anything about online casinos, you know that they’re motivated to recruit players. One of the ways they do this is by offering signup promotions. Every online casino I know of offers free cash in your bankroll just for signing up and making your first deposit.
But many online casinos are now throwing in free spins on their slot machine games. I’ve already established that if you’re going to play the slots, you should make darn sure you enjoy it. That enjoyment is the only value you’re going to get from playing those games.
If you find an opportunity to get 50 or 100 free spins on a slot machine game online, take it. This is one of the best marketing gimmicks in the history of slot machines—at least for bona fide slot junkies.
Online casino promotions change all the time. Be sure to check back on this site periodically for updates offers and new promotions.
8- Set Win Goals and Loss Limits
This is one tip where I disagree with most other gambling authors. I agree that money management techniques don’t affect your long-term expectation when playing slot machines. And most of the writers recommending win goals and loss limits imply that you can improve your chance of winning with such methods.
But slot machines are a short-term game, and the only way to walk away a winner is to quit while you’re ahead. Most of the slot players I know aren’t able to quit while they’re ahead. That’s where a win goal comes in.
A win goal is an amount that, once you’ve won it, signals you to stop playing.
A loss limit is just the opposite. It’s an amount that, once you’ve lost it, signals you to call it quits.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking these bankroll management techniques are going to increase your long-term expected win rate or reduce your long-term expected loss rate.
But my friend who visits the WInstar with me gambles every penny he has until it’s gone every time he hits the casino. Don’t be like him. Set some limits other than going broke.
9- Avoid Slot Machines in Places with Lousy Payouts
You can’t differentiate between the loose and the tight slot machines in an individual casino by their location within the casino. The managers at the casinos don’t arrange them in such a way anymore.
But you can differentiate between a casino that’s competing for customers’ business with a casino that’s not.
If a casino is the only game in town, the payouts for their slot machines are going to be much worse than if they had a lot of competition.
You’re at the airport, waiting for a flight. You see a slot machine. You have time to kill. You can’t go anywhere else to gamble.I can promise you that those airport slot machines offer lousy paybacks.
Or let’s pretend you’re on a cruise ship. You definitely can’t find any other action. You’re at sea, for goodness’ sake.
Lousy paybacks.
On the other hand, the Strip in Las Vegas has more casinos than you can shake a stick at. You can bet they’re trying to out-do one another for your business. These casinos probably have the highest payback percentages in the area.
10- Use that Slot Machine Club Card
Every major casino now offers a slot machine club card, or a players’ card, to reward returning customers. The more you play, the more refunds and bonuses you rack up.
When you sign up for the players’ card, you get a plastic card that looks like an ATM card. You insert it into the slot machine while you’re playing.
The card tracks the amount of money you put in the machine. You then get rewards of between 0.1% and 0.3%, depending on the casino.
Also, some casinos offer double player rewards during certain days and times. You should take advantage of these opportunities as often as possible.
Some people think that inserting the slot machine club card has some kind of effect on your outcome. That’s not true. The random number generators aren’t able to tell whether you have the card inserted or not.
These rewards have a monetary value. Money saved is just as valuable as money won.
So save as much money as you can with the rebates available via the players’ card.
Conclusion
Slot machines are the most expensive entertainment in the casino. The best strategy for winning at slot machines is to avoid playing them altogether.
That might not be the advice you were hoping for, but it’s the truth.
But if you’re going to play anyway—and that’s okay—think about some of the facts shared in this blog post. You don’t have to lose thousands of dollars playing slots to have a good time.
Be frugal, be sensible, and get lucky.
Introduction to High Roller Slots Tricks
This blog continues our journey of winning strategies for slot machine casino gambling. Here, I’ll be explaining to you three easy high roller slots tricks. Now, please understand I’m not trying to turn you into a full-time high-limit slot machine gambler! Not at all!
As I’ll explain, there are some very inexpensive slots winning strategies which can be applied to more than just low limit slots. They can also be rather cheaply used, with only a few bets, on a $1 to $5 denomination high limit slot machine.
The three tricks you should know about involve applying a few of the winning strategies I’ve already discussed, as well as a new slots strategy, winning strategy #6, I’ll be explaining in full momentarily. Here goes!
This article has the following sections:
- Introduction
- 1st Trick: Use Winning Strategy 1 in a High Limit Slots Area
- 2nd Trick: Combining Winning Strategies #1 and #7
- 3rd Trick: If a Slot Machine Shows a Win, BET ONCE
- How Long Does a Slot Machine Need to be Idle?
- Play High Limit Slot Machines When Appropriate – Carefully!
- Summary
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1st Trick: Use Winning Strategy #1 in a High Limit Slots Area
One interesting pattern I’d noticed at a relatively medium-sized casino had to do with a simple observation. At this local casino, I saw that I would win once when I first sit down, but not win again for some time.
Gta 5 Slot Machine Tricks
This pattern recognition is a slots strategy I’ve mentioned before, explicitly Winning Strategy 1: Only Win Immediately and my Professor Slots podcast episode #23.
