Slots Strategy

It might sound ridiculous to talk about strategy when playing slot machines, but there are actually quite a few things you can do to give yourself a better chance at winning while playing slots. Between choosing the best slots and figuring out the best ways to get the full odds during play, you can cut down on the house edge significantly.

Choosing the Right Games

The first step in any good slots strategy is to play the right machines at the right time. While one major factor in this step involves how to choose progressive jackpot slots — which we’ll talk about more below — there are several other steps you’ll want to take in order to make sure you’re getting the best odds.

For instance, many players fail to do basic research when it comes to the odds offered on online slot machines. To be fair, many manufacturers are stingy with this information, and in other cases, casino operators have the freedom to adjust the odds to their liking — either by improving the odds to attract more players, or making their machines tighter to take in greater profits per spin. Still, a little research using Google or exploring the websites of major slot machine manufacturers can go a long way towards narrowing down your choices.

Even if you can’t find out exactly what odds are offered on various slot machines, there are still a few general rules you can use to try to play games that give you the best chance to win. For instance, it’s generally true in live casinos (and sometimes online) that slots at higher denominations pay better than those that can be played at a lower cost. If you have the choice between similar slots, one of which is a quarter slot and the other that’s a nickel slot, the quarter slot will almost always have a better player return.

Another tip that can be used in brick-and-mortar casinos is to find games that are already in bonus rounds or states where they are payout out at higher rates (or are close to triggering bonuses). If you’re wandering around the casino and see a machine in a state like that, it’s usually worth jumping into the seat, as that machine is likely to be profitable for the player.

Ways to Improve Slots Odds

The most important thing you can do to improve your odds during gameplay is to play the maximum number of coins allowed on a given machine. On many machines in live casinos, the top prize pays out far better if you play the full coinage than if you decide to play a lesser amount. For instance, a machine may pay out 1,000 credits on its top prize if you play one coin, 2,000 credits if you play two coins, but 5,000 credits if you play the full three coins. Although it isn’t nearly as common, you’ll also find this “feature” on some online slot machines, especially three-reel games that have been designed to look and feel like classic three-reel mechanical slots.

Another way to improve your odds comes in games that utilize skill-based bonus games. On most slot machines, bonus games are based entirely on luck and chance, just like when you spin the reels. However, you’ll occasionally run into a slot machine that features a bonus round where you’ll have to interact with the machine to try and earn more credits. While these bonus rounds almost always give you a guaranteed prize just for playing, playing the skill game successfully will earn you additional prizes. This means it’s usually worthwhile to play through games that have these skill-based bonuses in practice or free play mode first, just to make sure you understand what’s going to happen and give yourself the best chance to win the maximum prize each time you enter the bonus round.

Progressive Jackpot Strategy

One of the most important strategic decisions you can make when playing slots comes when choosing to play a progressive jackpot slot. These games offer jackpots that increase as more players play the slot machine; each bet contributes a small amount to the ever growing jackpot, until a player hits it.

Because these jackpots are constantly changing, it’s a great idea to track the size of progressive jackpots before playing a jackpot slot. This means more than just looking to see what slot has the largest jackpot; more importantly, you want to see which machines have unusually large jackpots for that specific machine. That’s a sign that the jackpot hasn’t been hit in a long time; while that doesn’t mean you’re more likely to win, it does mean that the return on that machine is likely to be higher than normal, thanks to the inflated top prize. In fact, many slots that go a long time without having their progressive jackpots hit actually become theoretically profitable for players when the jackpots become especially large.

We’d also like to reiterate our advice to play the maximum number of coins when playing any slot machine. This advice is especially important with progressive jackpots, as playing fewer than the maximum number of coins may cause you to become ineligible for the jackpot, or only allow you to play for a small percentage of the jackpot amount.