Free Forum - Slots - off topic story

nervebreaker

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Dec 12, 2005, 10:32:29 AM

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Slots - off topic story

Went to Shreveport with two guys who love the slots. One of them got the other as he didn't understand why is 3 7's weren't paying off as it looked like a winner. Turns out he was trying to stretch his money and was only betting One dollar instead of the 3 dollar max for payout. Lost $25,000! He had a sense of humor about it as it beats crying so he's got a story to tell and he won't forget to max out the bets next time.

Roontz

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Dec 12, 2005, 12:15:38 PM

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This confirms that slot players are not the brightest bulbs on the tree (nt)

Oddfellow

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Dec 12, 2005, 12:56:34 PM

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He was correct to only put in $1

If the house edge is 20% putting in $1 means he was paying the house 20 cents for the spin.

Compared this to an 8% edge putting in a max bet of $3 per spin, then the house collects 24 cents per spin.

Your friend was almost certainly correct to only be betting $1 per spin. An even better wager would be $0 per spin.

Coug Fan

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Dec 12, 2005, 2:02:05 PM

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Depends on his goals

I agree that if he was attempting to maximize EV, then a $1 wager at 20% HA is better than a $3 wager at an 8% HA, ignoring comps. However, given that he was playing slots at all, I think we can safely conclude that he was NOT trying to maximize EV.

The typical slot player is looking for fun and excitement, which translates to increased variance in my way of thinking. In other words he is willing to give up EV in exchange for increased variance. In this case, you would need to quantify the specific increase in variance, but it would be interesting to see whether the increase was comparable in % terms to the 20% increase in negative EV (actually much lower if you factor in comps).

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Slots - off topic story