Slots Interesting read on slot play

While I don't play slots, I read about them. This article was interesting & thought some of you might enjoy it!

There is an old saying, “You can’t take it with you,” that is supposed to encourage limiting one’s greed and/or to encourage people to live for today because tomorrow, well, tomorrow you’ll be dead. So all the riches you’ve amassed are meaningless if you think they will belong to you when you are no longer you.
http://scoblete.casinocitytimes.com/article/you-can-take-it-with-you-65656

 

I'd rather lose my whole bankroll than keep counting how many spins I've played. Seriously an awful awful awful idea.

 

I didn't read the whole article, but the bit I picked up is very familiar to me as I do something similar...though I dubbed it threshold gambling. Similar to counting decisions, if you put $100 in a machine, only play that $100 and take the rest out. If you do that for the first 4 days of a 5 day trip (with a BR of $500 per day), you can use your last day to go hard with all the winnings and hope for a smash and grab or take what you haven't "lost." I like the notion of not gambling back what you've "earned".

Problem is, you're there to gamble. If you need to setup rules to prevent yourself from losing the house, then you're doing it wrong.

 

From everything & everyone you hear "you should play max coin" for the largest payout and sure that's true if you hit the the big hands (the more you bet, the more you win & conversely, the more you bet & don't hit the more you lose) what I found interesting was to maximize your playing length in order to win was the article talks about playing the minimum coin in per-bet, which is the exact opposite and I suppose you could correlate that to a lot of betting methods on various games.
I get that you don't want to count spins and yeah, who would want to, too much like work (doesn't the machines count them for you?)
I didn't really take this article in depth on counting spins or taking part of the win and setting it aside or the article in it's entirety, what jumped out at me was the 'coin played per-bet' part.

True, you're there to gamble, have a good time, not setting up rules, typically on vacation
cheers

 

I only count spins when:

1)Playing free play through once (conversion)
2)Attempting to JUST get a specific number of TC for a promotion
3)Putting in enough play to satisfy a large upfront comp

 

I love counting spins...and all of the rainbow colored finger counters I do it with!

Vegasworm

 

Next time out I may try this at the dollar level to see if there is any winning potential. Counting spins sounds like work but then so is Blackjack if played properly.

 

That's what I was thinking when I read it. Sure it's work, but hard work pays off.
The analogy to BJ is exactly what I was thinking too. What I didn't quite get was the max coin in part vs: min coin in.

 

What people are talking about there, and I'll just use single-line multi-coin reel slots as an example,

If you are playing a machine that has some advantage to playing max coin, then you are giving up something mathematically by not playing max. What Scoblete is pointing out is that sometimes it's just not that big a deal.

For example, when I want to grind out a lot of coin in with relatively low volatility, I look for Double Diamond machines (almost all of them are 2 coin machines) with a top line jackpot of 800 credits (for 1 coin) / 1,600 credits (2 coins). I'm not giving up anything by playing a single coin on that machine. With any machine, the more spins, the better the chance of you hitting something big. You get more spins in one of two ways - increase your bankroll, or reduce your bet per spin.

When I was at PH on the last trip, they had this machine in the HL room:


This machine is displaying dollars instead of credits, but the top line is 800 / 1,600 / 2,500 credits. It's a $5 machine. I don't want to play 3 coins on it; I want to play 1 or 2, and get more spins. I'd prefer it if the top line for 3 coins was 2,400 ($12,000) instead of 2,500 ($12,500).

Having that little extra amount for 3 coins means I am giving something up by not playing 3 coins, but it's not quite significant enough to make me avoid the machine. Because the probability of hitting the jackpot is small to begin with. So I'm not really going to kick myself if I hit the top line combo and I'm only playing 1 or 2 coins. Or at least, I'm not going to kick myself because of the premium involved.

However, if the jackpot for 3 coins was say, $16,000 or $20,000 (3,200 or 4,000 credits), then I would either play max coin or not play this machine at all, for two reasons: Because every dollar of that extra "premium" in that 3 coin amount is coming from the frequency of how often the smaller amounts hit. And because if I wasn't playing 3 coins, and I got three Double Diamonds on the payline, I would kick myself.

