Introduction to Choosing Slot Machines

One way to pick a good slot machine is to look for the machines that are less noticeable than the others. The machines that are the loudest and brightest typically have the worst odds. The casino makes these machines more noticeable and attractive so people will play them and lose more money. The RTP stands for the total wagered money on a slot game, and you calculate it over a specified period. For example, if you bet 1$ dollar on a 90% percent RTP slot, you can get around 90$ dollars if you win. Use this information to pick your winning game. Slot Machines Tips The RTP is calculated on a scale from 1 to 100. Most slots have an RTP between 92-97%. Always choose an online slot machine game with an RTP of 96% or above.

Once a specific casino has been determined to currently be the best of any available, choosing slot machines becomes the next step towards making a profit at slots.

Remember, statistics supplied to state gaming commissions show that the odds of winning are, on average, somewhere around 90%. By assessing all available casinos, then selecting the best possible, you’ve already improved your odds of winning – perhaps by several percentage points.

Whatever your gambling goals are, we’ll talk about those in the next step Identifying Gambling Goals. For now, we need to consider choosing slot machines that will most likely improve our overall odds even more.

So, we’ve walked into our best casino to choose slot machines with the highest odds of winning we can find. How do we select a good slot machine? Most people don’t – they dive right in without much of a plan. Well, we have a plan.

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Why? Because everybody says it’s all about luck. If you pick wrong, “Well,” they say, “better luck next time.” Remember, casino employees are trained to say things like that. If you’d won a jackpot instead, you can believe they would have said, “You’re lucky! I’ll see you later when you win another jackpot!”

Slot attendants have a job to do, and it most certainly isn’t to get you to leave when you should. And, it’s difficult to not to influenced by such comments. But, try not to be.

In the following sections, I’ll briefly explain the following aspects of choosing slot machines:

• How odds are set within a slot machine
• Choosing denomination and maximum credits based on bankroll
• Basics of reading a slot machine’s paytable
• A simple way to use paytables to pick the best machines, and avoid the worst

Two Separate Odds of Winning

The odds of winning for a slot machine is a limited number of settings from the manufacturer. Besides understanding limited settings are available, it may help to understand that slot machines have two odds of winning to determine:

• If a player will or will not win anything
• How much that win will be, i.e., the jackpot amount

Why is understanding these two types of odds significant when choosing slot machines? Because winning slot machines come in all jackpot sizes. You’re still winning if you’re getting enough small jackpots that your bankroll isn’t shrinking. Even if it is slowly depleting, the bankroll can last quite a bit longer, so that’s also a winning slot machine.

Winning many jackpots this way is bankroll cycling. It may not seem very satisfactory, but whether it does or not depends entirely on what your gambling goals are. One type of gambling goal, earning maximum complimentary gifts, is most often achieved via bankroll cycling.

Another point about setting slot machine odds is, how often they change? Of course, it depends on the age of the casino, as discussed in the previous step Assessing Casinos for Success, or if it’s been renovated lately.

In my experience, older-style casinos change their slot machine odds every 7-10 days. Newer-style casinos can change their slot machine odds whenever the machine has been idle for 15 minutes or more, without a players club card inserted or the machine temporarily locked by a slot attendant.

Matching Bankrolls to Denomination/Credits

Only you can decide how much bankroll you want to risk gambling. I highly recommend bringing only as much money you can safely afford to lose comfortably.

Bankrolls quite literally determine which slot machines you can play. But, there’s more to it than understanding a $100 bankroll lets you play a 1-credit, $100-denomination exactly once, with very, very little chance of winning.

Whatever bankroll you have limits which slot machines can be played and how much it can be played. Slot machines have denominations ($0.01, $0.25, $1, $5, $10, etc.) and the maximum credits that can be placed in a single bet.

Slot machines typically must run for a while before wins become more likely. Yes, wins can occur at the first press of a button. They can also happen within the first few bets, where casinos offer a taste. But, usually, they need to run for a while.

About 100-120 bets is the right amount to be prepared to play to determine if you’re sitting at a winning (or breakeven) slot machine. Yes, be careful initially, perhaps making as few as 20 bets, to determine if it happens to be a “bad” machine. Trust your instincts!

