Ask The Slot Expert

Now that your Saturday morning radio show moved to WMC790AM, is it on the internet and if it is, what is the address? I used to listen to all of you when the show was on WHBQ.

Thanks,
Jim

Dear Jim,

Even though you might come across WMC in some streaming radio listings, I believe Infinity stopped streaming the station when they bought it last year.

Frank and I are working on some ideas for getting a show back on the Internet and it's good to know people listened to the WHBQ show when it was on the Internet. We'll have a notice on the Games Pages when something is available.

Best of luck in and out of the casinos,
John

My wife is entering her first slot tournament soon. The ad didn't say it was video poker, so we assume it will just be a 3-reel machine. Elsewhere on the net we've read that they use specially programmed machines, issue 1000 credits, and have 15 to 20 minutes per round for 3 or 4 rounds of play, wins are accumulated separately from credits and that the standard (only) strategy is to play as many spins as possible in the time alloted.

Did we get it right or is there more we should know?

Respectfully,
Malcolm

Dear Malcolm,

There are many different ways that a slot tournament can be run, so it's impossible for me to say whether or not you have this one right.

If it's a multi-day tournament, there are usually four rounds of play and each round lasts 20 to 30 minutes. These tournaments usually have multi-hundred dollar entry fees, which include a room and a meal or two.

If it's a one-shot tournament, which is really just a come-on to get people into the casino, there's just one round. These are usually free or have very low entry fees.

Most tournaments do use special programs in their machines for tournament play. Again, there are many ways these machines can be set up. Usually they're set up for free play, so you can't run out of credits because the credit meter only increases with each hit and doesn't decrease with play.

Sorry to be of so little help with the mechanics of how the tournament will be run. I can say these two things definitively, though. First, a video poker tournament will be advertised as such, so if this is a slot tournament, you will be playing a reel-spinning or video slot machine. Second, the main strategy is to hit that spin button as quickly as possible.

Some other hints: Watch the session before yours to see how the machines operate. Some will take a long time to ring up a jackpot hit, and you can use that time to rest. Others just add the whole win to the credit meter in one shot and there's no time to rest. Don't be concerned with how well your neighbors may be doing. Just concentrate on keeping your reels spinning.

Best of luck in the tournament! Let me know how your wife does.
John

Send your slot and video poker questions to John Robison, Slot Expert, at slotexpert@home.com.

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