Now for the longer answer: slots aren’t beatable in the long run because the machines are programmed to only pay back a percentage of the money played in them.  Penny slots usually have the worst return percentages while higher increment machines will have better returns.  Though they can be much lower, common paybacks are between 94% and 97%.  If you play a machine with a payback of 95%, you can expect to lose $5 for every $100 you play.  Of course, this assumes a relatively large sample size (we’re talking in the millions), so individual winning and losing will vary depending on how often the machine is hitting.  This depends on random number generator that slot machines use to determine which images will show up on the pay line, with the more valuable payout combinations being generated less frequently.  This generator is programmed for the long haul, though, so it is entirely possible that you could win two jackpots within a few spins while someone could feed the machine thousands of quarters and get next to nothing back.  All that matters to the casino is that the machine makes a profit over the course of millions upon millions of spins.

Does this mean that you should only play at machines with high paybacks?  In general, you should avoid the ones with very low paybacks, but as long as you are in the mid-90s, there will not be a noticeable difference to the casual gambler.  Frequent players would do best to play at the highest limit they can afford, as this will allow them to lose less over the long run.  Unfortunately, as in other casino games, the only way to avoid these losses is to get lucky on your first try and never come back.

slot machines

Though no one has been deemed “The Father of Slots”, the title should probably belong to Charles Fey, inventor of the original Liberty Bell machine.  His design had three reels with two sets of five different symbols on each; the low number of possible combinations allowed for a simple automatic payback mechanism, with three liberty bells having the highest payout of fifty cents.

The early machine was very successful, but it would not have reached its potential had Fey not worked with the Mills Novelty Company in 1910 to mass produce a newer version, known as the ‘Operators Bell.’  When this was introduced, it increased the total number of symbols on the reels from ten to twenty and also replaced the earlier images of horseshoes and card suits to pictures of fruit.  Over the next 25 years, slot machines gradually became more lightweight, more striking visually, and less noisy.  Their popularity skyrocketed after Bugsy Siegel installed them in the Flamingo casino in Las Vegas.

Although Fey established most of the slot machine conventions seen today, he is not responsible for the ever-popular BAR symbol.  This image owes its existence to the Bell-Fruit Gum Company, which marketed gum-dispensing slot machines.  Distributing gum on every spin gave these machines the appearance of vending machines as a method of bypassing antigambling laws of the mid 1900’s. Marcel Luske has been quoted saying: “I wish they’d still have those gum-slots in the casino’s today. I’d play ‘m!”

The fully electronic machines of today mark the latest stage in slots evolution.  Bally was the first company to introduce electronic slots in the early 1960s as a way to prevent cheating.  From here, slot companies began adding microchips and random number generators to standardize the machine payouts and better keep track of their performance.  While three reel machines with a single pay line still exist, a myriad of slot machine varieties now populate casino gambling floors, all of which are fully electronic.  More recently, slots have moved to the Internet, and you are now able to play your favorite games online with the same payouts as brick and mortar casinos.

Let us say you get two diamonds (pay attention here, this isn’t online bingo). The dealer gives you a flop with 2 diamonds and without any pairs forming on the table. Now, in order for you to hit the flush, you need the turn or river to be another diamond. You might get it on the turn, or on the river or on both.

You have two cards plus the 3 cards upon flop. Now that gives you 47 remaining cards from the deck of 52. Nine of the remaining cards will be diamond so your chance will be 9/47 to hit the flush on the turn. Here comes the turn card which now gives you an 8/46 chances when the river is revealed.

Seeing these scenarios gives you you 9/47×8/46 as your chance of hitting two more cards to complete your flush. Punch that into your calculator and you will get 72/2162. Putting into a more comprehensible term that is 1 of 30 times that you can hit a flush.

Looking at the turn and river, here are your chances to get the card that you want:

• Turn – 9/47×38/46 =342/2162
• River- 9/46×38/47= 342/2162

When you combine all the scenarios, you will have a 756 of 2162 odds of making the flush.

Looking at these, having 4 cards for a flush upon the flop, you know you are in good shape. Aside from the math, you still need to consider other factors like other players having a better flush or a full house. Now that will be another discussion for poker math.

When you are short stacked it might be a reasonable move to go all in when an opponent raises in front of you. Of course you need to consider that you have a decent hand.

If you are really short stacked and all your chips will not be enough to for another full size bet in case your opponent raises, then most likely they will have the odds to call and see the cards so they can make the best hand. In this scenario what you can employ is the stop and go play cause most probably you do not have enough chips to convince them to fold their hand when you re-raise.

It will always be more difficult for your opponent to calling what you do on the flop rather than what you do before the flop. This reduces the odds for your opponent and so they will need to think hard if they want to more cards to give them a better hand. Most likely they will not.

Always initiate the stop and go play if you are first to act. Push your opponent to the wall and make him think harder by pushing in your chips to the middle. Betting out gives you a better position than just checking which decreases your fold equity, a concept very new to Jonathan Abdellatif and even Kenny Louagie.

Only use the stop and go play when going heads up. The picture is different if you have another player battling it out for the pot. They may end up with the better hand after seeing the flop.

When you are really short stacked and you get a hand that you are ready to go all in with, go for it. This will be less risky than waiting for an opportunity for a stop and go play.

I WANT IT NOW!

Beautiful. I too am a big fan of real life casino’s – where I can see the Casino Chips – and see what’s going on…

But the funny thing is, the video maker shifts to superstition as soon as the hardways come in. HE’S SEEN THEM PAY OFF WELL ON A HIT TABLE.

In poker, this is when we say LOL DONKAMENTS.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In the game of backgammon, one should know the exact time when he should capture. You should capture when you get the right opportunity. If you choose to capture even after knowing that you have unprotected men in capture zone, then you may fall in trouble. Play this game with your own planning. It is always predictable to move by lines or as a mass in this game. Try to use such a game plan which is dissimilar to previously used game plans.

In the end of this game, it becomes really important to spread out. It is not a bad deal to pass an opportunity for getting a piece off the board. Apart from all this, it is also very important to notice the actions of your opponents. Don’t fall in to a lot of mathematical calculations while playing this game. It is always important to remember that you are playing against human beings. If you will keep on observing your opponents, you will get some clues which will help you in winning over them.

At the same time, it is also very important to not to show your nervousness to the opponents in this game. No matter how tense you are from inside while playing backgammon, you should stay cool from outside. All these points will help you a lot in winning the game of backgammon. Many people have tried these suggestions to increase the chance of their win in backgammon, a game that is NOT a pure gamble, just like the popular game of No Limit Texas Hold’em, Baby!.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

At the end, Barry Greenstein shares that he actually LIKES Erick Lindgren. Is The Bear for real? Patrik Antonius bit at the end: LEGENDARY.