If it is a poorly performing machine, a “tight” slot machine, it won’t pay out anything at all. Quick decisions are necessary here, so limited betting gives a clue to its performance, yet still leaves enough to gamble with on another machine if it isn’t – assuming you stop playing it as soon as you notice it’s not performing well enough.

So, again, you determine how much bankroll you can afford to spend. Now, take that number and divide it by 120 bets. If your bankroll is $60, then that’s 50 cents per bet. In such a way, the right choice is a 2-credit, quarter-denomination slot machine. Or, a 50-credit, penny-denomination slot machine.

Always remember to play maximum credits for the highest odds of winning. Meaning, your casino may not have a 2-maximum-credit quarter or 50-maximum-credit penny machines. But, perhaps they have a 1-maximum-credit quarter or less-than-50-maximum-credits penny machines. Such slot machines would provide more than 120 bets of play, which is going in the right direction!

Reading a Slot Machine’s Paytable

When choosing a slot machine to play, a crucial aspect of winning is to review its paytable before playing. Frankly, the casino industry gains an advantage over players that don’t read slot machine paytables.

Located somewhere on a slot machine is one or more tables showing the number of credits won if specific combinations of reel symbols appear in the pay line after the player makes a bet. Below is a relatively generic example of a paytable.

The figure shows reel combinations along with their jackpot depending on the number of credits bet. Paytables don’t typically explain how much credits are worth. In general, the top row is the maximum jackpot of the machine.

Not every reel combination and its associated jackpot are usually shown in a paytable. Other reel combinations not shown in the top rows are also presented in the paytable area. Slot machines with WILD symbols can represent it with a myriad of other possible reel symbols.

A final element of paytable example provided is specific information on winning reel combinations, which can include an indication of how the slot machine operates during play. The bottom row of symbol explains that that slot machine has reel symbols which will move after the reels stop momentarily.

Such additional features may not activate until the maximum credits are bet. It can sometimes be difficult, or impossible, to determine this. Most slot machines with bonus rounds will provide at least some information about it within its paytable.

Developing a habit of reviewing and studying a slot machine’s paytable can help improve your ability to judge the financial risks involved with playing that slot machine.

How to Avoid the Worst Slot Machines

The best way to improve the odds of winning via slot machine gambling is to stop making “sucker bets”. In less colorful language, avoid playing slot machines with terrible odds of winning.

First and foremost, understand when choosing slot machines that there are indeed terrible slot machines at a casino. By merely avoiding them whenever possible, on average, your long-term gambling return will improve. Each time we raise our odds like this, we’re pushing closer to achieving our gambling goals. So, let’s make sure we do that, shall we?

Calculate this “Goodness Ratio” as follows:

1. When choosing slot machines, as discussed above, find the paytable with the denomination and maximum credits that best matches your available bankroll.
2. Take a close look at the paytable. What is the maximum possible jackpot when maximum credits are bet?
   • If the top jackpot is displayed in currency, divide it by both the denomination of the machine and the maximum credits
   • If the top jackpot is displayed in credits, divide it by only the maximum credits

How To Pick Winning Slots Machines Real Money

This “Goodness Ratio” tells us how worthwhile a specific slot machine is to play relative to others. By using this approach, any slot machine can be compared to any other slot machine.

Example: In the paytable above, the maximum jackpot is 2,400 credits with three maximum credits. Therefore, its Goodness Ratio is 2,400 / 3 = 800.

Repeat this calculation for slot machines of interest. While this Goodness Ratio will be similar for many slot machines, it can be startling to find “sucker bet” slot machines that might not otherwise be avoided.

Summary for Choosing Slot Machines

After a casino has been chosen, it’s time to select candidate slot machines most likely to result in a relatively high-value win. The size of your available bankroll, whatever it is, is an essential factor in this selection process. The bankroll size needs to be matched to the slot machine’s denomination and the number of maximum credits.

Here, we’ve also discussed how slot machines calculated odds twice: once to determine if you’ve won, and again to determine how much you’ve won. Another critical aspect discussed to improve a player’s performance was the basics of reading a slot machine’s paytable.

Finally, we talked about the “goodness” ratio to help select candidate slot machines and, perhaps critically important when improving our odds of winning, knowing precisely which slot machines must be avoided.

Next Steps

The next step on your journey to improving slots performance is Identifying Gambling Goals. Enjoy!

My research indicates I’m the first to share this information and offer personal coaching for slots enthusiasts.

