Readers ask if quick reflexes are the key to winning

By John Grochowski

I keep a list of questions that I’m most often asked about slot machines. You could probably tick off some of them: “Are games programmed to go cold after a big win?” “Do you get less payback when you use your rewards card?” And the big one, “Can you tell me how to win?”

Those have been standards ever since I started writing about casinos and casino games 20 years ago. But recently, another question has been shooting up the charts. I have it all the way up at No. 2 on the readers’ hit parade:

Paylines refer to how the symbols line up. If you select a straight payline, you only win if your spin results in a series of matching symbols. Some of the more modern machines let you place a bet on each payline, which increases your chances of winning. When choosing a pokie machine, look at what you can win. Poker machines both online and in pubs, casinos and clubs will have bonus rounds. They add an entirely new dimension to any poker machine. These are special features that include a mini-game hidden inside the poker machine. The offer the player a chance to win big prizes, adding a lot of excitement o make sure that online pokies never feel dull.

“I’ve noticed on a lot of video slot games that if I hit the button a second time while the reels are spinning, they stop right away. I was wondering if I could use this to my advantage. If I see the bonus triggers or the jackpot symbols at the top, should I quickly hit the button again and try to stop the reels?”

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I had that thought myself the first time I accidentally double-hit a button and saw the reels click to an immediate halt. Could this be an answer to the chart-topping question, “how to win on the slots?”

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. In nearly all slot games that allow you to stop the reels, there is no skill or timing involved on your part. The random number generator has already determined your outcome when you hit the button to spin the reels, and you’re going to get the same result regardless of whether you stop the reels early, or let them halt in their own time.

When you play a slot machine, the game isn’t actually being played out on the reels, whether it uses “real” reels or video reels. It’s being played internally, on the game’s random number generator. The reels are just a player-friendly interface, and are told where to stop by the RNG. If there’s a malfunction and the reel display doesn’t match the numbers generated, it’s the RNG that counts. Large jackpots can be denied—and have been denied—if a check shows the random numbers on the internal computer chip don’t match the winning symbols on the reels.

But this is extremely rare. The engineering is good enough that almost all the time, the RNG and reel display are going to match up. This doesn’t change if you double-hit the bet button. If the RNG has spit out a random number that tells the first reel to stop on a single bar, then you’re going to get a single bar—regardless of whether you hit the button a second time for a “quick stop,” or just let them take their own sweet time.

There are rare exceptions. When I’ve answered similar questions in the past, I’ve mentioned IGT’s Reel Edge games. In their original incarnation, Reel Edge games enabled players to touch and stop the reels one at a time. There was actual skill involved. Your timing in stopping the reels determined the outcome. The reels spun very, very fast, so it was going take a keen eye and sharp reflexes to get better than random results, but it was possible.

I gave it a try, and found my reflexes just weren’t fast enough to generate more than my normal share of winners. In the original three-reel Blood Life game, I identified a green 7 as the easiest symbol to pick out as it whizzed by. I touched each reel individually as I saw a green 7 reach the top of the slot window, and managed to stop 7s on all three reels. Alas, I failed to land them all on the same payline. Some younger folks with quicker reactions may have been able to do better.

I don’t know if any of the first generation of Reel Edge games remain on casino floors. They were never widespread, and I don’t get lists from casinos or manufacturers telling me what games are available in any given casino. The new generation of Reel Edge puts the skill-based portions of the games in the bonus events.

Blood Life’s updated video incarnation, Blood Life Legends, allows you to test your skill with a joystick to guide a bat through the ups, downs, twists and turns of a cave as you try to collect gems for bonuses. There is actual skill involved, but it’s not the reel-stopping experience readers have been asking about.

On most slot games, even in the bonus events you’re getting an illusion of skill rather than actual skill. And when it comes to stopping the reels, it’s the random number generator, not your reflexes, that determines the results.

What about my readers’ other top questions?

To answer another—no, games are not programmed to go cold after big wins. Diamond casino near savannah ga. Results remain as random as humans can program a computer to be. As long as the RNG keeps doing its thing, any big jackpot, any hot streak, and any cold streak eventually fade away into statistical insignificance, and the machine comes very close to its expected payback percentage.

No, you don’t get less payback when you use your rewards card. The player rewards system doesn’t interact with the RNG.

And no, with rare exceptions, there is no way to beat the slots except by being in the right place at the right time. There have been opportunities for small profit on games with banked bonuses such as the old WMS game Piggy Bankin’, where the sharpies would start to play only when there were enough coins in the bank to give the player an edge.