 

Not playing them on any sort of regular basis makes the coin part much clearer now.
When you have time and in 'layman's' terms decipher the counting part if you will.
Thx

 

The rest of it is just typical Scoblete mumbo-jumbo BS math sleight-of-hand. He's saying bank your TITOs after you do every 200 spins. And then he's basically setting you up psychologically to regard that money as winnings.

 

Exactly! This was discussed on the American Casino Guide video tutorial on slots. 100% agree that playing max bet makes no sense unless you're getting a significant monetary advantage (a la video poker where a Royal Payout is much much higher when playing max bets).

 

Playing less than MAX is a good strategy. Actually playing NOTHING is an even better strategy. I can 100% guarantee the casino will not beat you if you put exactly ZERO in the machine. This strategy works on Blackjack too!

 

Totally agree with @Chuck2009x. I like to count spins because it slows the bleeding and makes me feel like I'm walking away with at least part of my bank roll. Counting doesn't impact my winning or losing streaks (mostly losing), but psychologically I know I'm going to leave with something. I tend to cycle my bank roll through in its entirety using the counting method, then wash, rinse, and repeat with what remains depending on how long my trip is.

Vegasworm

 

Haha, I always enjoy your posts.!

 

Thanks @Chuck2009x for the easy to follow example. That is how I determine whether to play max or not on three reel slots, usually in the dollar and five dollar category I play, although it applies across other denominations as well. Reel slots pretty much have all the info you need right on the main display screen and very easy to determine the payout difference between max and less than max.

For the OP @La$Vega$ - if you play three reel Progressives, be sure to check this carefully, as there is almost always a 'penalty' for not playing max when the 'progressive' is hit. One example is Dollar Blazing Sevens where getting 3 blazing sevens on the payline pays out the progressive jackpot, but only if you are playing max. If only playing 2 credits instead of max 3 credits, for example, the payout is significantly smaller. If progressive played at max pays, say, $5240, playing just 2 credits, it could be just $200. With one credit, it could be zero depending on the machine. Hence on that type of machine, I play max or not at all.
Not all progressives are the same so read the rules to avoid that WHAT?? moment....

Hope you have fun checking out the slots! Lots of great input here.

 

OK, the following statement may piss some people off, but:

I'm there to GAMBLE, not play like a p***y. I always (well, 99% of the time) play MAX BET. If I can't afford MAX BET, I don't play.

IMHO, pick a bet level that you're comfortable with, and find a machine with that as a max bet. There are machines that are max $1.50 or less. Not many, but there are.

Money management is one thing, but IMHO, some of these strategies are designed for people that have a "short bankroll" or are happy sitting at a machine for MANY hours. My "Aunt" made 7* playing less than max bet, but she sits at a machine for 6-8 hours a day. That isn't for me.

If you are playing for tier level, as I am, you're accelerating point count, and can minimize the time playing.

I spend less than 2 hours a day playing slots, and then I move on to non-gaming activities.

 

Thanks to you @Vegasworm and your awesome trip reports, I bought some of those clickers online and use one in the early part of my trips to establish a little discipline and sense of control, lol. And I will say, I usually have a lot of small win and occasional big win tickets to take to the room using that method. Sadly, as the trip goes on, I often revert to willy nilly play with varying results..

 

Ha, ha @Geogran I think I've played slots this way for so long, I look at it as habit now instead of discipline. I love that you tried it!

Back in the day of coins I would put half of the coins I won in a "win" bucket and the other half in a "play again" bucket.

Before I got my finger clickers, I used to mark tally marks in a notebook after each spin. My finger clicker is much more discreet. LOL. I still document each machine played though in a notebook and how much won.

Guess I've always been a quirky slots player!

V and I are going to Blackhawk here in Colorado in a few weeks for a little weekend getaway. I can't wait to play some slots, but I really can't wait to be back in Vegas this summer!!!

Vegasworm

 

I see the money managment efffect, of course.

However I do not see the "after 200 spins" thing. Your decision is to play 2000 spins, whatever the outcome is. You do not typically have to count the spins. Find out how many points you get per spin (or how many spins needed for a point). Then you can easily define your "stop" point by looking at your player's point.