I sincerely hope you find it both enjoyable and useful. For questions, call my voicemail hotline at 702-90-SLOTS, email me at Jon Friedl, or reach out to me through social media:

How To Pick Winning Slots Machines Without

Further, I suggest that you sign up for my Free Report on the Best 7 Online Resources for Gamblers. Not only will you immediately receive a great list of online resources, but also other tips, tricks, and slots-related articles as I post them.

For the foreseeable future, this email subscription is my only request of you:

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How To Pick A Winning Slot Machine In Vegas

Have fun, be safe, and make good choices!
By Jon H. Friedl, Jr. Ph.D., President
Jon Friedl LLC

There are theories abound when it comes to picking the best slot machine at the casino. The most common theories relate to brick-and-mortar casinos, but we’ll also talk about choosing slots at gambling sites. Let’s start with finding a slot at a traditional establishment.

Brick-and-Mortar Casinos

Slot enthusiasts have come up with all kinds of strategies for finding the loosest or highest paying slot machines. The goal is to find machines that either pay out frequently or that are due to award a big jackpot soon.

Some of these theories include:

• Playing slot machines near busier parts of the casino
• Playing slot machines located in out-of-the-way places
• Playing slot machines after someone else left without hitting a significant payout
• Playing slot machines at certain times of day

I have some bad news. None of these theories has ever proven to be effective. One of the big problems is that casinos are not obligated to post the payout rates of their machines. There’s no way for you to walk into the casino and find a machine that is “looser” than all the others. It’s all a guessing game.

One of the most endearing myths is that slot machines become due to hit after a while. This is why some people will stalk the slots bank and wait until someone gives up without hitting a significant jackpot. Their reasoning is that the longer a machine goes without awarding a jackpot, the more likely it is to give up a big jackpot in the future.

This theory is based on an old myth called “gambler’s fallacy.” Gambler’s fallacy is the belief that certain outcomes become more likely after a string of misses. For example, it’s a common myth that if the roulette ball lands on black 5 times in a row, it’s just bound to land on red any time now.

The problem is that every spin of the slot reel (or spin of the roulette wheel) is an independent, random event. It doesn’t matter what happened in the past. Slot machines, roulette balls and decks of cards do not have memories. They don’t keep track of what happened in the past. Every new game is completely, 100% random.

Something to keep in mind is that modern slot machines aren’t powered by mechanical pulleys, levers and weights. Today’s slot machines are powered by random number generators (RNGs). Basically, these are computer algorithms that generate random numbers which are in turn used to produce a random outcome every time the reels are spun.

This kills the other theories such as putting in your coins in a certain manner, pulling the lever just right or hitting the “stop” button at just the right moment. It also means that when you see a near miss, you weren’t actually close to hitting the jackpot. The RNG determines the outcome instantly. Those near misses and reels that come to a gentle stop are just added effects for the sake of drama.

The only real form of selection you can use when playing slots is to choose between high paying jackpot machines and lower-paying games. Big jackpot games give you fewer small wins but offer the potential of a life-changing jackpot. The variance in these games is high and you’ll go home broke more often than not.

Slots with smaller jackpots tend to hit more frequently. You don’t have the allure of massive jackpots, but your odds of walking away a winner at the end of the night are better. There’s not nearly as much variance when you play these games.

Online Slots

Most of what I explained above can also be applied to online slot machines. Just like their brick-and-mortar counterparts, online slots are powered by RNGs. There are no special tricks you can use to alter the odds of hitting a winning jackpot. Online slots are 100% luck.

Online slots also give you the option between high jackpot games that hit less frequently and smaller jackpot games that hit more often. Progressive jackpot slot machines are notoriously hard to hit but when you do get lucky, it’s worth a ton of money.

Lower payout games give you a better experience in the short run as you watch your bankroll jump up and down over the course of an evening. In the end, both types of slots are about equal in terms of long term expected value. It’s just a matter of personal preference.

The best you can do is just pick a slot that’s fun to play. Even though all slots work in the same basic manner, they come in all different types and styles. You have traditional reel slots, video slots complete with storylines and even 3D slots like those found at Bovada.

It’s best to forget about getting an advantage when playing slots. Out of all the games in the casino, none of them is as much about pure chance as slot machines. Have fun, cross your fingers and remember to keep an eye on your bankroll.