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Introduction to High Roller Slots Tricks
This blog continues our journey of winning strategies for slot machine casino gambling. Here, I’ll be explaining to you three easy high roller slots tricks. Now, please understand I’m not trying to turn you into a full-time high-limit slot machine gambler! Not at all!
As I’ll explain, there are some very inexpensive slots winning strategies which can be applied to more than just low limit slots. They can also be rather cheaply used, with only a few bets, on a $1 to $5 denomination high limit slot machine.
The three tricks you should know about involve applying a few of the winning strategies I’ve already discussed, as well as a new slots strategy, winning strategy #6, I’ll be explaining in full momentarily. Here goes!
This article has the following sections:
- Introduction
- 1st Trick: Use Winning Strategy 1 in a High Limit Slots Area
- 2nd Trick: Combining Winning Strategies #1 and #7
- 3rd Trick: If a Slot Machine Shows a Win, BET ONCE
- How Long Does a Slot Machine Need to be Idle?
- Play High Limit Slot Machines When Appropriate – Carefully!
- Summary
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1st Trick: Use Winning Strategy #1 in a High Limit Slots Area
One interesting pattern I’d noticed at a relatively medium-sized casino had to do with a simple observation. At this local casino, I saw that I would win once when I first sit down, but not win again for some time.
This pattern recognition is a slots strategy I’ve mentioned before, explicitly Winning Strategy 1: Only Win Immediately and my Professor Slots podcast episode #23.
By using this approach, we can take advantage of a common practice found at many casinos, where they provide an initial winning taste.
The first dozen times I visited the high limit slots area at this small, local casino, I found it odd that I would win a jackpot during the first few pushes of the button. But, then, I would spend thousands of dollars without so much as another hit.
I don’t mean I wouldn’t have another taxable jackpot, but that I wouldn’t win anything whatsoever. It just seemed odd. Or, put another way, it was statistically unlikely to be randomly happening so consistently and often, visit after visit after visit.
As an aside, don’t worry too much about all the money I was spending. Unbeknownst to me at the time, each $100 spent these three months earned one more entry for the drawing of a car – which I would end up winning. I tell that story in:
As a second aside, the money I was spending was significant slots winnings from another local casino where I was consistently making quite a profit using Winning Strategy 7, the topic of my next blog article.
2nd Trick: Combining Winning Strategies #1 and #7
Let’s back to the story of what I learned and how I learned it. At the time, I even struck up a conversation with one of the slot operators. In that helpful interview, I asked them when were people winning jackpots and on which machines were they doing it?
This slot attendant helpfully told me about a slots player who had recently gone from one machine to another winning about eight total jackpots in a row in the high limit slots area.
I found this other slots player’s approach very intriguing, to say the least, and have since tried to employ my Winning Strategy 7 alongside playing each machine up to 5 times. By doing so, I’ve found that my annual return for this strategy alone resulted in a 150% profit over my original bankroll.
However, I’d only been using this strategy for four months since this casino opened, and felt I’d need to continue doing it for about a year to be convinced that it wasn’t either temporary or due to having limited data.
Today, I see this as an error on my part, and probably a severe loss of winnings. Winning slots strategies exist, and you can find them yourself – if you can believe your own eyes.
The area most people get stuck on is this: They don’t believe these strategies are possible, and it’s hard to try it yourself they do when you’ve already convinced yourself it’s impossible.
It doesn’t help that most winning strategies are relatively new, and based on the latest casino technologies that started being installed in new casinos since 2012.
Getting down off my usual soapbox, and back on topic, I have found this combination of winning strategies to be the cheapest approach yet to slot machine gambling, while resulting in the highest profit margin.
Using it at my local casino required only $500 per visit and $250 in return on most visits without a taxable jackpot. But then there are the taxable jackpots won, which are more than a few of the typical jackpot winnings on high limit slot machines.
As I’m sure you understand, a single $4,000 taxable jackpot pays for many subsequent visits.
Again, so far, this is all further storytelling about the experiences which resulted in my discovery of Winning Strategy 1 and how to best use it in conjunction with another winning strategy I knew. But, next, I learned a strategy I didn’t already know.
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3rd Trick: If a Slot Machine Shows a Win, BET ONCE
By using these known strategies, yet another approach grew out of them. It’s easy, simple, and quite inexpensive. And, it’s completely counter-intuitive to what most slots players will tell you to do. But, because they feel this way is the reason why it works.
Slots players will tell you it is essential to check the machine’s last play. If it shows a winner then, in general, skip that machine. Don’t play it, is the general advice. I say phooey, but with a small caveat I’ll pull from Winning Strategy 1.
My third trick is this: If a slot machine is showing a win, BET ONCE. However, avoid that machine if it’s been played recently.
For this to work, if it is going to work, a slot machine showing a win needs to be idle for a while, and probably hasn’t been idle if its chair is still pulled out. That the chair is even pulled out is a beautiful clue it was used relatively recently.
Why does this work? At some casinos that set up their slot machines to offer an initial taste, the first push of the button of a high limit slot machine will win either a “small” nontaxable jackpot worth several hundred dollars or a more massive taxable jackpot over $1,200.
