The winning patterns on slot machines – the amounts they pay and the frequencies of those payouts – are carefully selected to yield a certain fraction of the money paid to the 'house' (the operator of the slot machine) while returning the rest to the players during play. Playing slot machines is the most popular form of casino gambling in the world, and knowing how to win at the slots can be one of the most important things a gambler ever learns. Although today's slot machines have little in common with the original Liberty Bell made by Charles Fey in 1896, their shape, size and popularity certainly do.
When playing a slot machine, any slot machine, you will experience a what seems to be a random “pattern” of wins and losses. It is often difficult to spot a pattern but the more you play the better your ability becomes in recognizing these patterns. In fact, the more you play, the easier it is to teach yourself to recognize and learn each slot machine pattern. The quicker you see a pattern, the better your ability is to either bet down, or even walk away when a machine is in a losing cycle, (or down cycle) and/or bet up when on a wining cycle, (or up cycle).
Sex and the City Slots. IGT's Sex and the City slots have been a big hit in Vegas, perhaps partly due to the popular TV show from which it derives its name and brand. These slots have acquired a reputation for attracting single women, perhaps because of the show's audience and identity. Slot Machine Patterns When playing a slot machine, any slot machine, you will experience a what seems to be a random pattern of wins and losses. It is often difficult to spot a pattern but the more you play the better your ability becomes in recognizing these patterns.
Since each spin of a slot machine is different from every other, some people attribute these cycles to nothing more than luck. Therefore, some players will say that when a machine loses a few hands, it is not neccesarily in a down cycle nor winning a few hands means it is in an up cycle. Due to the Random Number Generator in every slot machine, which makes every spin different from every other, there is no real way to predict any future spin from any past. Therefore, it is often a matter of luck when you lose 20 hands in a row and then hit the jack-pot on the very next spin. This is why you will see experienced players hanging back watching a machine. They are waiting for the person playing it to hit a down cycle, cash out and move to another machine, while they swoop in and hope to catch the up cycle patterns.
These cycles suggest to some players that a slot machine may be either programmed or simply fall in intervals which lead to higher slot pay-outs. The more a machine takes in on a down cycle, the better the return is on an up cycle. So if you see someone quickly go thru say $100.00 on a slot machine, with no real hand, that might very well be the machine to jump on in hopes to catch its profitable up cycle. I too have tried this very system time and again, on several different slot machines, but the payoffs always lead to the question, is this a sound system or is it simply luck or coincidence if or when that machine hits shortly after the “down cycle”? It is very hard to judge, as it really is a hit or miss with the Random Number Generator at work.
The notion is that there is one ongoing list of numbers called “the computer selection table” that the random number generator selects from, which is a list that sometimes contains more losing numbers at one point and more winning numbers at others. Determining which part of the computer selection table is the real point of this slots strategy. However, keep in mind, the Random Number Generator selects from hundreds of number combinations every second, so when you hit “spin” the Random Number Generator collects the last number it generated and matches it with a corresponding reel placement. This determines if you win or not. Since you are seeing the results of significantly less than one percent of all the number combinations generated. Therefore, it's very hard, if not impossible, to determine whether you are just missing the jackpot or that you are in one of its down cycles.
Although it remains a matter of opinion, anyone who sits in front of a slot machine long enough to plot up and down cycles will tell you, if you are losing consistently, that’s usually a sign to cash out and try your luck at a different slot machine as it does you no good losing your bank roll waiting for an up cycle to bring home a jackpot...