By using this approach, we can take advantage of a common practice found at many casinos, where they provide an initial winning taste.
The first dozen times I visited the high limit slots area at this small, local casino, I found it odd that I would win a jackpot during the first few pushes of the button. But, then, I would spend thousands of dollars without so much as another hit.
I don’t mean I wouldn’t have another taxable jackpot, but that I wouldn’t win anything whatsoever. It just seemed odd. Or, put another way, it was statistically unlikely to be randomly happening so consistently and often, visit after visit after visit.
As an aside, don’t worry too much about all the money I was spending. Unbeknownst to me at the time, each $100 spent these three months earned one more entry for the drawing of a car – which I would end up winning. I tell that story in:
As a second aside, the money I was spending was significant slots winnings from another local casino where I was consistently making quite a profit using Winning Strategy 7, the topic of my next blog article.
2nd Trick: Combining Winning Strategies #1 and #7
Let’s back to the story of what I learned and how I learned it. At the time, I even struck up a conversation with one of the slot operators. In that helpful interview, I asked them when were people winning jackpots and on which machines were they doing it?
This slot attendant helpfully told me about a slots player who had recently gone from one machine to another winning about eight total jackpots in a row in the high limit slots area.
I found this other slots player’s approach very intriguing, to say the least, and have since tried to employ my Winning Strategy 7 alongside playing each machine up to 5 times. By doing so, I’ve found that my annual return for this strategy alone resulted in a 150% profit over my original bankroll.
However, I’d only been using this strategy for four months since this casino opened, and felt I’d need to continue doing it for about a year to be convinced that it wasn’t either temporary or due to having limited data.
Today, I see this as an error on my part, and probably a severe loss of winnings. Winning slots strategies exist, and you can find them yourself – if you can believe your own eyes.
The area most people get stuck on is this: They don’t believe these strategies are possible, and it’s hard to try it yourself they do when you’ve already convinced yourself it’s impossible.
It doesn’t help that most winning strategies are relatively new, and based on the latest casino technologies that started being installed in new casinos since 2012.
Getting down off my usual soapbox, and back on topic, I have found this combination of winning strategies to be the cheapest approach yet to slot machine gambling, while resulting in the highest profit margin.
Using it at my local casino required only $500 per visit and $250 in return on most visits without a taxable jackpot. But then there are the taxable jackpots won, which are more than a few of the typical jackpot winnings on high limit slot machines.
As I’m sure you understand, a single $4,000 taxable jackpot pays for many subsequent visits.
Again, so far, this is all further storytelling about the experiences which resulted in my discovery of Winning Strategy 1 and how to best use it in conjunction with another winning strategy I knew. But, next, I learned a strategy I didn’t already know.
3rd Trick: If a Slot Machine Shows a Win, BET ONCE
By using these known strategies, yet another approach grew out of them. It’s easy, simple, and quite inexpensive. And, it’s completely counter-intuitive to what most slots players will tell you to do. But, because they feel this way is the reason why it works.
Slots players will tell you it is essential to check the machine’s last play. If it shows a winner then, in general, skip that machine. Don’t play it, is the general advice. I say phooey, but with a small caveat I’ll pull from Winning Strategy 1.
My third trick is this: If a slot machine is showing a win, BET ONCE. However, avoid that machine if it’s been played recently.
For this to work, if it is going to work, a slot machine showing a win needs to be idle for a while, and probably hasn’t been idle if its chair is still pulled out. That the chair is even pulled out is a beautiful clue it was used relatively recently.
Why does this work? At some casinos that set up their slot machines to offer an initial taste, the first push of the button of a high limit slot machine will win either a “small” nontaxable jackpot worth several hundred dollars or a more massive taxable jackpot over $1,200.
For example, I happened to be in the casino one Saturday evening, to take care of some tax paperwork having to do with winning a car the night before, and noticed that one of the $100 high limit slot machines was showing a $1,000 win. I didn’t think much of such a small jackpot, as it was not even taxable, but it was something I noticed.
When I went back to the casino the next morning, I noticed that that same machine had the identical winning reel combination showing on it. To me, this indicated that no one had played that machine for just over one day.
At first, I didn’t think much of it. But then, standing there looking at it, I got to thinking about my strategies. And, standing there thinking it through, I learned something.
Previously, my strategy was not to play any slot machine if it showed a win. But, I started to think, what if I was winning at one push of a button on machines that hadn’t been played for some time? Was this perhaps a refinement of a known strategy?
As usual, theory metaphorically in hand, I decided to test it. I walked over to the $100 machine showing the $1,000 win, placed my player’s card along with $100 in the machine, pressed the bet button, and immediately won a $5,000 taxable jackpot.
To date, this is the only time when I’ve won any taxable jackpot on a $100-denomination slot machine. Although, using this strategy at the same casino, shortly later I did win $500 with a single 1-credit bet on another $100 slot machine.
How Long Does a Slot Machine Need to be Idle?
One loose end with using this strategy is the question of how long does a slot machine need to be idle for it to turn into a winning slot machine via this strategy? The honest and straightforward answer is: I don’t know. But, consider my observations.
