How To Win On The Pokies

The first point to note is that there is now way to win consistently over the long term playing pokies. There is no secret to winning and there is no playing strategy that will help you win. All slot machines are set up so that the casino or pub will always make a profit over the long term.

Pokies and all slot machines are really intended to be used as a form of entertainment not as a way for you to win money. You have a much greater chance of losing than you do have of winning. The chance of losing money increases the longer that you continue playing.

Having said that there are are few things that you can do as a player to give yourself the best chance of winning in the short term and to make sure that you do not lose more money than you can afford. Below we outline a few tips and strategies to help you minimize losses and maximize wins.

- Always set a budget before you play
- Never use the ATM's at gaming venues, leave your credit cards at home
- Never play with money needed for other expenses such as bills
- In general the higher denomination games have better pay backs
- Do not increase your bets when you are losing
- Never chase your losses
- Treat each gambling session independent of previous sessions
- Set a time limit for your gambling sessions
- If you do win make sure that you cash out and walk away
- Play at casinos where you can win bigger amounts compared to pubs
- Join the VIP program at the casino to get extra free rewards
- Don't play when you have had too much to drink
- Don't continue playing just because the feature has not hit in a long time
- Play for entertainment, not to win money

All pokies have a side game where you can try to double your winnings by choosing a suit or a colour. Unlike the spins on the reels these bets have no advantage to the casino, they have natural odds. This means that the feature is probably a better way to win than on the spins. Below we have an example of how this works.

Lets say you are playing the Queen of the Nile. The top jackpot is 9,000 credits for five of the wild Cleopatra symbols. The odds of lining up this combination is no better than 2,500,000 to 1. The payout for five kings with one Cleopatra is 500 credits. The odds of hitting this combination are much better that the top jackpot.

If you were to gamble the 500 credit win on red or black five times you would have a win of 16,000 credits. The odds of getting five red or black gambles correct in a row are 1 in 64. When you consider that this win is 7,000 credits bigger that the top jackpot and the odds are drastically better it is clear that the best way to win on the pokies is to use the double up.

Doubling up with the suits can lead to even bigger wins but the odd are not quite as good. The chances of getting five correct suits in a row are 1 in 1024. In the example above the five kings gambled five times on the suits would lead to a massive 512,000 credit win - $5,120 on a one cent game.

The suit example shows how you can get a win that is 56 times bigger that the top jackpot with odds that are much better. The only problem with using the double up to win is that you have to a get a win to begin with. When you consider this it probably effects the real odds compared to the maths.

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