How I play the Slots

I know I have covered what the best slots are to play already. I even covered how to get the most comps for your slotting action. But I figured I would list out just how I play the slots as well. 

My system is NOT for those of you that want to spend a nice, long, relaxing day gambling away. I know many slot players treat a casino like a kid does an arcade. And that is to say, gamble until you get your fill, or at least as long as your money lasts. 

And there is nothing wrong with wanting to spend all day gaming! I wish I could do that as well! But, my "system" is all about Stick and Move. Bet high, and get out. And yes, everyone seems to have their own system for slot machines. Find ones that have twitching reels (bull shit). Use the 5 spin method (bull shit). Ask the slot attendants which ones have been hitting lately (hyperbole and bull shit).

Don't take the below too literally. I like gambling, and I do enjoy the casino experience. I am not saying to put your entire days bankroll into a $100 machine, and risk it on 10 spins. But I am saying to gamble higher, just for shorter periods of time.

There is risk of ruin when you gamble longer sessions. It really is not hard to win money on the slots. The hard part is, keeping the money you just won. I think all slot players would say, most of the time anyway, that they were up on any given trip/session. But ultimately put it back, and more.

If we all knew when to stop, there would be no casinos. As no one would be losing! Typically, anything can happen in the short term. You are much more likely to win, or at least not lose as much, if you don't play all that long. This is why casinos are now looking for time on device. They know the suckers that play longer, are better pigeons to pluck! 

The patented "Grid Method" of success might be a good system to try. Play higher, for fewer spins. Instead of gambling $1.00 per spin, 500 times. Play $5.00 per spin, 100 times. Your coin in is the same. But you limit your time on device, which is how we often cycle back our wins. Bonus points, if you do those 100 spins on a $5 denomination machine, which typically have a higher payback then penny slots. 

Before I had kids, I would gamble much longer each day on a gambling vacation. I had to make my money last after all. Now that I typically travel with the family, I do the above since, I'd feel like a shit heal spending 9 hours in the casino, with my family stuck in the room or something. While the theory is sound, I never put it all together until I stumbled into it by doing just that. IE, being forced to gamble shorter sessions, but still wanting to keep my coin in up, so I got the good offers.

My coin in is still the same. But my losses per trip, went down. There has even been a few times, where a single hit put me back over the top. Or at the very least, made back some of the money I lost. And those big hits would have been a third of what they were, had I been playing $2.50 a spin to make my money last. As opposed to $7.50 a spin, which lead to that big win for the same hit. 

It is all still luck. But I do think this limits your risk of ruin. Now I spend 3 hours VS 9 a day gambling. And I don't even do that 3 hours all at once.  I might do 3 one hour blocks. This gives me a pause and reflect, before I start chasing losses if I have to. My average bet is three times as high as it would have been. Which has led to a lot more bigger hits. Bet more, win more!                          

Tossing out the obvious, that higher denom machines typically have a better return. Also ignoring the fact that many games pay a bonus or higher return on max bet. Such as needing to cover all lines for a bonus, having to max bet for a progressive or simply having to play max bet to get the extra payoff on games like Double Diamond.

Assuming everything is perfectly even. The odds don't change and the payouts all match...

If you are betting $1.00 per spin, and get a line hit of 20X. You won $20. If you were playing $5.00 per spin, that 20X is a hundred dollar hit. Everyone has their own trigger for moving. Be it Bonus or Bust. Or simply doubling up what you put in the machine. You are much more likely to double your money betting higher, in the short term. And thus cashing out on that game ahead, which keeps the bankroll fat.

The only argument against this is how variance falls. As it obviously goes both ways. The more time on device, the better your odds are to come in line with the expected payback of the machine. But you are talking tens, if not hundreds of thousands of spins to get close to the average payback. And that payback is set over the life of the machine, which might takes years of play to realize. 

Realistically, most of us just wont play the same machine that long in order to see it. So I throw that out. Who plays one game, and one game only, the entire time they are in a casino for hours on end?

I have never read or heard anything stating the longer you play in a casino, the better yours odds of winning (or losing less). No one has ever said "I would have won, but I only spent 5 hours gambling instead of 6!". 

It is typically the opposite. Short term "luck" has happened to all of us. But the longer you tempt fate, the sooner she catches up with you. And again, it isn't just betting more per spin. But more so, picking that higher denom to do it. Right now, my sweet spot seems to be $10 per spin. Be it 10 lines at $0.25 denom, with 4X per line. Or even $5 denom 2 credit max bet slots.  

Feel free to try my system on your next gambling outing. Add in some basic money management for your bankroll, set some realistic loss/win goals, and I bet you see a difference in how much money you end up with. Your comps are still (mostly) being pulled from your average daily theoretical loss. You should get a third of what you were expected to loss, returned via offers. If you ran through $10,000 a day, betting $1.00 per spin. Or the same $10,000 betting $10 per spin, by and large the comps will be the same. So no real loss to give it a shot.

And if you feel like you wasted a gambling trip, by not getting your "fill". Just think of how many more trips you can take, if you weren't bleeding money each time you went!