I’ve found more slot machines are winners with this strategy if I attend the casino on a Saturday morning (especially after a busy Friday night) or mid-afternoon on Sundays.
That’s because these are typically the most extended times when slot machines aren’t played, and being idle for some time matters. But, how long does it need to be inactive, you ask? I’m still piecing together clues about this.
Another clue comes from Eric Rosenthal, from whom I have second-hand information. He knows someone he trusts from within a slots manufacturer who told him that slot machines reset whenever a voucher is printed.
That’s interesting. If true, it means idle means no time at all. So, that information alone may be enough to tell you how long idle is – but I don’t think so.
Why? Because I’ve seen 30 minutes work when an immediate next player did not. Other times, I’ve seen it work after it’s been idle for hours only. Another area of uncertainty is maybe, more like probably, different casinos are set up differently.
But, I have put some effort into trying to figure this out. After some thought, one week later I went back to the casino and took handwritten notes of all the current spin reels showing on all the high limit slot machines at that casino.
Slightly over a day later, I went back to that casino with the intent of executing the usual strategy but brought extra cash with which to push the button once on any high limit slot machine still showing the same reel spin from the previous day.
Unfortunately, that day was a beautiful day in January with moderately high temperatures not seen in months. Somehow, for this reason, the casino and high limit slot machine room were incredibly busy.
I mention this because, when checking the reel spins on each slot machine, I found that ALL slot machines had been played. I then went ahead playing my usual strategy and, to my slight dismay, I didn’t win a single time despite four immediately prior visits where I made 50-60% over the bankroll I’d brought.
What I learned from this confirmation, such as it was, was that it was the wins I had seen when using my unrefined strategy of 5 pulls then stop was occurring on slot machines which had not been played for a while. That is to say, I had been winning on idle slot machines.
So, during busy periods in the high limit slot room which, by the way, isn’t necessarily the same times when the overall casino itself is active, I learned that I shouldn’t use this strategy. Not then, anyway.
All I can say is, where casinos have set up this winning strategy, winning slot machines need to be idle for a while. This bit of information may not seem like much – but it’s something once considered impossible which evidence now suggests isn’t any longer.
And, being the savvy slots enthusiast I know you are, I expect you’ll make the most out of it.
Play High Limit Slot Machines When Appropriate – Carefully!
So, let’s continue to talk about getting the most out of my winning strategies. The whole point of these specific strategies is that they don’t require much money to try out. Not to be too blunt about it, why wouldn’t you try out inexpensive strategies in the high limit slots area?
I suppose I first noticed this myself at Seminole Brighton Casino in Florida in October 2019 and earlier at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut in April 2018.
Only afterward did I think, while I’m here why don’t I try out the winning strategies I’ve just figured out in the high limit slots area?
Unfortunately, this idea came to me only after I left both places. But, here it is for you. If you have figured out a winning slots strategy that appears to work at a casino, consider trying it in the high limit slots area.
This suggestion is especially valid if the specific slots strategy you’ve found to work outside of the high limit area doesn’t require much bankroll to win. If only a small bankroll is needed, or if you’re willing to risk a larger bankroll if it doesn’t, consider one way to optimize your strategy – by bringing it into the high limit slots area. Carefully, of course.
For those who have read my blog article Seminole Brighton Casino Florida Trip Report, these follow up thoughts for using a working strategy on high limit slots should work quite well there.
However, for those who have read my blog article Easily Win a Little at Slots at Foxwoods Casino Connecticut, I’d caution against this approach there.
As Dr. Mike from the You Can Bet on That podcast very well knows (I was sitting near him at the time), you can win a couple of hundred dollars on a high limit slot machine there within the first few bets.
But, the problem is, you can do the same thing on a low limit slot machines. So, use the winning strategy I described outside of the high limit area to bet less for corresponding winnings. Your profit will be more substantial.
$5 Slot Machine Strategy Games
Summary of High Roller Slots Tricks
In review, I’ve pointed out the easy application of two past winning slots strategies, along with a new winning strategy, which would require only a few bets on a high limit slot machine.
From a high level, the three easy high roller slots tricks I’ve outlined are merely pointing out that the winning strategies you worked hard to uncover at the casino you frequent can be leveraged, perhaps even optimized, in the high limit slots area with relatively little risk.
Because, finding that a winning strategy which works
If your gambling goal is entertainment, as with more slots enthusiasts, then getting a W-2G for having won a taxable jackpot would be exciting. I know my first W-2G was very exciting and, quite honestly, you never really get tired of winning them.
If your gambling goal is earning comps, then you’ll undoubtedly earn players clubs point by making bets on high limit slot machines. But, more importantly, some or all of winnings received in the high limit slots area can be spent on low limit slots.
Finally, is winning take-home money your gambling goal? Well, you’ll earn that money with little cash spent. If, as always, the casino you’re at has been set up by their operator such that one or more of these approaches will work.
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$5 Slot Machine Strategy War Games
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By Jon H. Friedl, Jr. Ph.D., President
Jon Friedl, LLC