Winning Strategies

[rowmare]

Hi all!

There are a few regular contributors to this forum who are pretty darn good at this gambling thing.

What I'd love to hear is what your srategy is.
Such as:
What's your favourite game - what have the best odds, for someone who understands the game?

What's your general philosophy about gambling?

In other words, how do you manage to win more often than lose?

Enquiring minds want to know!

[rowmare]

Maybe I should kick it off.
I'm not a card shark, but I manage to do pretty well simply by setting a limit.
I have a set dollar amout that I will not go under, and I raise this dollar limit if I start winning.
That's my big tip. :yes:
W00t.

[jpm]

That is a great strategy to use rowmare. You should always start out with a dollar limit you are prepared to lose and a 'stop limit' as well. For instance, if I deposit $100 and quickly lose $50 of that. Its time to stop or change games.

Also, set an upper limit that you'll be happy to walk away with. For instance, deposit $100 and play till you reach $200 then take the money & run. If you happen to hit something good that puts you over that limit, make $200 your bottom and keep playing and moving up the limit by say $50 each time. Get close to $300, then fall back to $250, then its time to bail out.

I prefer Video Poker and tend to stick to Aces & Faces, Jacks or Better, Joker Poker, and Deuces Wild. On occassion, I'll stray over to double jokers or maybe deuces & jokers just for fun. Last time I did that, I hit a royal on double jokers (natural). I tend to stick to the 4 line variety as well and always bet full so when you do hit the royal, you get the extra bucks (4000 coins as opposed to only 1000 coins for a 5 coin bet as opposed to a 4 coin bet). Also, get yourself Bob Dancer's Winpoker and practice, practice, practice. You gotta know the strategy in your sleep (or use Viper's expert mode).

Learn to recognize and exploit your lucky streaks. I'm getting better at this one. There was about a 2 week stretch where I was hitting royals left & right on A&F 4 line at playtech casinos. Then about a month later, I was hitting like crazy on MG power poker. Played at nearly every one that I had an account at, and cleaned up.

Probably more importantly is to recognize when you're in a losing streak and limit your losses. Don't try to chase the lost money when you're in this stage, you'll just get deeper in debt. Instead, look for a different game to try. If you're not winning at VP, try slots or vice versa. If MG isn't hitting, try Playtech for a while. Look for slots with good paytables (wild symbols, multipliers, bonus rounds, etc). I also look at the 2nd highest payout on a slot to see what kind of game I'm dealing with. If top prize is 10,000 coins and second highest is only 500 or 1000, pass on it. Find something that's more like 10,000 and 5000 or 2000 at least. Then use the same strategy as VP. Recognize and exploit streaks, one game isn't hitting, try another.

Recently I'd been doing real well on MG's Reel Thunder. Seemed like I could always make a hundred or so on it. Then more recently, it went cold so I hunted around for something else. Seemed that 5 Reel Drive was now running hot for me. I cranked up $100 to $400 the other nite in very little time on that one. Tried it at a different casino last nite and made another $100.

There will be some casinos that you just won't be able to win at. If you have 5 or more losing session at one place, leave and don't go back. Find another casino. I did this with Spin Palace, Roxy Palace, and Capt Cooks. Can't win crap at any of them, so I delete them. I like the Fortune Lounge group for MG casinos and pretty much stick there now. If I'm not doing well at one of their 6 casinos, I try a different one. But the nice thing is, my comps and wagering all go into the same pool there, no matter which casino I play at. This is great for VIP status and redeeming comps, etc.

It'll take some time and diligence to recognize and exploit the trends, but it will be worth it in the end I think. Hope this helps!

[Casinomeister]

Great post jpm!

One thing I should add, this is all about enjoyment and the excitement of the risk - win or lose. My methods are somewhat the same as jpm's. When I make a deposit of $100 (the norm), I keep an eye on this closely. My normal bet in the multihand VP is a full coin bet at $.25 ($5 a hand). If I lose half, I bail and go somewhere else. For slots, I usually play the five reel-nine line slots at $2.25 a spin. I lose half, I bail.

