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Online Gambling Articles > Biased machines and a damned system Dear Mark,
I gamble in one of three places: The South where I live,
Biloxi and Shreveport, and where my daughter resides,
Reno, Nevada. I limit my gambling to only video poker.
Though my playing style stays consistent, it seems I am
luckier in Reno than the casinos here in the South. My
question is this. Is it possible that the video poker
machines are not truly random here in the South, but
instead, biased that high cards come up less often than
expected? Marty C.
A few quick thoughts, Marty,
before I answer your question regarding biased machines.
First, because you most likely play less often in Reno,
your gambling timeline is shorter. Shorten your exposure
in front of any machine, anything can happen, including
winning more.
Also, you did not mention that the paytables were the
same in all three gaming jurisdictions. Quite possibly,
you are playing on machines that have a better paytable
in Reno. Get back to me, Marty, on that one.
As for machines being set so high cards appear less
frequent, you might find those kind of shenanigans in
foreign casinos, cruise ships, online gambling, etc, but where
you play, Mississippi, Louisiana and Nevada, regulations
mandate that every unseen card in video poker must have
an equal probability of appearing just as if the cards
were being dealt by a well shuffled deck.
Dear Mark,
A slot attendant told me that a particular video poker
machine has not hit in over six months. You have stated
in the past that the chances of hitting a royal are
about 40,000 to one. My guess is that this machine has
probably seen more than 40,000 plays over that period.
Wouldnąt it be logical to assume that the machine is now
due to hit a royal? Karen K.
True, Karen, I did state that the odds of a royal
flush occurring are once per 40,000 plays, but I never
said that a machine will hit once every 40,000 hands. No
matter how long it has been since that machine has paid
a jackpot, the random number generator used to shuffle
the cards has no memory. It does not know Karen needs a
quick score to pay the rent. So, the probability of a
royal flush on each and every hand remains the same;
ALWAYS 40,000 to one.
Like all slots, video poker machines do run hot and
cold, but there is no way you, me, a slot attendant, or
even the casino owner knows when a royal will appear
next.
Dear Mark,
I received some e-mail for a slot system based on
cycling. Do you know anything about it? Is it worth the
money? Jan F.
The seller hawking this stygian system believes that
slot machine combinations are programmed to go through a
cycle. At the end of each cycle, combinations will
repeat themselves in the exact same order. SAVE YOUR
MONEY, Jan. Each combination is random and independent
of past ones.
Speaking of combinations, some progressive machines can
have 16,777,216 possible outcomes. I recommend bringing
a sack lunch to any ninny who plans to record every one
of them.
Online Gambling quote of the week: Gambling on football
has never been really good for you; but on some days, it
can be serious fun. That is how it works for some
people; and on Monday night, I was one of them. I won
big on Indianapolis, and came dangerously close to
winning a mysterious woman from a visiting gambler. She
almost went crazy when he said he would leave her here
as collateral until he could pay off his losses in cash,
which has been standard gambling procedure out here in
the sporting West for 200 years, and nobody has ever
called it White Slavery. ‹Hunter S Thompson
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