What is your best keno strategy

Keno fans discuss their favorite game
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onemoretry
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Re: What is your best keno strategy

Post by onemoretry »

applepear86 wrote:
Thu Jan 07, 2021 12:15 am
....and how in keno you can't make mistakes in basic strategy
There's a strategy for keno?

dinghy
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Post by dinghy »

onemoretry wrote:
Thu Jan 07, 2021 8:59 am
There's a strategy for keno?
I used to have a notepad entry on my phone to remind me that it doesn't matter which numbers you pick. But then I heard that it may be illegal to use electronic assistance, so now I keep the reminder on a sheet of paper in my wallet.

Shaunski
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Post by Shaunski »

Mystic 6 on 4 card keno. Stick with it, don't be upset if it doesn't pay right away. Its my go 2 when having a bad day at the casino.

woodskum
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Post by woodskum »

I find it nearly impossible to believe that WNKR DEB A and a few others do not have some prior knowledge of the numbers before they even come out. Otherwise they should be millionaires playing KENO in Vegas

Sincerely
Woodskum

Webman
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Post by Webman »

Both of those players have lost far more than they have won in credits. They play a lot, and you only see their scores when they are on the leaderboard (which are of course only large positive scores). They have massive losing days along with those winning days that balance it out.

If you are playing multi-card keno games, then the only way to hit the biggest jackpots will be betting the same numbers on all cards. This doesn't mean it's better to do so (you will also lose more often doing so), it just depends on what your goals are. And of course, to appear on the leaderboard more often, that also means playing more often.

dandydan62
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Post by dandydan62 »

I usually play 7 numbers 8 different ways on 20 card keno and have been pretty successful most of the time. Of course that is never guaranteed, but works out well for me.

tjsnk
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Post by tjsnk »

We have been playing keno for literally 30+ years. We tend to focus primarily on 4-6 numbers and sometimes play 2, 3, 7 and 8 numbers. We both have favorite number we like to play, but I tend to stick to mine more than my wife who moves the numbers around.

To date, we've hit 4-6 a bunch of times and 6 out of 7 is even fairly common. Neither of us have ever hit 8 out of 8. We've hit 7 a small few times. Don't even talk about 9 or 10 numbers or some of the top/bottom or other variations. We like to play way tickets for the non-machine Keno and have done well on those, but usually only pay while eating.

Our favorite keno machine has been the Bally Triple Trouble devil machine where when you randomly get 3 devils it gives bonus games with triple the payout. The $1 machine pays very well with 4 and 5 numbers and we've hit both. They don't have those machines around much any more, but they were the best keno machines we ever played. We do play and enjoy the IGT, too.

applepear86
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Post by applepear86 »

onemoretry wrote:
Thu Jan 07, 2021 8:59 am
applepear86 wrote:
Thu Jan 07, 2021 12:15 am
....and how in keno you can't make mistakes in basic strategy
There's a strategy for keno?
There isn't. That's my point. And if you count the end goal as a royal in VP, a 7 spot's 7 out of 7 is cheaper than a royal at most casinos. On $1.25 8-5 JOB, the $1,000 royal on average will theoretically cost you around 2,400 dollars if you play pretty much perfect with no big boo-boos. If you average a .5% or a 1% strategy mistake cost, you can tack on $250 to $500 to the average royal theoretical cost. 9/6, the royal costs around $1,250, in 9/5 it costs around $1,800. Simply multiply this on any denomination you play and you really see how miserable the end result is, unless you have a real angle going on with the player's club and the drawings and all that somehow. Let's be real though, many of us are in uncompetitive gambling markets with tight player's clubs. Video poker is basically a crappy carnival game at this point financially speaking.

With keno, the trick is you can expose a lot less money for manyfold more action. Hitting 7 out of 7 odds are around 1 in 40,979, almost the same as a royal. On a 15 cent 7 spot with 8% juiced out of the paytable, the $1,050 7 out of 7 jackpot will theoretically cost you around $1,500. And you got the 6 out of 7 payout of around 400-420x the bet to keep it interesting, odds 1 in 1366. No mistakes can be made as far as the law of averages are concerned as all the numbers are equal. The old lady with shakey parkinsons hands mindlessly banging away on a 7 spot will ironically have much better end results than a devoted JOB player funnily enough. My point was, basically a 15 cent 7 spot is a synthetic $1.25 video poker hand which also no statistically theoretical mistakes can be made. The casino's theoretical cut will be 1.2 cents to 1.5 cents per draw on the keno, while on the 8/5 and 9/5 JOB it will be like 2 to 4 cents per hand with very skilled mistakeless play. The mistakes tend to be a big part of their gravy ;) . If you want to play dollar keno, that's close to a synthetic 10 dollar hand of VP with even better paytables usually lol. Further on conversions for VP to 7 spots, 60 cents for 5 dollar VP, 30 cents for 2.50 vp, high limit 3 dollars for $25 dollar vp, 6 dollars for $50 vp, 15 dollars for $125 vp etc.

Point being, the keno players that know their sh*t deserve some respect, because video poker isn't the land of cotton candy and unicorns everyone likes to make it out to be. I like keno a lot and I enjoy being superstitious with the numbers and the rows and the patterns. I do enjoy video poker still, but I don't expose much money to it anymore.

onemoretry
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Post by onemoretry »

Nowhere in the above diatribe do you mention that the long term return of most of the best keno games is in the 85% range. If you're happy losing that percentage of coin-in - go for it!

dinghy
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Post by dinghy »

onemoretry wrote:
Tue Sep 20, 2022 2:16 pm
Nowhere in the above diatribe do you mention that the long term return of most of the best keno games is in the 85% range.
That seems pessimistic. In Vegas with a little effort you can find 95% games. I don't know about the tighter markets, but I would think 90% should be available almost anywhere.

To comment on the commentary, I would emphasize that it's really important to maximize your slot club value because it's possible to get big benefits playing bad games. Play when the good promos are in effect, and play machines with good earn rates. For example at some places, if you play keno on a multi game unit also containing vp, you earn at the lousy vp rate. But if you play a keno-only machine, you may earn at the reel slot rate.

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