Page 6 - May 2011 • Southern California Gaming Guide

Bill Burton: About Gambling
LChanging Denominations Does Not Matter
ast week I was on a business trip in the South, and stopped by one of the casinos on the Mississippi River. I decided to play a little video poker, and sat down at one of the multi-denomination/multi-game machines. e rst thing I do when I sit down at one of these machines is check out the denominations of the machine. is particular
machine had the option of playing quarters or dollars. Next, I look at the games o ered, and then compare the pay tables of each game to see if there is any di erence in the payout based on the denomination of the game selected. In some casinos there will be a lower pay schedule on the lower denomination games. e pay schedule turned out to be the same for the quarter and dollar games on this machine, but as I was running through each game checking the pay schedule, I started to think how the multi-game technology has really made it easier for both the player and the casino.
and note the cards that were dealt after the hand is complete. en switch the denomination of the game and see what cards are on that screen. If the cards are di erent, the machine is using a separate program. If the cards are the same, then it is using the same program. Of course, this is only true if you compare the same game at di erent denominations. Deuces Wild, Joker Poker and other variations of video poker all use a separate program.
However, before you get upset, if you hit a jackpot on a machine where the cards are the same, you have to realize that you would probably not have hit it if you had kept playing at the higher denomination.
is is because machines have a computer chip that runs the Random Number Generator (rng). e rng is continuously cycling through numbers even when the machine is not being played. When you hit the draw button, the rng picks the combination of cards to be dealt at that given microsecond. If you had stayed playing at the higher denomination, it is highly unlikely that you would have stopped the rng at the exact time needed to display that same combination of numbers. In the time it takes to switch denominations to the new game, the rng has cycled through thousands of combinations.
I did not mention this to the fellow who had just hit the royal, but after he left, I did compare the quarter to dollar denominations and found that particular machine did indeed use the same program. I’m sure if he knew that, he would have been convinced that he missed the big one.
Maybe it was karma, but during my playing session I nally did hit a royal ush and was more than happy to take the win, even if it was only on a quarter machine.
Until next time, remember: “Luck comes and goes.. Knowledge Stays Forever.”
Bill Burton is the author of 1000 Best Casino Gambling Secrets and Get the Edge at Low Limit Texas Hold’em available online at billburton.com. Burton is also an instructor for Golden Touch Craps: thecrapsclub.com.
Several years ago, each slot machine on the casino oor housed only a single game. If you wanted to play Jacks or Better you had to look around the casino for a machine o ering that game in the denomination you wanted to play. If you wanted to change the
concentrating on my game and was not paying attention to the other player. All of a sudden he slammed his hand down on the counter of the empty machine and let out a curse. I jumped and looked over expecting to see that he
denomination or game you were playing, it would involve cashing out and walking to a di erent bank of machines. e major disadvantage with single game machines is that they limited the amount of games a casino could o er because of the physical space a single machine takes up. e machine I was playing o ered nine variations of video poker and four di erent video keno games that could be played for quarters or dollars. So that machine essentially replaced 30 single game machines. is is a win/win for casinos and players, because you can switch games and denominations with the pushofabutton.
“Hitting a jackpot after
you switch to a lower denomination game does not mean that you would have hit it if you had stayed playing the game at the higher denomination. Some video poker machines use a different program for each denomination game and others use the same.”
had missed a royal or some other high-paying hand. To my surprise I saw that he had just hit a royal ush. I congratulated him on his nice win. He swore again and said that he had just switched from dollars to quarters two hands ago, and if he had stayed with dollars he would have had a $4,000 jackpot instead of “only” a thousand bucks. I just shook my head and went back to my game. It had been a while since I had gotten a royal and I would have been happy with one at any denomination.
Hitting a jackpot after you switch to a lower denomination game does not mean that you would have hit it if you had
Sometimes being able to switch denominations on the same machine might present a problem for some players. I witnessed this when I was sitting at one end of a three- bank machine and saw a man playing at a machine on the other end. e machine in the middle was empty. I was
stayed playing the game at the higher denomination. Some video poker machines use a di erent program for each denomination game and others use the same.
ere is one way to tell if the machine you are playing uses the same program: Play a hand at one denomination
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
May 2011