Winning in Online Slots
How to win in online slots?
Slot expert Martin Stranski is giving you some tips about how to win in online slots.
Many times I was asked if to play the online slots always with maximum coins and
lines. My answer is: It depends... Underneath you will find out more about on which
type of online slots you have to play maximum coins and when not.
Multicoin/Multilines
Rule: Play one coin each on as many lines as you like.
Reason: Play one coin on each line if having winning combinations
land on paylines you didn't activate bothers you, otherwise play one coin. If there's
a Hidden Buy-A-Pay, play enough coins to activate it.
This week we look at the new Australian-style, Multicoin/Multiline machines. These
are the only kind of slot machines you find in Australia and they're getting more
and more popular in the United States every day. Australian-style slot machines
give you betting flexibility you never had before. Not only can you choose how many
lines to play, now you can also choose to play more than one coin per line. We have
to decide how many lines to play and how many coins to play per line. Australian-style
slots have the most complicated paytables of any slot machine. Take the time to
study the paytable. Look to see if there's a payout, like a scatter pay, that's
available only when you play all lines. Also look to see what happens when you play
more than coin per line. Is there a combination or bonus event that is activated
only when you bet maximum coins on a line?
Even though the paytables look very complicated, they almost always are Straight
Multipliers. Winning combinations and bonus events are multiplied by the number
of coins bet on the line. There's no advantage to playing more than one coin per
line. So much for the Multicoin aspect of the machine. How about the Multiline aspect?
Just as with a conventional Multiline machine, you can play more than one line if
landing winning combinations on paylines you didn't activate bothers you. If not,
play one coin on one line. I play one coin on each line. Every Multicoin/Multiline
paytable I've seen has been a Straight Multiplier, but that doesn't mean there will
never be one with Buy-A-Pay feature. If you do find one with a Buy-A-Pay feature,
make sure you play enough coins to activate the feature.
Progressive slots
Rule: Always play maximum coins.
Reason: If you play don't play maximum coins, you're only increasing
the jackpot for someone else with no chance of winning it yourself.
You can recognize progressive machines by the LED displays advertising the ever-increasing
jackpots, some life changing, that you can win by playing the machine. There are
three types of progressives, but they all share one thing on common: A small percentage
of each wager on a progressive machine is used to increase the amount of the jackpot.
The types of progressives differ in the number of machines linked to an individual
jackpot. First, there's the Standalone Progressive. As its name implies, this machine
has its own jackpot amount. When you play a Standalone Progressive, its jackpot
is the only one to increase as a result of the action. The second type of progressive
is the Linked Progressive. A number of machines are linked together in this type
of progressive and the machines all share the same jackpot. The jackpot increases
on all of the machines in the link whenever anyone plays any of the machines in
the link. The machines in the link are usually all in one carousel, although sometimes
the machines are spread throughout a casino. And sometimes machines at more than
one casino owned by the same company will be part of the progressive network.
The third type of progressive is the Wide Area Progressive. In this type of progressive,
machines throughout an entire jurisdiction are part of the network of linked machines.
Machines that pay the life-changing, lottery-sized jackpots are always Wide Area
Progressives. But not all Wide Area Progressives pay huge jackpots. IGT and Bally's
are both exploring Wide Are Progressive systems that pay lower jackpots more frequently.
The best number of coins to play is the same regardless of which type of progressive
you are playing. You have to play maximum coins on a progressive machine to be able
to win the progressive jackpot. If you don't play maximum coins, you're just building
the jackpot for someone else with no chance to win it yourself. In addition, how
would you feel if the three Megabucks symbols landed on the payline and you played
only one coin, so you won $10,000 instead of $10,000,000? Always play maximum coins
when playing a progressive.
Straight Multipliers
Rule: Always play one coin at a time.
Reason: The chances of hitting a payout with a bonus are so small,
it's not worth the extra risk.
Bonus Multipliers are Multipliers with a twist. They pay you a bonus for some combinations
when you play maximum coins. The bonus is usually paid on the top jackpot only,
but some machines pay a bonus on the second jackpot, too. I even found a Wild Cherry
paytable that paid the bonus on the second jackpot only. Ask yourself this question:
How frequently do you hit a combination that pays you a bonus? Not too often, right?
The Bonus Multiplier acts like a Straight Multiplier on the overwhelming majority
of the spins you play on the machine. Treat it like a Straight Multiplier and play
one coin at a time. Some people argue that you're playing at a lower long-term payback
when you play only one coin at a time on a Bonus Multiplier. That statement is true.
But, again, how times do you hit the top jackpot? In addition, a 100-coin bonus
like on a three-coin Double Diamond that pays 800/1600/2500 for the top jackpot
increases the long-term payback by very little. Even large bonuses increase the
long-term payback by very little. A typical RWB machine that pays 2400/4800/10000
for the top jackpot pays back 91.7% when playing one coin at a time and 92.5 when
playing three coins at a time. It's not worth tripling your risk per spin to decrease
the house edge from 8.3% to 7.5%.
