So, What Do You Look For?

5 November 2023

By John Grochowski

QUESTION: What do you look for when you're playing a slot machine? How do you decide what game might be likely to pay off? Do you scout at all before playing and see if it's paying off or the same kind games around it are paying off?

ANSWER: When I play slots these days, it's usually with my wife, and the first things I look for are two seats together.

After that, I look for games I think will be fun to play. I look at the game theme and the types of bonus events. Most modern video slots have free-spin bonuses. If they also incorporate a pick'em event, that's a plus for me. I enjoy the pick'ems.

Marcy loves Goldfish, Planet Moola and Crazy Money games, so we seek those out.

Sorry if that seems flip, but there's no way to tell from the outside whether a machine is likely to pay off or how high a payback percentage it might offer. The house has an edge on slots that's larger than its edge on most table games, and that's compounded by fast play.

If you play head-to-head with the dealer at blackjack, you might make more than 200 bets per hour, but if you play fast on slots, you can make 1,000 wagers.

My approach to slots is to bet small, stay well within bankroll limits and play for fun. Wins, and even big wins, will happen sometimes. That's what keeps us going. If there was no shot to win, no one would play.

But you're the underdog on every session, no matter which game you choose. So, when I play, I emphasize choosing games I like to play and can have fun playing even if I lose a little money.

My priorities are different at different games. In blackjack and video poker, where the house edge is lower and there sometimes is an opportunity to get an edge on the house, I look for the best rules, pay tables and playing conditions. At slots, I'm just looking for a low-cost good time.


QUESTION: I found a machine that had a good pay table on Bonus Poker, so I played for a while. I find I can play a good long time on that game because two pairs pay 2-for-1 instead of just getting your money back line on Bonus Deluxe, Double Double Bonus and a lot of other games.

I was dealt two Kings and two 4s, and held both pairs. Didn't get the full house, but I still got the 2-for-1. The guy next to me saw the play and said he always holds the Kings and discards the low pair so he at least gets the Kings payoff and has a chance at four of a kind. I looked and saw he was playing Double Double Bonus, where two pairs didn't pay any more than the high pair.

Later, I got to thinking. Do you break up two pairs, even on Double Double Bonus?

ANSWER: If the high pair has Aces, you'd break up two pairs to chase a possible 2,000-coin bonanza for four Aces with a low-card kicker in DDB.

Not so much with other high cards. Dealt K-K-4-4-9, average returns on 9-6 DDB are 8.40 coins per five wagered when holding both pairs vs. 7.24 on A-A. On 8-5 DDB, averages are 7.98 for K-K-4-4 and 7.19 for K-K.

Drawing two matching cards to complete four of a kind is rare enough that even if two pairs pay 1-for-1, you're usually better off holding both pairs and hoping for a full house.