Gaming Gurus: Latest From Our Strategy Experts

Ask the Slot Expert: Here yesterday, gone today

Jack White's keyboard player had a short organ solo in the middle of White's first song on the April 4, 2026, Saturday Night Live. I wanted to watch him play, but a few seconds into the passage the director cut to a shot of the drummer, who was just providing a background beat. I get mad when a director cuts away from a musician who is doing something musically significant to a shot of a bandmate playing accompaniment or, worse, someone in the audience...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: Going beyond just seeing the future on a slot machine

Last week I described a parlor trick in which, under certain circumstances, you could see into the future on a slot machine and know whether you were going to get a bonus on a spin before the machine has revealed that result. Let's take it one step further this week. I'll begin by describing an experiment. Scientists showed test subjects randomly chosen images...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: Seeing into the future on a slot machine

One tip that gaming writers give to help players stretch their bankrolls is to play more slowly. Do anything to slow down the rate of play. Things like: taking a sip of your beverage or looking around the casino at regular intervals (possibly can be done), pausing between plays (very difficult not to speed up to the casino's rhyhym), or dropping coins instead of using the credit meter -- I guess that last idea is a bit out of date. I don't know if anyone ever followed these suggestions, at least not unless they were 50% through their vacation and 90% through their bankroll...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: Superstition or routine

The reporter asked Shaun White, three-time Olympic gold medalist, how he dealt with the pressure of competing at the Olympics. He said that he tried to treat the Olympics like any other competition. He had the same routine at the Olympics as he had at any other competition...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: In video poker strategy charts as in Slopestyle, order is all that matters

Athletes competing in Slopestyle events at the Olympics qualify for the finals by finishing in the top 12 in the qualification round. They are ranked using their better score of two runs. The higher the athlete's rank, the better the athlete's placement in the starting order for the final. While waiting for a competitor's score, the expert commentator said that the number didn't really matter...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: A quirk about when I sometimes stop playing a machine

I've always enjoyed playing with numbers and looking for patterns in them. The number of my first house was 413, 4=1+3. My next house was at 1023, 1+0+2=3. Another was at 2244, 44 is twice 22. My current house is 2401. Having a pattern in the house number isn't a requirement. It bothers me when a Jeopardy contestant wagers an amount not divisible by 200 on a Daily Double...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: To be progressive or not to be progressive

Question: There are 3 new machines in Mesquite, NV, that have progressive 5 play for dollars. But only 3 of the lines are progressive, the other 2 lines remain at $4000. Is this legal? Answer: I don't know of any regulation that this situation violates...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: The advantage of overlay symbols

Last week I gave you a homework assignment using a slot I've been playing a lot recently, Diamond Quick Hit Link. Let's start with a description of the machine. Diamond Quick Hit Link, like many other slots today, has three bonus features with BS meters that don't show you how close you are to triggering the bonus...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: My favorite aspect of Diamond Quick Hit Link

A few weeks ago, I wrote two columns about the dark side of Quick Hit slots (The dark side of Quick Hit slots, A better example of the dark side of Quick Hit). I've been playing the Diamond Quick Hit Link machine that I wrote about recently (Is my slot machine malfunctioning?) each visit for a while now...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: Slot machine malfunction headlines lack context

Headline writers have a limited number of words in which to tell what an article is about and tell it in such a way as to get the reader to read the article. Context is frequently a victim to the hype. A recent example. An article in Forbes: Why Bad Bunny Won't Get Paid For The Super Bowl Halftime Show. The article was first published on January 30, so denying him a payday can't be a reaction to his comments at The Grammy Awards on February 1...read more