PLAY FOR PROFIT, NOT AS A JOB

The machine’s most frequent payout is for two horseshoes with something other than a star on the third reel, which pays out two coins when it occurs and should occur 200 times for every 1,000 plays. We pick 1,000 plays because there are 1,000 possible combinations on the three reels (10 X 10 X 10).
That 200 figure comes from 5 (the number of times the horseshoe appears on the first reel) times 5 (the number of times the horseshoe appears on the second reel) times 8. The 8, in turn, comes from the 10 spots on the third reel minus the 2 bells, which, as we shall see, pay more.
So over the course of 1,000 plays, the machine pays out 400 coins because just two horseshoes come up. If that third reel does come up a star, the machine pays off four coins. Out of 1,000 plays, the combination of two horseshoes and a star is expected to come up 50 times (5X5X2; the 2 represents the 10 positions on the third reel minus the 8 positions that don’t have bells on them) for a total payoff of 200 coins.

To see how this works, let’s take a look at a very simple early slot machine, one with three reels and 10 symbols on each reel. The first two reels are identical. Each has five horseshoes, two spades, one diamond, one heart, and a bell. The third reel is different. It has two stars, two spades, three diamonds, one heart, and two bells.

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4. Knowing when to quit. No slot machine will continually pay out. They will “take” and “give,” usually in cycles. Sometimes a machine will shower you with coins, while at other times you may get one of the better-paying slots machines but one which is in the “take” cycle. To know when to quit is to protect your investment. That’s where strategy comes into play. (See “The Big Secret,” which follows.)

5. When is enough enough? Well, that’s a toss-up. It depends on what the value of the money happens to be for you. Generally, I’d say that any win over and above

your initial starting investment is profit, and therefore something you should pocket and keep.

6. How often to play? That depends on your available time. Generally, I’d say about once a month, and in dedicated periods for profitable play. But that depends, to a large extent, on your time, access to a casino, and available capital. Find slot games the best for your situation.

7. How long to play? On a $1 machine that takes 2 coins as maximum, about two hours should be enough to run the machine through its paces. However, you should monitor your pay and
adapt your playing time according to the relevant requirements listed earlier. For $1 machines that take 3 coins as maximum, this time period will be determined by your bankroll. So is the case for $5 classic slots machines and higher.

Some ways of playing slot machines are better than others, but slots are still machines, whose preprogrammed house hold percentage is a constant average. Therefore, if your machine is set to pay back, say, 98 percent, this means that if you play it all the time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year, in the end, on average, you will lose 2 percent of all your money. That’s the way it sits.

Of course, this applies to the majority of reel and video reel classic slots
, and not video poker. The reason is that on some video poker machines, skillful perfect play will result in your being able to eke out about 1.1 percent in your favor (for machines which have the programming potential to pay back over 100 percent). Many such machines do exist, but the reality of the small slices of play time for which most players will play them, and the fact that even expert play can often be corrupted by mistakes, unintentional as they may be, means that even these machines are not as good payers as they initially may be touted.

To be a successful slot player, you will need at least the majority of the following attributes:

1. Enough time at play You must be able to remain at play for as long as possible in order to be able to reach closest to the machine’s optimum payout potential.

2. Enough money (Commonly referred to as the bankroll.) In order for you to sustain the required play time, depending on the machine you have chosen, you must be able to invest a sufficient amount of money to warrant a successful play period.

3. Patience. You must not allow yourself to be distracted or frustrated. Playing slots is not just entertainment, but also a financial decision. Try blackjack, playing free blackjack is very much fun. Investment begets profits, or losses, depending on how well the investor chooses the investment product. In the case of slot machines, your choices in selection and play, combined with all the Keys to Winning, constitute your “investment analysis” and “profit potential” scenarios. The old adage of “money makes money” applies to slots as well. You can’t win anything without first making the investment. How you manage the investment is up to you, and therefore, in slot play, patience, resolve, dedication, and smart application of your investment goals are necessary for relatively steady success.

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If you play slots on a casual basis, you will be exposed to far greater fluctuations in your fortune than would be the case if you played every day, like a job. A casual player either will hit any given machine for a sizable profit, or will suffer a loss of the investment, or a portion of that investment. This simply means that on a casual basis, you will either hit the machine at a far greater payoff than its preset withholding percentage indicates, or at far less. Meaning that you will either win a lot more money than you should, percentage-wise, or lose a lot more. Over time, this will smooth out and you will actually be getting, and giving up, something close to the actual hold of that machine, and gaining the profits to which you are entitled by playing in accordance with theadvice, and strategies, offered here.

In the short term, however, many of us find that we either experience a nice win very quickly, and then proceed to lose some of it as we continue the enjoyment of our visit to the casino, or we find that we have lost our bring-in investment and have to start hunting for more cash, or consider leaving early. The issue here is to find the best possible combination of skills, machine selection, bankroll, discipline, and other factors that will allow us to exploit the profitability of machine payoffs, while diminishing the inevitable losses.

Most people don’t play slots regularly, every day, like a job. Yes, there are some people who do play slots daily. These are either professional slot players who are making a living from slot machines, slot teams, or, which is more likely, retired persons or persons of leisure who simply enjoy the challenge of a good game and the pleasure of great casino service. Most people, however, play slots casually. A few times a year. Perhaps a few times a month, or even a few times a week, depending on how close you are to a casino. Nevertheless, unless you play slots at least five days a week and at least eight hours a day, then you are a casual slot player.