Slots Strategies

Fruit machines should, in theory at least, have an equal chance of paying out on every pull of the handle, or press of the button.

Many people would argue this is not the case, that there can be runs of good and bad luck, tight slot machines and loose slot machines, and other factors which influence your chances of winning, but it is difficult to argue with mathematics.

Basic Slots Strategy - Setting Limits

It is important to have a basic strategy when playing slots for money, or indeed when engaging in any sort of gambling, you need to make sure you don't lose all your money.

This means setting your limit and sticking to it, no matter whether you are feeling lucky, the machine is hot, there hasn't been a win for a while, there are any number of reasons you can think of to keep playing. Don't keep playing, always stop when you hit your limit.

There is one simple rule for working out your limit, just set it at the most you can afford to lose, and are prepared to risk losing. This can be for a session of half an hour, per day, per month or whatever way you choose to apply it. When you reach your limit for the period you have chosen, you stop, that's it.

To make it easy to set your limit at first, just think of how much you would normally spend doing whatever else you would be doing if you weren't playing slots. So, if you would spend £5 in the pub, £20 at a sports game, £100 on a restaurant meal, etc, whatever you would normally be comfortable spending in an evening, set that as your limit for paying slots.

Now, if you lose it all at once, just stop, it's too bad, but it happens. Statistically of course, it won't happen, you will get back whatever amount on average the game pays out. The percentage payout can usually be anything between 80% and 98%.

Say the payout is 90%, this means that over time, on average, you will win back 90% of what you put in. So, if you play £100, you could expect to get back £90, just working on the straight maths.

This means, if you put in £100 in a week, on average it should only cost you £10 for your playing slots for that week, as you should average a 90% win back rate over time.

Of course, sometimes you will lose a greater percentage than the average and sometimes you will win more than the average. It is this chance of winning back perhaps more than you put in which gives excitement to the game.

Slots Game Strategy - Play Stake Money

It is very tempting, to keep dipping into your pocket, either your real pocket or your virtual pocket if you are playing online. One way of making sure you don't yield to temptation is to decide to play a certain stake and stick to that, whatever happens.

This may seem difficult, but there is one way of making sure you just spend your chosen stake. You just have to decide in advance how much you want to spend during the session, say half an hour, an afternoon, evening, or whetever.

Based on how much you usually spend per hour and how long you want to play for, set the amount of your stake. So, if you can put through £20 in half an hour, set £20 as your limit for your half hour session. Only you know how quickly you play, how big your stakes are and how much you can afford, which is what limits how long you can play for.

If you want to play for longer, choose lower stakes games, but remember to bet the highest stake for the game if you can. If you just have a short time, aim higher if you can afford it.

Whatever length of time, or amount of stake you decide, stick rigidly to the amount you calculate as your stake. So, if it is £20 you decide, you play that £20 through your chosen machine, or machines, or online game or games. Don't play anything you win, just play your £20, that is it.

At the end of the session, that is, when the £20 is finished, your session has finished. Cash in anything you have won. If you cash in more than £20, you are ahead, if less, then it has cost you the difference between your £20 stake and whatever you cash in, for the pleasure of playing.

That is it, next time, do the same, fix a cash limt and stick to it, whether it is the next half hour session, the next evening, or whetever, just make sure you play through your stake, don't put back any winnings and cash in as soon as your stake money is finished.

This is sensible gambling, decide what you can afford to spend, play it, and stop. If you win, you come out ahead, if you lose your whole stake, you have not lost any more than you can afford to play.

The great advantage of this method is that, assuming you get a typical return of say 95%, you still have most of your stake money ready for your next session.

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Timed Slots Strategy - Play Time

A variation of the stake limit slots strategy is the time based strategy. This is a little more adventurous, you can play some of your winnings.

What you do is set your session's stake limit, say £20, and decide you will play for a set time, with your set stake.

Say you decide to gamble your £20, which you have decided you can afford, and you set your time limit for the session to half an hour.

What you do is play your £20 stake, then when you have played that through, cash in and keep back anything you have won above your original £20 stake. Then play the stake again, and do the same again.

Keep playing your stake money, cashing any excess above it, until either you have exhausted your stake, or your time limit has expired. Don't play anything you have kept back.

When you finish your session you count up how much you have kept back, which may be more or less than your original stake.

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Losing Slots Strategy

One way to be fairly sure you will lose money is to set your stake limit, play it all, and play everything you win. This method is probably the most common of all, and it guarantees that you always lose all your stake money, plus all of everything you win, every time.

People probably don't realise it, but you can never win doing it this way. You will never walk away from a game ahead, because you will always have played all your stake and all your winnings.

This is not the best way to get enjoyment out of playing slots, because you never get the pleasure of coming out ahead, which is part of what makes it worthwhile.

You won't win all the time, you can't really, but if you can smile and say you won some money, it adds to the pleasure you had of playing the game.

There is pleasure in just playing, of course, but how much more pleasure in winning?

Complete Loser's Slots Strategy

The strategy to avoid, really avoid. Just start with no plan of when you will stop, or how much you will stake.

Keep playing and playing, put back all your winnings, and just add more and more money when it runs out.

Keep playing and dipping into your pocket until you feel like stopping, or until your pockets are empty.