For example, I happened to be in the casino one Saturday evening, to take care of some tax paperwork having to do with winning a car the night before, and noticed that one of the $100 high limit slot machines was showing a $1,000 win. I didn’t think much of such a small jackpot, as it was not even taxable, but it was something I noticed.
When I went back to the casino the next morning, I noticed that that same machine had the identical winning reel combination showing on it. To me, this indicated that no one had played that machine for just over one day.
At first, I didn’t think much of it. But then, standing there looking at it, I got to thinking about my strategies. And, standing there thinking it through, I learned something.
Previously, my strategy was not to play any slot machine if it showed a win. But, I started to think, what if I was winning at one push of a button on machines that hadn’t been played for some time? Was this perhaps a refinement of a known strategy?
As usual, theory metaphorically in hand, I decided to test it. I walked over to the $100 machine showing the $1,000 win, placed my player’s card along with $100 in the machine, pressed the bet button, and immediately won a $5,000 taxable jackpot.
To date, this is the only time when I’ve won any taxable jackpot on a $100-denomination slot machine. Although, using this strategy at the same casino, shortly later I did win $500 with a single 1-credit bet on another $100 slot machine.
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How Long Does a Slot Machine Need to be Idle?
One loose end with using this strategy is the question of how long does a slot machine need to be idle for it to turn into a winning slot machine via this strategy? The honest and straightforward answer is: I don’t know. But, consider my observations.
I’ve found more slot machines are winners with this strategy if I attend the casino on a Saturday morning (especially after a busy Friday night) or mid-afternoon on Sundays.
That’s because these are typically the most extended times when slot machines aren’t played, and being idle for some time matters. But, how long does it need to be inactive, you ask? I’m still piecing together clues about this.
Another clue comes from Eric Rosenthal, from whom I have second-hand information. He knows someone he trusts from within a slots manufacturer who told him that slot machines reset whenever a voucher is printed.
That’s interesting. If true, it means idle means no time at all. So, that information alone may be enough to tell you how long idle is – but I don’t think so.
Why? Because I’ve seen 30 minutes work when an immediate next player did not. Other times, I’ve seen it work after it’s been idle for hours only. Another area of uncertainty is maybe, more like probably, different casinos are set up differently.
But, I have put some effort into trying to figure this out. After some thought, one week later I went back to the casino and took handwritten notes of all the current spin reels showing on all the high limit slot machines at that casino.
Slightly over a day later, I went back to that casino with the intent of executing the usual strategy but brought extra cash with which to push the button once on any high limit slot machine still showing the same reel spin from the previous day.
Unfortunately, that day was a beautiful day in January with moderately high temperatures not seen in months. Somehow, for this reason, the casino and high limit slot machine room were incredibly busy.
I mention this because, when checking the reel spins on each slot machine, I found that ALL slot machines had been played. I then went ahead playing my usual strategy and, to my slight dismay, I didn’t win a single time despite four immediately prior visits where I made 50-60% over the bankroll I’d brought.
What I learned from this confirmation, such as it was, was that it was the wins I had seen when using my unrefined strategy of 5 pulls then stop was occurring on slot machines which had not been played for a while. That is to say, I had been winning on idle slot machines.
So, during busy periods in the high limit slot room which, by the way, isn’t necessarily the same times when the overall casino itself is active, I learned that I shouldn’t use this strategy. Not then, anyway.
All I can say is, where casinos have set up this winning strategy, winning slot machines need to be idle for a while. This bit of information may not seem like much – but it’s something once considered impossible which evidence now suggests isn’t any longer.
And, being the savvy slots enthusiast I know you are, I expect you’ll make the most out of it.
Play High Limit Slot Machines When Appropriate – Carefully!
So, let’s continue to talk about getting the most out of my winning strategies. The whole point of these specific strategies is that they don’t require much money to try out. Not to be too blunt about it, why wouldn’t you try out inexpensive strategies in the high limit slots area?
I suppose I first noticed this myself at Seminole Brighton Casino in Florida in October 2019 and earlier at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut in April 2018.
Only afterward did I think, while I’m here why don’t I try out the winning strategies I’ve just figured out in the high limit slots area?
Unfortunately, this idea came to me only after I left both places. But, here it is for you. If you have figured out a winning slots strategy that appears to work at a casino, consider trying it in the high limit slots area.
This suggestion is especially valid if the specific slots strategy you’ve found to work outside of the high limit area doesn’t require much bankroll to win. If only a small bankroll is needed, or if you’re willing to risk a larger bankroll if it doesn’t, consider one way to optimize your strategy – by bringing it into the high limit slots area. Carefully, of course.
For those who have read my blog article Seminole Brighton Casino Florida Trip Report, these follow up thoughts for using a working strategy on high limit slots should work quite well there.
However, for those who have read my blog article Easily Win a Little at Slots at Foxwoods Casino Connecticut, I’d caution against this approach there.
As Dr. Mike from the You Can Bet on That podcast very well knows (I was sitting near him at the time), you can win a couple of hundred dollars on a high limit slot machine there within the first few bets.
