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.

I used to recommend that players join every slot club they find, even if they're not planning to play in that casino. I've even gone on Las Vegas slot club scavenger hunts in which I drove out to the outlying casinos just to join their slot clubs and, if nothing else, add their cards to my collection. Once when I was at Sunset Station, I noticed a sign on the bar near it, Digger Dan's, that said that they now had a slot club, Of course, I pulled in and joined. And I thought maybe I should get a bumper sticker that reads "Warning! I Brake For Slot Clubs."

I recommended joining the clubs because you never knew when one of these clubs would send you a nice offer. When business is slow, some marketing departments will dig down deep in their databases and send offers even to players who have done nothing more than give them their name and address.

Today the situation is different. The competition to sign up new members is so fierce, many clubs have very generous offers to entice new players to sign up. These offers range from free show tickets to double, triple, or even more cashback, or refunding your losses if you happen to lose after a certain length of play.

I've not been able to take advantage of any of these offers because I already have cards from the casinos that made the offers even though I never played in some of them. I was in the database, so I was not a new member.

I still recommend that you always join the slot club where you're going to play, but I no longer recommend that you join the club just to join the club. Better to wait until they have a good new member offer or you're ready to play in the casino even without a new member bonus.

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

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