Dear Mark: Could you please explain how slot tournaments
work? I'm entering a $50 dollar tournament at our
casino and I was wondering if you had any strategies
on winning? Megan H.
Dear Mark: How does a Casino turn a bank of low payout
slots into VERY HIGH payout slots for a tournament
and then back again to low payout mode without changing
a computer chip inside the machine? Harvey S.
I'll
get to your query in a second, Harvey, but let me
take a whack at Megan's question first.
The
tournament format that you are probably playing in,
Megan, is one that uses timed sessions with machines
in free-play mode, meaning, you don't have to put
any money in the machine to play. Your up-front $50
entry fee is your total cash outlay. A typical format
when playing free-play tournaments is to give each
player 1,000 credits and 20 minutes to play them,
per round. Each time you tap the spin button, three
credits are deducted from your starting credits, and
credits that you win are shown on a separate meter.
When time has expired, the machine will automatically
lock up ending the play
Any
credits that you have not played will be lost.
A tournament director records each player's win
meter at the conclusion of each round, and the
player with the most cumulated points at the end
of the tournament wins. Your main objective, Megan,
is to make use of all your credits within the
specified time period. By not using up all your
credits, you lessen your chances of winning because
players who are Speedy-Gonzales- fast when hitting
the spin button will have more spins than you,
which makes them more likely to have more points.
Here's the deal, Megan. The simple fact is that
no slot strategy will make you a long-term winner
at the slot machines. In spite of that fact, in
a slot tournament there just happens to be one
simple strategy: Get in as many spins as you can.
Just keep your fingers on the spin button and
get skilled at pushing it with split second military
precision. What I mean by that, Megan, is that
the machine will not spin until the winning credits
have been tallied and displayed on the screen,
so timing is everything. You need to be prepared
to push the button instantly after your credits
have been tallied.
Another tip, Megan, is to concentrate on your
play, and your play only. Don't be a Lookie Lou
gawking at the scores of your opponents. A few
precious seconds here or there can sometimes be
the decider on whether you advance to the next
round.
Okay, Harvey, let's talk about that tournament
chip.
Prior to any slot tournament, a slot technician
with a tournament-mode computer chip, which changes
a machine from normal play to tournament play,
swaps each machine's computer chip out. Because
the chips are uniform in nature, each slot machine
used in any given tournament has as good a chance
of winning as any other machine, which insures
that all participants are playing on equal footing.
What's important to note here, Harvey, is that
the long-term payback purposely programmed into
the tournament chip is a great deal higher than
that used in a normal slot machine chip.
Although the random number generator (RNG) stays
the same, the machines are loosened up by changing
the layout of the symbols on the virtual reels,
hence, Harvey, you'll see those VERY HIGH payouts
at tournaments, but not with conventional play.
Learn
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Tournaments How To Increase Your Odds
In most slot tournaments, you play strictly for
points, and the player with the most points at
the end of the tournament wins. Finding
Those Loose Slot Machines
All casinos have "loose" and "tight"
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machines are defined as those machines returning
more of the player's money; the "tight"
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RGN Random Number Generator
Just what creates that random number generator
at a given moment A
slot I had just left hits jackpot.
If I had played just three more quarters, that
$10,000 jackpot would have been mine.
No even gluing your hopeful fanny to that same
machine's stool would not have given you that
$10,000 jackpot. Why?
Good
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