Best Strategy For Slot Machines

Slot machine strategy has existed in one form or another for as long as the game itself. Even in the early days when primitive slots were played in barber shops and cigar stores instead of casinos, patrons would do their best to figure out an advantage over the house. Slot machines that are based on reels have variant programming, meaning that the payout percentage may vary above and below its standard payout percentage. For example, if you are playing on a machine with a payout rate of 95% at times it might pay out 93% or 97%.

Most of the recorded slot machine frauds have something to do with hardware manipulation and/or special tools used to 'fool' the slot machine and make money. It’s important to point out that hardware manipulations and the usage of any tools to change the way slot machines work are illegal.

Learning how to win at slot machines is an elusive goal pursued by slots fans around the globe. While the flashing lights and colorful video sequences are enough to whet their appetite, most slots devotees won’t be satisfied until they’ve hit a progressive jackpot or two. In this article, we’ll look at some winning slot machine tactics and tips, as well as exposing some truths about the game that most players prefer to ignore.

The Cold Hard Truth about Slots

There is no magic formula for beating the slots. There’s also a reason why slots comprise the majority of any casino’s revenue: they take in more money than they pay out. If some way to “beat” slots actually existed, don’t think for a minute that casino management wouldn’t find a way to overcome or eliminate it. At the very least, they would just start banning anyone who used such a method.

At best, playing slots is a fun yet totally uncontrollable experience. Thanks to the random number generator installed in all modern video slots, each spin has the same chance of winning (or losing) as every spin before it.

Determine your bankroll before you get to the casino. This is the most important tip I can give you. The Best Slot Machine Strategy Lifestyle S lot machines have been the most popular form of gambling across the world for a while now, however they really came into their own with the emergence of the first online slots back at the start of the 21st century.

The best slots strategy is to admit that the game is a crapshoot. Once you’ve broken free of the superstitions that many players cling to, you’ll be able to enjoy the game with a more relaxed attitude.

Since Charles Fey invented the slot machine in the late 19th century, players have been trying to figure out how to gain an advantage over the house. Some have developed elaborate methods of cheating, others have resorted to flawed slot systems, and even more have utilized the slot machine tactics discussed in this article.

Please note that slot machine tactics will not magically allow you to determine where the symbols line up on any given spin; no expert or system can make that guarantee, and if they do they’re lying. However, there are numerous slot machine strategies that will allow you to maximize your fun and get the most out of your bankroll. While you might not win more, there’s a strong possibility that you’ll lose less. For most players, that’s an edge worth pursuing.

Chasing Payout Percentages

The payout percentage on a slot machine is the amount of money it will pay out over its lifetime. For example, a slot with a 95% payout percentage will pay back 95% of the 100% that’s deposited into it; the house will wind up with a 5% profit. These are long-term estimates, however, meaning that anything can happen in the short term.

Slots traditionally offer a payout percentage ranging from 82% to 98%, although the exact number can vary depending on state laws. If a player can find out the exact payout percentage of multiple slots, he can then choose to play the machine with the higher expected return. Unfortunately, there are two major stumbling blocks to this tactic. First, a machine with a higher payout percentage may not pay significantly more in the short term. Second, casinos tend to be secretive when it comes to releasing these figures. However, if you do find a slot with a 98% payout percentage, you’d be a fool not to try it

Tips for Beating Slot Machines

While there’s no way to guarantee a successful slots session, there are other ways to leave the casino a winner. Chief among them is maximizing the amount of fun you have, and this often goes hand-in-hand with making your bankroll last as long as possible. The following tips are designed to help you do just that.

Bankroll Management – It’s difficult to beat a slot machine if you’ve run out of money. That’s why learning how to manage your bankroll is the most important skill that any player can develop. First, calculate how much money you can afford to lose. You need to be honest with yourself during this phase, as you don’t want to spend funds that are needed elsewhere (such as credit card payments, rent, etc.).

Second, make sure that you only take this amount of money with you to the casino. If you’re playing online, only deposit an amount into your account that you can afford to part with.

Don’t Be Afraid of Switching – Some players will spend hours pumping coins into the same machine, even if they’re getting nothing in return. This is often because they’re afraid of walking away from a slot that’s about to get “hot.” Don’t fall into this trap. If you lose continuously at a specific game, don’t be shy about getting up and moving to another machine. Your luck might not improve, but at least you’ll get a change of scenery.

Know the Slots – If you’re going to play a slot machine, it’s important to be familiar with it. How many paylines does it offer? What is the maximum bet? Older machines will have the winning combinations printed on their front, while most video slots will provide you with the same information by pressing a button. You should never let ignorance about a game interfere with your enjoyment.

Find the Perfect Slot – One of the best ways to beat a slot is to find a game that suits your needs. Do you want to play for a long time without spending a lot of money? If so, then you may want to stick with penny slots. Do you want to risk more money for the chance to hit a major payday? If this is the case, then you’ll want to check out the progressive jackpots at the casino. Just remember that online casinos and brick-and-mortar establishments have slot machines that are perfect for every player (unless your definition of “perfect” is a machine that pays out with every spin).

Play Max Coins on Progressives – Some gamblers will tell you to always play the maximum number of coins, but this isn’t always necessary. Many of the lower-end slots will provide decent paydays even if you’re making smaller wagers. The major exception is with progressive slots, where you do have to make the maximum wager in order to be eligible for the top prize. If your bankroll can afford it, this is a chance to become a millionaire within a matter of seconds.

Facing the truth about the randomness of slot machines can be deflating at first, but it will set you free in the long term. By managing your bankroll, picking the right machine, and using a little common sense, you can win at slot machines even if you leave the casino with empty pockets.

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.

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.

Best Strategy For Slot Machines

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.

Slots

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.

Slot Machine Strategy To Win

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.

Best Strategy For Playing Slots

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.

Best Strategy For Dancing Drums Slot Machines

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?

Casino Slots Strategy

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.

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 is a huge accomplishment, for which you should be proud to have uncovered. But, don’t stop with finding it, even if it was with my help. Your next step is, as always, to work closer to accomplishing your gambling goals.

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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By Jon H. Friedl, Jr. Ph.D., President
Jon Friedl, LLC