Such games are not common. Just as with stopping the reels early, your results are up to chance and the RNG.

Video poker is one of the most popular games in the casino. Like slot machines, video poker games move fast and use sound effects and flashing lights to attract attention, but unlike traditional slot machines, these poker style games require players to make decisions that affect the outcome.

The fact that players can make good and bad decisions that alter their chance of winning means some video poker titles have among the best odds in the casino. Depending on what machine you choose and how you play, the house edge can be as low as 0.5%. Video poker is a skill game that provides the thrill of slot machine with the option of using strategy to improve your chances of winning.

How to Beat Video Poker Game Variations

So many versions of this game exist, it would take several thousand words just to list the titles and game choices. One thing most variants have in common is that they’re based on basic five-card draw poker, with some exceptions.

A generic game looks something like this: the machine deals you five random cards out of a computer-simulated deck of 52 (more if the game you’re playing incorporates Joker cards), and you’re then given the option of improving your hand by choosing which cards to hold on to and which to exchange for new cards. If you choose to get rid of some of your cards, the game’s computer will randomly select new ones to replace your discards. The idea is to form a better hand than you’re dealt by holding onto your best cards and hoping to draw new ones that improve your winnings.

How To Beat Video Poker Machines

Video Poker vs. Traditional Poker

Besides the basic mechanics of five-card draw, or a few other poker variants that some video games use as their basis, the two games have little to do with one another. Understanding the ranking of poker hands is important for both games, but traditional poker skills won’t be of much use to the video player.

Video Poker Machines

The biggest difference between video and standard poker is that the video game is man versus machine, while standard poker pits each player against one another. A video machine player doesn’t have to worry about beating anyone else; only creating a hand that leads to a payout as described by the machine’s pay table. Holding two pair while playing a poker machine means you win, while a two-pair hand in a standard card game could be easily beaten by any player with a stronger hand.

Video Poker Machine Strategy

Because so much variety exists in the world of video poker, teaching you how to win at video poker would require lessons for each style of game that exists. Instead, memorize these three tips to performing well on any given video card gaming title:

1. Understand the ideal strategy for whatever type of poker machine you’re playing.

2. Read a machine’s pay table and understand how to compare pay tables for different machines.

3. Gain an understanding of the volatility and hit frequency of different video titles.

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You won’t learn these three factors overnight, and no strategy guide exists that can hand you a winning method for video poker without doing the homework and losing a little bit of cash along the way. Learning to read pay tables is simple: the trick is to play machines that offer the best payouts for the hands that you’ll see most often.

Strategy guides often emphasize the important of what are called 9/6 Jacks or Better games. These numbers refer to the winnings paid out for a full house and a flush: 9 credits for a full house and 6 credits for a flush. A casino that offers 8/5 instead of 9/6 is giving you a payback percentage of 97.3%, while 9/6 machine offer 99.54% payback. That tiny difference in the pay table affects your potential winnings drastically. So always look for machines with ideal pay tables; specifically, those that pay 9 credits for a full house and 6 for a flush.

The two most popular video poker games are Jacks or Better or Deuces Wild, and players who learn just the basics of advanced poker strategy stand to earn much more money for their gaming time.

As for volatility, learning to pick out a volatile poker video game requires experience and knowledge. Volatility refers to the ups and downs of a given video title, the variance between your wins and losses. Pay tables that offer the biggest returns also happen to be those with the most volatility, meaning your bankroll will shrink faster as you chase the higher payouts.

Strategy Tips for the Most Popular Poker Video Titles

In most casinos or gambling websites, the two most popular games of video poker are Jacks or Better and Deuces Wild. Here are basic strategy tips for Jacks or Better, the most common and most popular video poker machine in today’s market.

How to Win at Jacks or Better

Avoid falling for the common mistake of keeping what is called a “kicker,” a high card matched with a pair. People think that this kicker will make it more likely for them to form a hand with a higher payout, but this isn’t true.

Never hold on to three cards to chase a straight or a flush. The only time you should keep three cards to go after a big payout is if you are capable of pulling off the much more valuable straight flush. Statistically speaking, holding three cards to grab a straight or a flush is a losing proposition.

If you feel tempted to chase a big winning hand such as a four of a kind ,but you’d have to break up an existing full house or two-pair hand to get there, remember this basic video poker strategy—let the machine deal you a winning hand. Don’t give up a winning hand in an attempt to get an even bigger winning hand.