There’s a lot more going on behind the scenes than people realise, that’s for sure.
Sorry for going off track a bit but it seems to be a “go to” thread for a lot of players. Posting new threads or reviving old ones, seems a waste of time, because most of the hardcore players have left the building.
Here’s a scenario that I’ve posted before, or at least very similar to this. It’s never received a reply, even from the members who think Snorky is a nob. I’m assuming, they either missed it, weren’t sure of the answer, or do think I’m a nob.
Okay, so a slot has a rtp of 96% (figure is irrelevant really). People state that if you play that game for long enough, your rtp will be 96%. How?
If the game has 10 billion different combination spins possible, in the base game, (figure plucked out of the air), and a player does a million spins, they will only (at best, due to repeats), have seen 0.01% of the outcomes available, so how is it remotely likely that your rtp will be 96%?
The other thing is this. When you login to a game online, what are you logging into? I mean, are you logging into a game that has been played by others, but only 1 player at a time, or a game where the money is held in a communal pot and it’s pot luck who wins and loses. Or, and here’s a bit of food for thought, are you logging into your own personal version?
When I started playing, I never gave it any thought, or at least, very little. I assumed, very naively, that I was logging into a game played by others. We can rule out, only 1 playing at a time because that would mean a busy Casino would have multiple games unavailable at any one time.
Multiple versions being played by multiple people but with all the money in “one pot”, would make more sense, and that’s what I thought must be happening for a while.
The problem then would be how to keep everyone reasonably content…..Because in those days, I truly believe that was the Casino’s main objective……Surely having several thousand players continuously losing 4% for years on end, was better than fleecing the unlucky ones for £500 and have them move on.
In short, if they worked that way, it would be possible for some to be continually lucky and others could be constantly stuffed. So, how could they ensure that they have the best possible strategy to achieve a customer’s longevity? Easy, everyone logs into their own personal game that is programmed, (nothing random about it whatsoever), to pay out the 96% over a said period. They can also programme games in a way that ensures players never get too far ahead or never get ahead at all. The absolute guarantee is that if you play it for too long, it’s impossible to win.
This is how I believe they worked when there were fewer Casinos wanting a slice of the cake. BTG even got that lax about it, that after one of their updates, upon entering the game, instead of the home screen of Bonanza loading, you went to the same screen as where you left it, when you last logged out.
That’s how I think they worked, perhaps still do, but other shenanigans have also been added to the conundrum, I think. Once saturation point is reached, and it has been, then other strategies are used, lower rtp, being the main one. Saturation point is a combination of things that means from an operator point of view, things aren’t as good as they were.
Influencing factors include a larger number of Casinos wanting a piece of the action, so money is spread more thinly. A larger number of players Self-excluding because it becomes unviable and not enough new players to replace them. More stringent regulations and higher taxes, plus other things, that all lead to the customer getting much less enjoyment and losing money more quickly.
If you compare it to a land based Casino, then you can see the difference. When you walk into those, you choose which game, and which machine you play on. Whether you pick 1, 9, 10 or 26, makes a difference. One might be ready to drop the jackpot another might be on the steal. Online, I don’t think it makes a difference, you’re session is predetermined by what has happened previously. Your personal version knows it’s you and that’s the end of it.
I’ve also had too many, so called coincidences, that are hard to believe. When I first played online, I only played poker. Prior to this I’d played a serious amount of “live poker”.
My introduction (the honeymoon period) was unbelievable. In the first three weeks, I made a ridiculous amount of final tables, with some tournaments having up to 1,000 runners. My stats must have been good enough to be world champion. But, was it because I was playing well, or because I was being lured in?
I soon began to realise, it was the latter. The bad beats, the idiotic play that always got rewarded, etc, etc. I wasn’t playing big stakes so I continued for a while before going back to playing live.
One Saturday night, about 3 months after my last online deposit, I was going to head for the Casino (100 mile round trip), but my friends all had something else on, so I didn’t go. I noticed a message from 888. We have given you $10 free credit to spend on tournaments because it’s your birthday……Which was actually the next day.
I thought I may as well play it. So from memory, I tried to win a seat to the big tournament and lost 6 dollars and with the remaining $4, I entered a comp called (The Two? Could be wrong). I think it was because it guaranteed $2,000 dollars in prize money. I think there was about 400 plus runners, and for those of you who’ve played poker, it just felt like I couldn’t lose. Everything I played, I just smashed the flop. If someone had Queens, I had Kings, etc,etc.
Long and short, I won it just after midnight (so it was my birthday) $430? I think. But that has always stuck in my mind.
I hadn’t played for a few months, it was my birthday, all those runners. What better way to get me back on board than to fix a win for me. Of course, it worked, but only for a short while, during which time it became even more apparent that online poker is 100% rigged.
