The Slot Expert's Guide to Winning at Slots and Video Poker

You can hear me give my slot and video poker tips live on The Good Times Show, hosted by Rudi Schiffer with Frank Scoblete, which is broadcast live from Memphis on WHBQ over the air on 560AM and over the Internet on Yahoo! Broadcast on Saturday morning from 8-10 CT.

Sometimes it's difficult to stick to your casino game plan when things are going better or worse than you expected.

Players who are on hot streaks sometimes start to bet more than they normally would or move up in denomination on machine in order to take maximum advantage of their hot streak. They run the risk of giving up all of their gains and then some in short order should their hot streak go cold.

Players who are on cold streaks are sometimes tempted to bet more or move up in denomination, too. They want to recoup their losses.

Sometimes losing players are tempted to change their strategies by playing more conservatively instead of always making the mathetically correct play. For example, video poker players may stop breaking pat hands and blackjack players may stop hitting certain hands.

These strategy-change temptations are particularly damaging to advantage players, who have the edge against the casino. Even though the math is in their favor, they sometimes hit cold streaks too and are tempted to deviate from the mathematically perfect strategy to help them weather the cold streak. The problem with changing your strategy is that anytime you deviate from the mathematically perfect strategy, you give up a little in long-term payback.

Without exception, every long-term winning gambler I know has had to deal with cold streaks. They all said that they were tempted to change their game plan while they were in their cold streaks. And they all said that they resisted that temptation because they knew that short-term results are meaningless and that if the math is truly in their favor, they would win in the long run.

Frank Scoblete sums it up this way: "Regardless of how you're doing, you just have to play your game."