Just for perspective - i only play at licensed Dutch Casinos meaning i don't have bonus buys available, and sometimes even no enhanced bets: i always deposit 25 to 100, roll min bet HV slots, for hours on end if it lets me (sometimes its over in 10 minutes) - until i hit a 1000x or better, and then i usually cash out and leave a little to roll higher with, for fun. Sometimes i deposit several times a day...
Alas, back when it was cowboy world, i also had one or two sites that let me play 4 slots at once, but no more -even if i had one, we don't have autoplay so that would be more hassle than just one slot
I play the same slots until i bust or double the bankroll (more or less), or if it pisses me off for w/e reason with over-the-top teasing, dead spin city, dumb new games i may have tried, etc.
So, as stated before, for me personally this type of tourney has zero effect on my play - and i'm sure that goes for a lot of us: of course, in a tournament setting, there will always be some people that will try to gain an edge, not perse cause they need the win, or have as much +EV as possible, but just because it's 'competitive' - that's the nature of the beast
I know a lot of players probably play differently, but that's my way of gambling, which is ofc. very well suited to this type of competition
Now, on big wins etc, i had never hit a max win but ofc. hit several 1000's times the bet before, most of them are posted here on the forum, and some aren't, but the last couple of years it's been the norm, more or less: partly possible because there are so many HV providers out there, whereas when i started, 1000x was probably the best you could hit on a non Jackpot slot...
I had been hammering those HV slots for a decade or more now, and only hit my first max win ever a month or 2 ago (it's posted on this forum too, threw a little comp to celebrate) and since than hit several! With which i'm saying, if you play those slots enough, eventually you'll hit something similar
It does take patience and dedication for most of us though...
That's enough outta me: carry on!