Those who play online pokies for more than just fun often wonder if there is a way to win, or at least increase their chances of winning while reducing the likelihood of losing.
There is such a possibility, but if you are thinking of some slot strategy or more or less recommended tips, I have to tell you that you are completely wrong. Slots are a game of chance and, except in very rare cases, your skills are generally unimportant.
Every online pokies has a way of playing.
Let’s look at physical slots because they are the easiest to analyse, and the same argument applies to online slots. For example, in the US, depending on the denomination of the slot machine, the RTP or Return to Player percentage corresponds to:
Should you bet the maximum?
Anyone who plays online pokies knows how the paytable works. Slots that allow you to choose the coin value usually offer bonuses for winning combinations achieved with the maximum bet.
For example, take a online pokies that allows you to bet from 1 to 3 coins at a time. The highest combination wins 1,000 chips for bet 1, 2,000 chips for bet 2 and 5,000 chips for bet 3. Here I point out the disproportionality of the last payout: if there were a perfect ratio, then the potential payout would be the same regardless of the bet size. However, if you decide to bet 3 chips at once instead of 1 or 2, you will give yourself an edge.
Be careful though, because I’m talking about slots with 3 reels. With 5 reels, there is no such «spike» in winnings: the ratio remains the same regardless of the bet size.
When to bet the maximum amount on online pokies
Whether you’re playing a 3-reel or 5-reel slot, there are situations where betting the maximum allowed bet is always the best option, even if it doesn’t bring an exponential increase in potential winnings.
However, some slots require the bonus symbol to appear on an active payline in order to get free spins or other special forms of rewards such as bonus symbols. Б. Unlock a multiplier or activate another mode.
Then there’s a special kind of slot machines called «buy pay» machines: each token you place unlocks a set of symbols. So if you get a combination of these symbols and bet the appropriate amount, you win; conversely, you lose on the spin.
From this point of view, maximising your winnings means being aware that any bet below the maximum limit runs the risk of reducing the number of winning combinations: in this case, you might as well not play at all.
Online pokies jackpot
Then there are online pokies with multi-level progressive jackpots where, if you want to win the jackpot, you need to make separate bets, the size of which can vary depending on the type of online pokies: in this case, maximising your return on investment means that the progressive jackpot is geared towards achieving this through the necessary bets.
Some online pokies players do go looking for online pokies with progressive jackpots. Doing this online is almost impossible given the sheer number of online casinos and online pokies on the internet, whereas live ones are much easier, albeit geographically limited — you can’t expect to visit every online pokies in Europe or the world!
In any case, when these players enter a online pokies, they try to keep track of when the progressive jackpot starts and when it is actually unlocked. You create some kind of database, like this:
- The jackpot starts at €5,000
- Latest jackpots: €8,663; €5,981; €7,453; €9,012; €8,114; €7,888; €10,576; €8,243 (the more data they can catalogue, the better)
- From this data they infer some things, such as that the jackpot rarely exceeds €10,000 and is more often unlocked between €7,400 and €8,700.
- Based on this information, do not play this online pokies until the jackpot reaches at least €7,400.
Conclusion.
Maximizing wins or minimizing losses on slot machines or online pokies is not a matter of skill or strategy. There are no playing tips that can help you win more or lose less. There are, however, some tricks that only experienced eyes can detect and that can help you avoid mistakes while taking advantage of all the winning opportunities that slot games offer.