I have a few questions about whether or not one should play the minimum bet or the maximum bet on a slot or video poker machine.
I think it was Will800 who suggested it was not necessary to play the Maximum bet. Of course, the greedy aspect of us wants to play the max in order to win the max. But what makes the most sense economically? On the surface it seems to me that playing the minimum makes more sense since ultimately the casino is going to win. If you play the minimum, you play longer thus make your dollar go farther and have more fun. Anyone agree?

And what about comps in this situation? If you sit at a dollar v.p. machine for one hour playing a dollar per bet does the casino know how much money you have put in in that hour or do they just know that you have played a $1 machine for one hour? On the other hand, if you play for one hour at the maximum bet per hand you would put a lot more money in the machine in one hour. Is the casino capable of tracking this?

I'm just trying to figure out how to get the most "bang" out of my buck!

Tom Casey

Tom,

Yes the casinos know exactly how much money you put in that machine.

And yes, you could look at it that way. By putting in 1 coin at a time you are playing longer...however, when you hit that jackpot and you only put in 1 coin, you will HATE yourself forever!

If you are playing a $1 slot for the min. and hit a jackpot, of which you wouldn't of hit by playing the max because you ran out of what you allowed yourself to that machine. You won't have to pay taxes on your winnings because you most likely won less than $1,200. Example when I hit 3 jackpots at the IP one night 2 for $1199 and one for $800, No taxes, No SS # or name taken. The same person paid me off each time and thought that it was funny that I beat the tax man.
MOST casinos base there slot points or comps on coins in not time. there are a few exceptions such as Ballys. Harrah's used to base on time & coins in, but changed to coins in.

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LarryinMich@prodigy.net


[This message has been edited by Larry Sowinski (edited August 28, 1999).]

M2C
Slots, if your playing a machine that you win in correct proportion to what you bet, it's ok to short change it.

Example 2 coins in pay a top jackpot of 1000
1 coin in pays a top jackpot of 500

But most machines pay differnt for the second coin incerted.

Example 2 coins in pay a top jackpot of 1199
while one coin only pays 500

In that type of machine it always pays to play both coins.

Video Poker the kicker is that 5th coin. it's quite a sizable differnce too. So we always play max bet. I'd rather play full coin nickels (5) then one quarter at a time. The payout is better for a royal flush, even though your betting the same amount of money per game.

While playing short coin will seem to make your play time strech, but part of the fun is the big payoff. By short coining, you no longer have the thrill of the big hit.




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Lee-PA
Moderator, What's New Forum
lee@talkvegas.com

When playing video poker, many times I'll
play a little game with myself, with the
intention of building up my "stake".

I will take 8 coins, and play one at a time.
If I end up with more than 8 coins, I'll make a decision to increase the bet to two,
three, four, or five coins, depending upon
the coins won. If I choose two coins at a
time, then I play 16 coins, and repeat the
procedure, hopefully winning enough to continue increasing the bets. In this way
I can tell if the machine is going to be
friendly or inhospitable. If I don't see any (or few) winners, then I leave the
machine. Sure, I'm taking the risk of hitting the big jackpot without having max
coins in, but that's why they call it gambling, right?

Dick

Hello, Tom. I play very little slots, but when I do play I always look at the pay table. If the machine is a "doubler" type (meaning the payout for two coins is exactly double the payout for one coin), then I may choose to play less than maximum coins. Some slots will not pay the jackpot if hit without maximum coins. Video poker is another story. I always, always play full coin. No exceptions. Trust me on this. During the past five years I have hit 15 royals, always with 5 coins. During this same time, I have seen many people hit a royal while playing one coin. I once saw a person playing a dollar video poker machine one coin at a time. Had they hit a royal, it would have paid $250 instead of $4,000 for 5 coins. This person would have been much better off playing a quarter machine with 5 coins instead of a dollar machine with one coin. They royal on the quarter machine would have paid $1,000. Your bet per hand would be 25% greater than playing one coin on a dollar machine, but the payout on the royal would be 400% greater. The only place I've seen where you may possible play less coins is at Treasure Island. They have some video poker machines that pay 800 to 1 on the royal, regardless of the number of coins played (1-100). This is the only case I can think of where it would make sense to play less than full coins.

