Slot Tournaments, Other Tournaments and Hosts

19 October 2023

By Royal Flushes

CINDY: The casino has so many games that at times I can’t recall them all from memory. Along with the standard games such as blackjack, craps, roulette, Pai Gow Poker and mini-baccarat, and also the seemingly thousands of different slot machines, every week it seems new games make their appearance to live or die based on player preferences.

ABBY: But one thing we haven’t covered are the tournaments that the casinos offer.

CINDY: Tournaments are usually invitational. If you have given the casino plenty of action over a period of time, you might find yourself invited to play in a tournament or even several tournaments. Some casinos have slot tournaments almost every month. Some internet casinos do too. Check them out.

ABBY: There are many different methods for playing tournaments; some of these are easy ways to play, but some might require a certain level of skill. Blackjack and craps require more skill than do slot tournaments.

CINDY: The slot tournaments that we’ve played in do not require any skills of any kind at all. They require speed; the ability to hit the play button as fast as you can to get in as many decisions as you can in the tournament’s time period. You can think of this competition as a sprinting event and you want to be the Usain Bolt of the machines!

ABBY: The tournament type of slot machines are not your regular machines that you will find in the casinos. They are speed machines, programmed to give an inordinate number of hits in a given number of decisions. Slot hits are massive on them and the amount of “winning” hits will overcome your normal hits at a regular slot game by an immense amount.

CINDY: And what of the other tournaments, blackjack, craps, roulette especially? These tournaments are not that frequent except on many cruise ships which could have one or more of them daily.

ABBY: I am a big tournament player at the table games and my strategy is really, really simple. I want to get ahead as much as I can as fast as I can. I want to get way, way ahead if I can manage that. It’s kind of like a World War II “damn the torpedoes” strategy. I am willing to flame out as I attempt to put all the other players under the gun where they have to make some big moves to catch me. Yes, another player might get lucky and catch me but they will risk a lot to do so. I want the pressure of the other players to catch me, not on me to catch somebody else.

CINDY: If you have a host, that can help you and it is a good thing because hosts can often get you into tournaments that you might be a so-so possible entrant based on your normal level of casino play. So, try to get a host but don’t – and this is a serious “don’t” – play to just please a host or a casino. You have to stay within the limits of your bankroll. That is always the key ingredient in normal casino play.

ABBY: Schedule your tournament plays for times when you will be at the casino anyway. You have little to lose then. Then this tournament play becomes just more fun for a given trip.