The Oracle at Odds – Part Two -- Questions: 10-19 by Frank Scoblete
10. Can the slot machines be beaten?
Of course! If you buy the right Craftsman hammer and plant one or two whacks firmly on the frontage, you should be able to get the money. A good drill would help as well. This technique should only be used in casinos where the security guards are sluggish and, preferably, unarmed. This is a great strategy for people who don’t fear jail.
11. Does it really matter which slot machines I play?
Actually, it matters very much which machines you play. The fact that a machine can’t be beaten doesn’t mean there aren’t better or worse machines to play and better or worse ways to play them.
12. Which machines should I play?
You have to judge your temperament. If you want to go for the big score such as Megabucks and you don’t mind bucking odds of around 50 million to one, then be my guest. You will lose almost every time you go to a casino when you exclusively play those progressives because they are keeping anywhere from 10 to 15 percent of the money put in them.
13. But someone wins the progressives, right?
Yes, once in a while someone wins -- but look at how long the jackpot builds before it is hit. Sometimes over a year. Sometimes up to two years! If you want a chance to come home with some money tonight, I would recommend that you stick to "equal distribution" or "straight multiplier" machines such as Double Diamond. Then only play one coin because there is no added benefit to playing two coins. You have an excellent chance of winning some money on a given night that way. You also have an excellent chance of not losing all that much.
14. Are there really "loose" and "tight" machines in a casino?
Yes. There are also loose and tight people in a casino.
15. Where are they?
They are located in chapter six of my book Break the One-Armed Bandits!. Okay! Okay! Here’s a hint: Where would you put the best-paying machines in a casino if you owned the casino? Of course, you would put them in areas that would encourage other slot players to continue playing or to play at a faster pace. You would not put them in areas where people would get annoyed with hearing slot players yelling and screaming -- like around the table game area. Those machines are usually tight because astute slot managers realize that table-game players aren’t interested in hearing coins being pumped into slots and these same managers know that if the table-game player is going to dump a few coins in a machine, he or she isn’t expecting to win. So why give a table-game player a loose machine? Why give him anything? Keep those few coins for yourself. Anyway, no one knows where every loose or tight machine is in every casino [even the source I used for my book could only tell me definitively where they were in his/her casinos although he/she stated that the psychology of placement is basically the same for most casinos] but as a general rule of thumb, the areas where slot players will be encouraged to play will be loose, the areas where solitary players might put in a few coins before going here or there to do this or that will be tight.
16. What is the dumbest thing you ever did in a casino?
I played a Martingale at roulette when I first started playing. That’s the double-up-after-you-lose system. It worked great for almost three days. On the third day I had to go to a huge bet to try to recoup my $5 initial wager. I almost had a heart attack.
17. What is the most you ever won in one session?
Just enough to keep me in writing.
18. What is the most you ever lost in one session?
Just enough to keep me in writing.
19. What’s the oldest gambling game?
Marriage, then having children, which is genetic roulette! After that it is probably rolling dem bones. I think "dice" of a type are about the oldest implements for divining luck and divining luck was the oldest form of gambling. In archeological digs, the ankle bones of ancient sheep have been found with all sorts of designs on them. Primitive people would roll those bones or throw them and ask the gods questions and depending on which symbols came up, that would be the answer to the question. By the way, some of those same primitive people can also be found at modern craps tables today.
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