Question of the Day - 07 December 2024

Excellent question. 

And for the answer, we turn to an article that Jean Scott wrote for Strictly Slots way back in 1999. This piece delves into when and why to change machines before your session is over, but ends up addressing the money aspects raised in the question. 

Take it, Jean. 

Although it’s a basic query, the answer is not so straightforward. For years, I’ve been compiling a list of answers to the question of “when to walk.” I find that they fall into three main categories: mathematical, common sensical, and emotional.

In the first category, math tells you when to walk. Serious students of gambling and professionals, whose main interest is profit, will tell you to walk away from a negative-expectation game even before you drop in a single coin. However, the goal of casual players is entertainment; they’re looking mainly at the fun factor. They’re hoping for the big win and depending on luck. Still, math can still be their ally. They can “walk” often, bouncing from machine to machine with wild abandon. The more time they spend changing machines instead of actually playing them, the less they'll lose. The money they don’t lose is money won!

Another time to walk is when a promotion — one that made a bad or so-so play a good one — ends. We’ve played many negative-expectation games when a promotion transformed the casino edge into an advantage for the player. One example of this is when a players club offers triple points during Monday Night Football. However, when the triple-point session is over, we’re out of there faster than you can say, “From all of us here at ABC, goodnight.”

In the common-sense category, do yourself a favor and quit when you’re hungry, tired, or need a bathroom break. When you haven’t eaten for a long time, your blood sugar drops and you can’t think clearly. When your eyes start to blur from staring too long at a video screen or spinning reels and when your shoulders, arms, and back start to burn from sitting too long in the same position, you won't be making wise decisions. 

Also, feel free to change machines or end your session when the environment isn't healthy or comfortable. I often have to change machines when the air-conditioning is blasting Arctic air directly down on my already-aching neck and shoulders. Another typical “move” situation comes when the smoke from the cigarette of the person right beside me is drifting straight into my poor allergy-suffering sinuses. You may want to move if the seat is uncomfortable, your neighbor is a constant complainer or button pounder, the machine you’re playing has a fuzzy or jumpy screen that gives you a headache, a sticky video poker button causes you to make mistakes on your card holding, or your partner wants you to quit and join him or her in a non-gambling activity.

When you’ve lost the money you budgeted for that particular gambling session, walking means straight out of the casino, into your car, and out of the parking lot or straight to your hotel room. There should be no side trips to the cage to cash a check or to the ATM machine to lay your hands on money that you had earmarked for other purposes.

The third category, emotions, is much harder to pin down. Temperamental factors don't worship at the altar of mathematics and are usually unconcerned about good sense, so this is a much more personal. The following aren’t universal “reasons,” because they’re often unreasonable to other people.

But it is often a good idea to walk when you reach your personal win/loss limit. There is no absolute mathematical rule here. But say you previously decided to change machines when you won $100. You win the $100 and you not only don’t quit, but you subsequently lose that $100. You’ve launched yourself into that disquieting “if-I’d-only” territory. Quit when you win that $100 even if you just move to the next machine that looks exactly the same. You may lose the $100 at almost the same rate, but that internal broken record playing “if” in your head won’t drive you quite so crazy.

How about when you’re losing and it’s really getting to you? A slot player on tilt is tempted to chase losses by increasing the number of credits per hand, becoming even more frustrated as the losses pike up even faster. A video poker player may sacrifice the advantage of the “long term” and deviate from the computer-prescribed strategy, hoping for short-term success. Even pros and frequent players who understand volatility and have learned how to take the ups and downs of gambling will change machines if they get psyched out by a long losing streak that starts to affect accuracy and speed. A fresh start on a new machine gives video poker players a chance to take a break, stretch their bodies, and rest their minds; feeling better emotionally, they’ll again be able to play faster with less likelihood of making errors. Slot players as well can benefit from a refreshing break before jumping back into the fray.

Another time is when you’ve been up and down for a long period of playing time and finally get even or up a little. Being on a gambling roller coaster is an exhilarating but exhausting ride and sometimes leaving even, or even with a small loss, will make you feel like a big winner, especially if you’ve climbed out of a hole dug at the beginning of your play. I often say, “My nerves just can't take another elevator ride to the basement today.”

When you win a jackpot is a valid emotional reason for many people to walk: It’s fun to celebrate! The joy of winning is a universal human emotion. What we're all looking for is the jackpot! There's no bigger thrill for the machine player than a royal flush or the top-of-the chart payoff. Stop and savor the feeling. Go somewhere to eat with your partner and talk about every little detail that led up to this jackpot. Go shopping and splurge with some of the jackpot money. Even if it’s not a large life-changing win, stop and take a little walk and smile at everyone to share your happiness.

Finally, when you’re getting bored or you just aren’t having fun combines common sense and emotion. The tiny group of pros who make their living at the casino machines may have to put in their eight or ten or twelve hours a day, seven days a week, whether they’re enjoying or hating every minute of it. But for the rest of us, gambling is entertainment. And when we aren’t having fun at our machine, we need to walk.