I’ve found a bank of four machines where sometimes the progressives are playable. I’m intentionally changing the details a bit because I wish to instruct players but not give away the exact location of the play.
As is my wont, every time I think the progressive is high enough and I’m the only player (which is a common occurrence for graveyard players but not so common for daytime players), I check the meters. For a machine with one or more progressives, I write down the amounts, $20 through the machine, and then I see how much the meters has changed. If it’s a 1% meter, the sum of the meters will have gone up 20¢. If it’s a half-percent meter, 10¢.
I then cash out and do the same thing on the next machine over. And then the next. And often a fourth. This exercise tells me a couple of things. First, which machine has the buttons responding the best? Progressives are frequently found on bar tops, and often those have sticky buttons. Sticky buttons are a nuisance I wish to avoid.
Second, occasionally the meters are not all set at the same rate. I think this is probably an unintentional mistake by slot technicians. It doesn’t have to be, but probably is. The slot director has a particular meter rate in mind, and he gives instructions to his techs. Often these instructions are followed precisely. Sometimes they aren’t.
Checking four machines before you sit down and play isn’t that uncommon or suspicious. Players change machines all the time for a variety of reasons. In addition, on the graveyard shift, the bars are often unattended, so the fact that you’re moving around is totally invisible.
Let’s assume it’s a $1 9/6 Double Double Bonus game with the meter on the royal only, and you can find this game on four machines. The meter increases at a 1% rate on three of the machines. On the fourth machine, however, the meter increases at a 2% rate. Further, assume the royal is currently at $6,000 and you calculate that the slot club (including mailers) is worth about a half percent.
This is playable, but there may easily be other games in the vicinity that are better plays. So, in our hypothetical example, if you’re the only person there, you definitely sit down at the game with a 2% meter. If it’s going to take you $10,000 of coin-in to hit the royal (which would be a nice result), you’d prefer the meter to be at $6,200 (because of a 2% meter) rather than $6,100 (which would be the case if you played on a machine with a 1% meter).
So far, we’re in a no-brainer situation. A general principle for most of us is “more is preferred to less.” Everything else equal, we take the higher meter rate.
But now, assume that there is one person already on the machine when you get there — and to make the situation interesting, that person is sitting on the 2% machine. What now?
Your choices are:
- Just sit down and play one of the other machines.
- Wait on a nearby machine and if this person leaves the machine before the royal hits, pounce on the good machine.
- Go somewhere else.
Go ahead and make up your mind and then I’ll tell you what I would do — and why. If you want to think about it, go ahead. I don’t mind waiting for you to decide for yourself.
My answer, by a mile, is the first one. Just sit down and play. This is a good game. The game is worth 100.09% with the $6,000 coin royal, the slot club adds another half-percent, and the meter-rise is greater than 1%. What are you waiting for?
The fact that somebody else is on the “good machine” is irrelevant, assuming they are playing the same game as you and approximately as fast. You want the meter to rise. You shouldn’t particularly care if that rise is being generated by your machine or the other machine.
The meter rise doesn’t affect how well you do and whether you’re the one who hits the royal or not. It only affects how high the royal is when it is hit. So, sit down, hammer away, and if that person leaves, switch over to the better machine. You want that machine to be played. Whether it’s by you or not isn’t particularly important.
On machines with multiple games and/or denominations, it could well happen that the person on the other machine gets off dollar DDB but still plays the same machine (perhaps by switching to 25¢ because he’s lost too much playing dollars.) That happens sometimes and if it does, you should stay if this game meets your definition of being playable assuming a 1% meter.
Although I think the answer, upon reflection, is obvious that you shouldn’t care who is on the good machine so long as somebody is, I suspect that many people will have different instincts about this before they analyze it completely. I know I did!
(Slightly off topic) I was playing on a bank of Optimum machines when the guy on the end starts giving really bad VP advice to anyone who will listen, such as: “always change games after you hit a jackpot.” When he left his game, he stopped to talk to the couple playing next to me and said: “I’ll tell you another secret. Bob Dancer told me this one day when he was drunk. He said to never go for a straight. It’s a bad bet.” And, they believed him. This is why the house should never worry about losing money on those machines.
Umm … “slightly?”
I thought you would like to know this.
I get misquoted periodically. Sometimes by well-intentioned people who missed a caveat or two (such as when you’re playing deuces wild and are dealt a straight with two deuces, never go for the straight) — and sometimes by not-so-well-intentioned people.
My life works better since I stopped worrying about things like that.
If somebody was lying about me, I would want to know about it. I would have said something if I thought it would make a difference.
I wouldn’t say they’re lying. It’s just ignorance. To this day, many blackjack players still think standing on A,7 vs 9, 10 or ace is “correct” basic strategy and will swear to it.
I changed casinos, I now day trade on the stock market in my own home, sitting at my computer in my underwear. The odds of winning are better and the only drunk I have to put up with is me.
I am with Bob, “ Sticky buttons are a nuisance I wish to avoid.“
I have found that often the better pay schedules are at the local or smaller casinos on older machines with sticky or inoperative buttons.
On many occasions I will switch machines for this very reason.
Also, I am curious if in the scenario where someone is on the 2% machine you often notice that the person is playing incorrectly and you can deduce that they are at the best game available only as a random occurrence. Just as they might be playing an 8/5 JoB machine adjacent to a 9/6 JoB machine.
There is a difference between you playing by yourself on the 2% machines VS you playing on a 1% machine and another player playing on a 2% machine.
When you play alone, you are raising 2%, while when you are with another player, (doesn’t matter which guy is on the 2% machines) you two are effectively playing a 1.5% machine. The more players playing, the worse the situation.
So here I would choose option 3.
The fact the the player is on the 2% machine tells me that there is a chance he is an AP. If he indeed is an AP, he will not leave the machine until he or someone else hits the jackpot, making it impossible for me to play the progressive at the desired 2% rate (playing alone).
Therefore, the better choice I think is to walk away, look for better opportunities, come back later to see if the guy is till playing. If I find nothing better to play, I would sit down and start playing.
BJAP21 — Bob’s point was apparently missed; namely, that you’re playing an optimal situation in this scenario so long as someone’s playing the 2% machine reasonably fast and contributing to the meter progression (whether it’s you or someone else).