Beat me up on dollars Reward me on quarters

[pokerpokerpoker]

Seems the most popular slots these days are like playing TDB with an 88% payback. I'm talking about 88 Fortunes, Walking Dead and Buffalo. Big hits are possible, but so is busting out quickly. My buddy sent me a pic of a Buffalo hit - almost $3500 on a $1.5O bet.

[FloridaPhil]

The variance of Buffalo is pretty high.   I like Aristocrat's "Gold Pays" firecracker slot.  When I play slots, I like to walk around the casino and switch machines.   At a minimum I get some exercise.  Theoretical Payback is a worthless number as far as I'm concerned.   There is no math to playing slots, just luck.  I've always been lucky with my pot shots.  "Grinding it out" is a loser for me.One of the main reasons I don't play as much VP as I used to is that sitting in one position all day causes me problems, especially on vertical machines.   Walking around and playing slots gives my joints and hands a break.

[Lucky Larry]

Congratulations olds. Diamonds are only a girl's best friend.

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=pokerpokerpoker]Big hits are possible, but so is busting out quickly. My buddy sent me a pic of a Buffalo hit - almost $3500 on a $1.5O bet.
[/quote]If you sit on any slot machine too long most players will be losers because they will feed their winnings back into the machine.   You haven't won it unless you get home with it! 

[BillWFord]

  There is no math to playing slots, just luck. 




Actually there is some "math" in playing slots. There is something called "conditional probability". What it boils down to, as it applies to slots, is if you are trying to compare two machines to determine the one that has the best return (like 98%) the machine which returns the most money to you in X (example 10) pulls has a higher probability of being the higher return machine.
So in other words, keep switching from one machine to another, playing say 10 pulls. The machine which gives you the most money, is more likely to be the best machine.    
There is no such thing as "it hasn't hit for a long time so it is "due". The more they hit the better chance they have of hitting again.
Using conditional probability techniques will not help you win money, but it can help you lose less.   

[billryan]

Many machines have must hit by meters. You can learn a lot by studying them, but that involves camping out and observing.

[FAA]

Wow. The Must Hit By meter is a great insight. I will certainly attempt to learn more. I assume that they are also prevalent in VP machines.

[Tedlark]

No, do not assume.

Edited to add: Some machines have a "must hit by $X" but timing is everything on these. As in: right place at the right time.

[billryan]

No, do not assume.

Edited to add: Some machines have a "must hit by $X" but timing is everything on these. As in: right place at the right time.

   The harder one works, the luckier they get.

[paco13]

I have never seen a "Must hit by" machine. I see a lot of "Maximum Jackpot amount" machines though (progressives). This makes me wonder, does the percent of each bet going towards the progressive cease being taken when it reaches that point or do they keep it and add it to there own return on the game? There is nothing stated to indicate the game will "hit" soon after it reaches the max jackpot amount. It just stops climbing.