Nevada Players Club Blog

Is it preferable to place minimum bets on more marked spots (6-10) or maximum bets on fewer spots (3, 4, or 5)? We know that payouts vary from one casino to another - even within the same casino. Exercise care when choosing a machine, even if it’s the only exercise you get. Like pay tables, Max Bets vary. Try to determine what the max is before you start sliding bills or vouchers into a machine. It’s easy to hit that Max Bet button by accident. In most of the casinos I frequent, Max is 16 units. That comes to .80 cents on a nickel 4 Card machine and $1.60 at the dime level. $4 on a quarter machine! If you do play the Max Bet by mistake, hopefully you’ll then hit a jackpot. A pleasant, but all too rare surprise. It does happen. My wife once asked me, “Honey, how did I just win $400!?” Blame our old friend Max Button. You might bump into him when you least expect it. 16 units may be the most common Max Bet, but in some places, it can be much higher. At South Point it’s 32 units. You s...

  No. But patterns are another story. Yes, it's true that each machine is governed by a random number generator (RNG), and you can never outfox the RNG - but you can take advantage of the fact that the RNG tends to pick certain patterns in waves. I've heard what the "experts" have to say, and they make some good points (no Craps pun intended), but I've found that an effective way to win more often is to choose patterns and hope the machine targets one or more of those zones with a similar or exact pattern. It happens more often than you might think. Go for a group of numbers boxed together neatly, or pick shapes - like H's, I's, and T's - right side up, upside down, or both. Try a horseshoe. Lock two of those together as mirror images. Play blocks of 3 or 4 numbers in opposite corners. Going for a 6-spot is ideal in my book, because the return is enough to let you play more and take bigger chances with higher bets or by choosing more numbers. The reaso...