I'm a slot nut.i can sit all day and watch those stupid reels spin.i don't play slots that penalize you in payout with less than max coins in.it is all a matter of greed,and greed will make you a loser every time.some slots have a tendancy to pay off in bunches or comeback after a win.i play one coin to search for a win,and then max coin to get that comeback payoff.yes i get caught with one coin in and hit a decent payoff but thats the greed part you have to control.one of my other less than max coin in plays is to play the high 5x or 3x with one coin in. the amount of pulls you can put on those type of machines the better chance of you hitting those high payouts.on a 5x slot the double 5x 5x is 25 to one payout how much more do you want?? greed ,control it and your a winner.

D.A.G.

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D.A.G.SEATTLE
furdoo3@aol.com

I was sitting at a bar once with no intention of playing the vp machine. When I reached in my pocket I had about $4 in quarters so I thought, what the heck, I'll play a little. As my stake was very small I only played 2 coins at a time. When I hit 4 tens and won $25, I was excited. Then the lady next to me was upset that I hadn't been playing max bet.

That was to bad. She seemed really upset and it changed her mood some. I tried to explain that if I had played Max. coin, I would have been done after the first 3 or 4 hands (all losers).

I can't always buy the saying "if you can't play max coins, don't play". I had a lot of fun! Sure it would have been nice to win a little more money but hey, I was still $21 ahead. That's better than I usually am. [img]http://www.talkvegas.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

One other thing if you are going to play slots -- there are some machines that will not pay AT ALL for certain combinations if you have less than a certain number of coins in. For example, a Blazing 7s machine will NOT pay anything for three sevens (including the jackpot) unless you have at least 2 coins in on a three-coin machine. I have seen more than one person HIT THE JACKPOT and get back $00000 because they only had one coin in. Or a three-line machine will not pay anything for the third line if you only have 2 coins in since that third line is not "activated."

My view is, as long as you get something back for playing one coin, it's your choice to give up that "extra" payout for the top jackpot (like the extra $$ for a royal flush in VP). But mainly, I guess my advice would be to read the payout schedule on ANY machine before putting in any $$!!

Trust me, you would feel really dumb if you had to sit there with a jackpot showing on the line and no money coming out. (It's bad enough to not hit anything, but to hit something big and not get it is worse <G> )

[This message has been edited by supermom (edited August 29, 1999).]

supermom, thanks for bringing up those machines. I forgot about them. I hate those machines that have one line, two line, three line payoffs. I can't imagine how many people have gone to AC or LV for the first time and put one coin in and pulled the lever. Hit a jackpot and got nothing. I don't think they should even have them.

As far as the other machines, like you said, as long as you are getting some payoff, "it's your choice to give up that 'extra' payout for the top jackpot."

And this doesn't happen very often. The jackpot is usually the only payoff that will not be in line with the other payoffs.

Whether to play one coin or max coins depends on what kind of gambler you are and how much money you can afford to lose. So if losing 5 times more money is not going to hurt you AND you are a "I want to win BIG" type of person, then playing max coins is fine.

Otherwise, playing one coin is probably the better bet, imho.

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gail@talkvegas.com
Moderator, TalkVegas After Hours
Administrator, TalkVegas BB

Gail,
One last thing re: max coins -- if you're going to play one of those super-jackpot machines like Megabucks or Quartermania, you should play max coins since what you're doing is going for the "pot of gold".

I will put in a pull or two's worth on one of those just to see if lightning will strike but IMHO I personally would NEVER play one of those machines for more than that.
But -- I know people who will allot a certain amount of their gambling bankroll just for those super-jackpot slots, so ??? But me, I have enough trouble keeping my bankroll positive some days as it is <G>. To each his (or her!) own.

supermom, I agree that anyone playing a super jackpot or mega jackpot machine should play the max coins. AND you should always make sure all coins register before pulling the arm or pushing the button.

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gail@talkvegas.com
Moderator, TalkVegas After Hours
Administrator, TalkVegas BB