But, the problem is, you can do the same thing on a low limit slot machines. So, use the winning strategy I described outside of the high limit area to bet less for corresponding winnings. Your profit will be more substantial.
Summary of High Roller Slots Tricks
In review, I’ve pointed out the easy application of two past winning slots strategies, along with a new winning strategy, which would require only a few bets on a high limit slot machine.
From a high level, the three easy high roller slots tricks I’ve outlined are merely pointing out that the winning strategies you worked hard to uncover at the casino you frequent can be leveraged, perhaps even optimized, in the high limit slots area with relatively little risk.
Because, finding that a winning strategy which works
If your gambling goal is entertainment, as with more slots enthusiasts, then getting a W-2G for having won a taxable jackpot would be exciting. I know my first W-2G was very exciting and, quite honestly, you never really get tired of winning them.
If your gambling goal is earning comps, then you’ll undoubtedly earn players clubs point by making bets on high limit slot machines. But, more importantly, some or all of winnings received in the high limit slots area can be spent on low limit slots.
Finally, is winning take-home money your gambling goal? Well, you’ll earn that money with little cash spent. If, as always, the casino you’re at has been set up by their operator such that one or more of these approaches will work.
Related Articles from Professor Slots
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Have fun, be safe, and make good choices!
By Jon H. Friedl, Jr. Ph.D., President
Jon Friedl, LLC
If you had put in one or three coins the outcome would likely have been entirely different. The machine is constantly drawing random numbers and the numbers that were drawn at the moment you spin the reels determine the outcome. So, if you had played fewer or more coins you would have spun the reels at a different moment and thus the outcome would have been different.
Congratulations also on the new gig with Casino Player, I enjoy it the site and your occasional posts on bj21. As someone who works in the industry, admittedly not slots, I was under the impression that the more recent slots have the RNG stop the moment the first coin drops, so it really doesn't matter if you play 1,2, or 3 coins -- the symbols will line up the same. Have I been misinformed? According to your previous answer I apparently have. Keep up the good work and I'll stay in touch, thanks and best wishes.
Thanks for the kind words Dave. You're right that it was the money that finally made me accept the banners. It is my understanding that when the player presses the button to spin the reels the random numbers are drawn at that instant, which determine where the reels stop, and ultimately what you win. The number of coins bet does not matter.
Thanks for the compliment. The outcome of the game is determined when the player initiates the spin. The game is constantly drawing random numbers, even when not played. The random numbers chosen at the moment the button is pressed to spin the reels determine where the reels stop, which determines what the player wins. So, if the player bet three coins he would have pressed the button at a different moment, causing a different outcome.
No, that information won’t help you at all. Your odds are always the same on every spin, regardless of the counters.
To answer your question I asked a well connected gaming consultant and he said Nevada regulations state that one stop on a reel can not be weighted more than six times more than either stop next to it. So if a jackpot symbol were weighted by 1 and both bordering blanks were weighted by 6 then there would be 12 near misses for every one time the reel stopped on the jackpot symbol. This would be the maximum allowed near miss effect. My own results detailed in my slot machine appendix 1 back up this theory well. The red double seven was the highest paying symbol and I saw the blanks above and below it about 5 to 6 times as often:
Double Strike Actual Results
Symbol | Reel 1 | Reel 2 | Reel 3 |
Blank | 250 | 248 | 291 |
Double red 7 | 52 | 51 | 55 |
Blank | 259 | 292 | 262 |
The same source said that New Jersey and Mississippi likely have adopted the Nevada regulations.
My understanding is that the person who is pressing the buttons gets the money. I asked Brian, who helped with the last question, about this. Here is what he wrote, which I agree with.
In the scenario described, the person who put in the money and pressed the buttons would receive the jackpot.
What I find interesting about this question is the paradox that in all likelihood, the jackpot never would have occurred without this chance encounter.
As you know, the random number generator in the slot machine is continuously working even when the machine is not in play. So even though one patron feels cheated, their run-in ultimately led to pressing the spin button at that exact millisecond when the RNG was on the winning combination. So, if one patron had acquiesced, there is never a jackpot to fight over.
Thanks for helping in the fight against betting systems. First let me say that I have never worked for a major slot machine company and don’t have direct knowledge of this. However, I know many people in the industry and those I trust pretty much are in agreement on this topic.
That said, it is my understanding that in all forms of electronic games, including video slots, video poker, and video keno, the outcome is usually determined the moment you make your decision. Meanwhile the possible outcomes are constantly being shuffled, thousands of times a second. I can’t speak for every slot machine but I believe that with the major U.S. slot makers the outcome is not predestined but depends on the exact microsecond you press the button to make your play.
Thanks for the kind words. Scratch cards and pull tabs can indeed be printed in batches. These batches will have a specified number for each win, and the return of the overall batch will be exactly as the maker intended. In some jurisdictions, where only pull tabs are legal, the outcome can be displayed to the player on a video monitor, in the form of a slot or video poker machine. However, in Nevada, that is not how slots work. Each play is completely independent of the past. A machine programmed to average a 97% return, could indeed pay under 95% or over 99% over a year, especially if not heavily played.