What's the Best Play for Larger Free Slot Play Awards?

I recently won $500 in free slot play at a local casino. What is the best way to play it through a video poker game. I normally play JOB at the 25 cent level. I really didn’t have the time it would take to play through at that level and needed to play it during this trip. I jumped up to the dollar level and played DDB. Both paytables were bad, figured maybe hitting 4OAK would be great. No luck, just wondering what the best play is for larger free slot play awards?

The best in terms of maximizing your long-term result is to play the best schedule. The denomination comes into play for other reasons. Playing 5¢ 9/6 Jacks or Better has the same expected return as $500 9/6 JoB, but there's a tradeoff in terms of variance and time spent.

If you play a higher denom, your fluctuations will be greater, meaning you could lose a big chunk of the free play on the play-through. You'll also win more if you run well or hit a big hand. Playing a lower denom reduces the fluctuations, making it more likely that you'll be closer to the total of your free-play by the time you're finished.

The other consideration is the amount of time required. Playing a higher denom will get you through the free-play stake much more quickly. Sometimes that's an important factor (as it was for the person asking the question). If it's a large amount of FP and you're on a schedule, the higher denom might be the best, or only, choice.

One more point. Assuming the schedules are the same, your decision will be based mostly on the tradeoff, but playing the absolute best schedule isn't that important. Playing 9/6 JoB perfectly results in an expected return on $500 FP of about $498, while playing 8/5 Bonus Poker is $496, and even 6/5 BP is $484. Most important is to make sure you play it somewhere.

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[email protected] Aug-30-2023

Best JOB

I always play free play through the best available JOB schedule.  My goal isn't to hit a big hand, but rather to get cash out at least close to the amount of free play.  With $500, playing $1 JOB, even a poor schedule like 8/5 or 7/5, will still likely give you enough hands to get you somewhere in the $400-$500 cash out at the end, which is money you wouldn't already have.  Plus you might get lucky and hit a quad or two, or even a royal.  But still, getting most of your free play as cash should be the primary goal.

Randall Ward Aug-30-2023

freeplay

I play quarter Ultimate X,it's fun but too scary without that freeplay confidence

CLIFFORD Aug-30-2023

WOW!

Where do get $500 free play for a quarter on VP or any bandit for that matter?  I've never won free play on VP anywhere.  I must be a lousy gambler.

O2bnVegas Aug-30-2023

no points

During Free Play you earn NO points.  No tier points, dollar points, etc. are earned.  It took me a long time to realize that.

Me, I play something in high limit or a higher denom machine/game, something I wouldn't normally play.  A chance to get lucky...or not.

Candy

Kevin Lewis Aug-30-2023

9/6 Jack's O' Boring

Since very often, the free play I get is the only reason I played in the first place, I get bummed if I get back 30% or something of its face value. Therefore, I play Crap Jack's, which rarely returns less than 80%, even during a rotten session.

CLIFFORD Aug-30-2023

free play

If you get free play, don't you have to play it off on that same generous bandit?

O2bnVegas Aug-30-2023

for CLIFFORD

Clifford, most times you aren't limited to playing off your Free Play at one time, one machine, etc.  If you want to quit that machine to go to another one you just cash out, take your TITO.  The amount of your FP that isn't used remains in your "account", and you can download what's left of it from machine to machine to machine until you have used it all.

Also, you don't "get free play" from the machine.  You might get free spins on slots by hitting three special symbols which takes you to a bonus round which usually gives you a certain number of "free spins", but this is different from Free Play.  In that case your bonus round and/or free spins are there for the duration (usually a few minutes at best).

AL Aug-30-2023

One little correction

This is about a linguistic/conceptual trap that almost everybody falls into. It's about the term "expected return". It is true that if you play millions of hands of a certain game at the same pay table, you can expect a result that is on or very near the EV. But not when you only play $500 through the machine. That $498 is the rounding up of [$500 x 99.54%], but that 99.54% includes the "royal component" of 1.98%. However, the reality is that you either will or won't hit a royal in that small amount of time. If you hit one, you will finish well to the good. If you don't, you'll probably be somewhat behind. So, do you expect to hit a royal, or expect to NOT hit a royal, or neither (if each scenario has a 50% chance, which is not the case). You expect to NOT hit a royal, and thus you must remove the "royal component" from your expected return. That means an expected number that is about $10 less, or $488. The royal may happen, but it is highly unlikely, and thus should not be expected.

Anthony Curtis Aug-30-2023

EV

Correct, you are unlikely to hit the expected return that a given paytable yields. However, comparing EV -- with or without hitting any specific hand -- is the proper way to assess options.

Question of the Day - 30 August 2023

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