One thing I do do is increase my bet amounts on a "whim". In other words, I make a wish and crank the bet up to $20 in VP or in slots a few $9 spins (or like last weekend $45 - greedy bastard and looser!). I do this in multihand VP when my original deposit has grown more than 20% ($20) and I've had four losing hands in a row (dealt crap and either held nothing and received more crap, or dealt crap and didn't receive more than to make up the loss. I have had some really big hits this way. A few months back, (some of you may remeber) I was on my last leg in multi hand A&Fs and I did the $20 bet thing and received two aces. "Whoopie, I get my money back!" I thought, but when the final cards were dealt, four aces showed up in one hand - $400!

I never crank the bet up after a winning hand.

And counting losing hands has nothing to do with doubling.

I'll double every so often. If I win big on the initial hand, I see this as a gift from the great poker spirit, and I do not double. I leave it be and collect it. If I have an initial crap hand, and win a little or come out even, I feel that this hand was an initial losing hand and I'll double once - twice - maybe three times to make up the loss.

As for watching my funds, my rule of thumb is when I exceed $200, I cash in $100 leaving me with the initial deposit. This lets me play my initial strategy. Sometimes I am able to do this a number of times, then I play out the initial depost and then walk away. The hardest thing is not to reverse the cashin, but I only do this if I feel like playing and not expecting any outcome.

[spearmaster]

I use basically the same system as JPM's, but definitely not going to describe in great detail like he did (because he already did a great job).

Set session limits - lose it and walk away for a while. Also set goals, usually starting at 1x your deposit - make that then lock it in as the bottom limit, take the remainder and try to make another multiple, etc.

My problem is not sticking to my own plan LOL - otherwise I would probably be ahead instead of even.

[Casinomeister]

About a half hour ago, I found about $25 in my Casino Kingdom account. Within the second $5 bet, I received two queens pat, held them and received one set of 4 queens!! Yahoo, I was in business now. After a number of good hands and some lucky doubling I was up to $140. I said WTF and made a $40 bet. Received 2 queens again, held them and voila. Guess who came back to visit? The two other queens! I immediately cashed out $400 and went on to play some other stuff. Tried to chase the ellusive four dueces and a joker in Dueces and Jokers, and I kept hitting straight flushes pat! Sometimes on a $20 bet.

So far I've cashed in $600, and my balance is now zero...not bad for $25 and a half hour of goofing off!

Now I am back to work... no more slacking off.

[murder1]

What I do is...bet it all on one hand. Either Won or Lose. Hell Bust me Out!!!

[tim5ny]

My methods are a little more insane than most of those posted here. Either I win huge...or I lose it all. I,m a casino owners dream. But on those few occassions when I score..it,s usually pretty big.

[jpm]

Thanks for the compliments guys! I didn't even realize how long that post was until I saw it here in the thread, lol. And I didn't even get in to the doubling part, thanks for mentioning that Bryan. I kind of follow that same method when it comes to doubling as well. I usually use it to make 2 pair into a str8 payout. Sometimes on trips, and almost never on anything above that. I'm always nervous and somewhat tempted when I do find the royal flush about hitting the right button (collect or double). Playtech has a double-half option that I've actually considered briefly on a royal or two. Just couldn't bring myself to do it though.

I've rarely tried the increasing-bet strategy that Bryan does. That can either be real good or real bad. If I'm on a real hot streak, sometimes I will though.

WTG on that session Bryan, you really kicked butt on your little 1/2 hour distraction! Gotta love sessions like that. The other day, I logged into my Swiss Casino account and found 80 cents sitting there. I decided to blow it all on a couple of 45 cent spins on my favorite playtech slot, Captain's Treasure. I got a couple of hits on the first spin and was up to a dollar or so and kept it spinning somewhat mindlessly. After about 4 spins, I heard the Captain chortling and the winning sounds and looked at the screen to see I'd hit 3 cutlasses with a wild symbol (doubles) for a payout of $50! Not bad for a nickel per line (and 80 cents to start with). I took the money and ran.

[kniepm]

The gambler in me agrees with JPM's post -- look for the winning streaks and ride them as far as they will go. But I also have read from more logical minds (Wizard of Odds) that you can't count on streaks. My experience tells me otherwise. I think we've all had ice cold sessions as well as those sessions where everything falls your way and the only regret was not pushing the bets more aggresively to take advantage of the streak.

Good basic strategy is the first step but money management strategy seems to make the difference between consistently losing and consistently winning.