Casino Player November 2022

Hold The Aces When playing video poker where fourAces and a 2, 3 or 4 pays 2,000 credits and you are dealt threeAces and the kicker,are the odds better to hold three Aces and the kicker or draw to the threeAces,since fourAces without a kicker pays 800 credits? —Jim R. Midwest City,OK We assume the video poker game is Double Double Bonus, which pays $2,000 for four aces accompanied with a 2, 3 or 4 kicker (with max coins wagered).The ExpectedValue for holding only the three aces is greater than holding the three aces with a kicker; therefore, you should discard the kicker and only hold the three aces. Video Poker or Slot? Could you please settle a question my friends and I have: Is Spin Poker a true video poker ma chine or is it a slot machine? Some of us believe that since it has a pay table, it follows the rules of video poker that the cards are “dealt” from a 52-card deck, even on the re-deal. Others believe that since the cards are spinning, it’s just a random slot that doesn’t follow the rules of the pay table.Who is right? Thank you! —Michael D. Chicago, IL Spin Poker is a video poker game. The cards are randomly dealt from an initial, virtual 52-card deck. The “spinning” cards are just for show. You should use the same playing strategy for Spin Poker as you would for a traditional video poker game. One More Spin Why does the casino floor person make you press the spin button on a slot or the deal button on video poker after you are lucky enough to get a hand payout ?What happens if you refuse ? —Grace Z. Staten Island,NY Casinos have long asked players to spin off big winners. The idea is not to discourage other players by leaving a jackpot result on the reels or screen.Results are random and past payoffs have no effect on future outcomes, but many players believe a machine that has just paid big is not ready to pay again. Hence the "one more spin" request.

number generator selection for each window, waiting for you to hit the deal button? It doesn’t seem that the individual RNG situation would be likely because if they both stopped simulta neously, they could theoretically pick the same card from the 47 remaining cards. It would make a difference on if you might hesitate to in fluence the timing of the pick or play quickly because it doesn’t matter—the cards are already predetermined. Do the manufacturers publish such information so you could check the ma chines you tend to play? —ChuckV. Washington,MI We have checked with the manufacturers on this issue, because this has been a recurring question we’ve received for the entire 34 years this magazine has been published.The answer is that different programmers set up the deal/draw method in different ways. Some deal 10 cards in a sequential fashion, placing the draw cards behind the deal cards. Others use the random number generator twice, once for the deal and once for the draw. The main takeaway? The method doesn’t matter. Regardless of which method is employed, your odds and the payback percentage are exactly the same. So don’t worry about it; just play. Bonuses and Possibilities Is it possible to help the bonus money fall into squares in a slot bonus sequence by touching the empty squares as the money falls? It seems that sometimes it works. —Clark New Jersey It doesn’t work. Touching the screen does not affect the result at all; the result is predeter mined at the start of the bonus.But if it makes playing the game more fun, have at it! It cer tainly can’t hurt. I have Two Questions 1.While in New Mexico recently, driving along the highways,were several smaller Indian reser vation casinos I passed. I stopped into three.On many slot machines, there was a little sticker that stated.“This machine pays out 80 percent or more.” Isn’t there a certain percentage that even Indian reservation casinos have to pay out, which I thought is higher than 80 percent? 2. Another big Indian-owned casino,having been advertised in your magazine, is Isleta Casino. So my question is:Are all these Indian

casinos, the little ones like I mentioned above, along with the very big one like Isleta, Class III casinos or the“bingo type,”or video lottery ma chines? Isleta Casino seemed like regular Class III machines while the three smaller ones seemed to play differently yet still had the same look.The payout amounts,except for any actual progressive amounts,were also much smaller at the smaller Indian reservation casinos.Thanks for a great magazine. —RS Via the Internet First question: Indian casinos are not bound by state-imposed regulations, and that includes minimum payback percentages.We’re not sure why they would designate 80 percent, since casinos in New Mexico have to compete with nearby jurisdictions where the payout is typically much higher than 80 percent. Per haps it is because the nearest huge commer cial jurisdiction, Nevada, has a minimum payback requirement of just 75 percent. Second question: The machine classifica tion depends upon the state in which you play. Indian casinos in New Mexico are all Class III games, just as in Nevada.To offer these games, tribes are required to sign an agreement, called a compact, with the state that gives the state a portion of revenues in exchange for the privilege. In states like Alabama, Nebraska and Texas, only Class II electronic-bingo slots are permitted.Many states, such as California and Oklahoma, offer both types of games, sim ply because tribes keep all revenue from Class II games. Stopping Play When someone stops the play on a machine time after time,does that change when the RNG will let someone hit a jackpot? I sat next to a woman who never let the machine stop on its own. She seemed to be doing alright as far as wins go. Stopping between spins or going constantly does not change anything.The initiation of the spin will freeze the numbers generated by the random number generator at that instant, and that will translate into the reel result.Play ing faster or slower, or spinning constantly or stopping between spins—none of that affects the likelihood of wins or losses at all.The wins will come when the right numbers line up, and that’s it. —MaureenW. Woodgate,NY

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