Buy-A-Pays
Rule: Play maximum coins.
Reason: The increase in payback and hit frequency purchased by
the additional coins can turn a terrible machine into a good one.
Buy-A-Pays are machines on which each additional coin played activates additional
winning combinations. On a two-coin Red Hot 7s machine, for instance, the first
coin activates the bar combinations and the second coin activates the combinations
with the sevens. If you play only coin and three sevens land on the payline, you
don't win anything. Buy-A-Pays can have very high hit frequencies. Unlike a Multiplier,
a Buy-A-Pay can pay less than a push. Suppose you had to bet two coins to activate
combinations with cherry symbols, and one cherry on the payline paid one coin. You
win less than you bet when you land one cherry on the payline.
Because each coin activates a completely different set of winning symbols, the game
designers have a great deal of flexibility in setting the hit frequency and payback
of each coin--much more flexibility than they have on any other game type. Each
coin played is like a completely different machine. I analyzed one Buy-A-Pay machine
in which the first coin played had a terrible payback of 83%. But the second coin
paid back well over 100%. If only we could play the second coin without playing
the first! But we can't. We have to play the first coin, on which the casino has
the edge, to be able to play the second, on which we have the edge. Additional coins
played on a Buy-A-Pay purchase increased hit frequency and payback. The machine
may have a very low payback at one coin and a very high payback at maximum coins.
One or more of the additional coins may even pay back more than 100%. Always play
maximum coins on a Buy-A-Pay.
Hybrids
Rule: Play just enough coins to activate all winning combinations.
Reason: Extra coins are rarely worth playing in a multiplier, and
hybrids are multipliers when you're in the multiplying section of the paytable.
Hybrids are the mongrels of slot machines. Part Buy-A-Pay, part Multiplier. Does
the Buy-A-Pay aspect of the paytable overpower the Multiplier aspect and make it
worthwhile playing extra coins? Hybrid is a name that I use to describe these machines.
There is no official industry name for them. Bally's describes Blazing 7s, the most
famous Hybrid game, as a "2 coin option buy pay - 3rd coin multiplier." I'll stick
with Hybrid.
The Buy-A-Pay part of the paytable acts like a pure Buy-A-Pay paytable, and the
Multiplier part of the paytable acts like a pure Multiplier paytable--and the same
rules apply. It's worthwhile activating all of the possible winning combinations,
but it's not worthwhile multiplying their values. On a Blazing 7s, your choice is
between playing two coins and playing three coins. The first coin buys the bar combinations,
the second the sevens combinations, and the third multiplies the sevens combinations.
We follow the rule for Buy-A-Pays and play two coins to activate all the winning
combinations, and then we follow the rule for Multipliers and we don't play the
third coin. On some Hybrids, the first two coin will be a Multiplier and the third
a Buy-A-Pay. Play three coins on this machine in order to activate all the winning
combinations.
Hidden Buy-A-Pays
Rule: Play maximum coins.
Reason: The feature activated by playing the last coin frequently
makes the last coin pay back over 100%
Some machines have bonus events that are activated only when you play maximum coins.
You can spin the wheel on Wheel of Gold, for example, only when you play full coin.
Another example is Banana-Rama. You can get to the bonus screen only when you play
full coin. I call these wolves in sheep's clothing Hidden Buy-A-Pays. The paytable
on these machines appears to be a Multiplier or Multiline, but there's a feature
that's activated only when you play maximum coins. This feature is usually a bonus
event like spinning a wheel or a bonus screen, but it could be practically anything.
Read the paytable carefully to see if there's some feature of the machine that is
activated only when you play full coin. Just like on a pure Buy-A-Pay, this feature
could make the last coin pay back more than 100%. The increase in payback when playing
full coin versus one coin may make playing full coin the better bet. The rule is
to play enough maximum coins on these machines to activate all the features of the
machine.
Multicoin/Multilines
Rule: Play one coin or maximum coins.
Reason: Play maximum coins if having winning combinations land
on paylines you didn't activate bothers you, otherwise play one coin.
Multiline machines act very much like Multipliers. The chances of landing a winning
combination is the same on each line. Therefore, just like on a Multiplier, even
large bonuses for the top jackpot make small increases in the long-term payback.
It is rarely worthwhile, mathematically speaking, to play full coin on a Multiline
machine. Emotionally speaking is another matter. It bothers me when winning combinations
land on paylines that I didn't activate. I was playing a three-line Multiline machine
at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas once. I had the program for the machine, so I knew
that playing one coin was the best play, mathematically. It seemed like a winning
combination landed on the upper or lower payline every other spin. I switched to
playing full coin. Multilines are not like Multipliers in one very important respect.
Extra coins played on a Multiplier buy only increased payback, while extra coins
played on a Multiline buy increased hit frequency, too. The increased hit frequency
takes away some of the sting of the increased risk when playing the extra coins.