Online Slot Tournaments

Online slot tournaments are becoming increasingly popular. They are fun to play and offer an element of competition since you are playing against the other participants. Tournaments also offer long play times and the opportunity for a large payout with a set price to buy in.

Slot tournaments can either require a fee or “buy in” or be a freeroll tournament. Freeroll is casino jargon for a free tournament. Free slot tournaments are used to bring in new real money players. The free slot tournaments usually require participants to sign up at an online casino. Around holidays you will often find freeroll tournaments that have large payouts. There are also online casinos that offer smaller weekly freeroll tournaments. The tournament itself will not cost you any money, but you will need to provide accurate contact information to play.

Each tournament will have its own set of rules but generally, there is a fee or “buy in” required. For this fee you will either receive a set number of credits or a set amount of time to play. Each participant receives the same amount of time or credits. These credits can then be used for spins on designated slot machines. In time limit tournaments you will want to make sure to get as many spins as possible. The goal is to end up with the largest amount of winnings.

Most tournaments use play money. It cannot be exchanged for cash when you are finished. The advantage of play money is that all you stand to lose is your entry fee. Every player has the chances of winning at the beginning of the tournament. No one will start with a larger stack than anyone else. The disadvantage of this system is that jackpots do not pay off in cash. If you hit a progressive during a tournament the maximum that you will receive is the tournament top prize.
Online slot tournaments generally do not require all players to start at the same time. There is usually a set amount of time that you will have to play. This time starts when you choose. The object of the game is to end with more credits than any other participant. You are allowed to stop playing at any time. Most tournaments have a leader board so you may decide to stop if you become the leader.
Familiarize yourself with the rules of the particular slot tournament than you are playing in. Although the actual play will be similar, the payout and re-buy systems may be different. Some online slot tournaments will allow you to re-buy credits after you have used your initial credits. This is important to know if you are on the leader board and expect to be paid out. Each tournament also decides how it will determine the winner. In some slot tournaments, the player with the most credits at the end of the established time period wins. Other tournaments have a playoff with a predetermined number of finalists.

Online slot tournaments give you the opportunity for large payouts for a relatively small investment, and a long playing time for a relatively small investment. It is a great way to get into online gambling without investing too much money right off the bat.

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Online Slot Payout Schedules

An online casino slot machine payout schedule is a list of each possible return and its associated probability. A straight online slot machine will have a payout schedule for the number of coins bet. For example the maximum payout for a one coin bet may be eight hundred coins, while a two coin bet will pay 1,600 coins and a three coin bet may pay a jackpot of 2,400 coins. Depending on the coins value, the actual payout will vary. For the examples payout schedule, if the coin size were twenty five cents, a three coin bet would pay $600 and a $1 coin size would pay $2,400 for a three coin bet. This example is from a balanced payout schedule. More often you will see payout schedules that pay higher amounts when the maximum coins are played.

An unbalanced payout schedule may pay a maximum of 200 coins for a single coin, 400 for a two coin bet and 1,000 coins for a three coin bet. Slot machine payout schedules vary from machine to machine. It is always important to know and understand a slot machines payouts because they are not always consistently proportional. The greatest variations occur on progressive slots. These slots are set up to pay at a lower rate on smaller hits, while the jackpot is a true jackpot. The jackpot is a pool that grows each time someone takes a chance on one of the designated slot machines.

Slot machines are set up to encourage players to play more coins. It is clear to see the more coins one bets, the better the odds and the payouts are. Most online slot machines allow you to select the value of the coin that you will play with. When the payout schedule pays at a higher rate for more coins, you are better off playing smaller denominations and maximum coins. This concept seems simple, but many jackpots have been lost by careless play.

If a slot machine has been paying off regularly it is said to be loose. A slot machine that has not hit in a while is thought to be due. These are myths and need to be understood as such. Remember that past performance in no way effects future games. Slot machines are completely random. They use a random number generator to select winners. Each pull of a slot machine, or game, is completely separate than the previous game. Luck is a larger factor in slots than in table games. The key to slot machines is that they are set up with different payback percentages and hit frequencies. Table game odds do not change much from casino to casino because the rules of these games are consistent. Since there is very little skill involved in playing slots, you need to take advantage of every opportunity that you can.
If your goal is to play as long as possible you should look at the lower winning symbol combinations. Choose a machine that offers the most winnings for the lower and medium symbol combos, because these are the ones you will be hitting most often, which will keep you playing longer. Do not play a slot machine simply because it has a high maximum payout. The chances of winning a large jackpot are very small. The odds of actually hitting the top combination do not change even when the payout rate is higher. Machines that have balanced payout schedules and high payout rates will be your best bet if you are looking to play for a long time without spending a lot of money. Play slot machines that have pay rates in line with your goals.

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Online Blackjack Tips

Blackjack is one of the most popular games at both land based and online casinos. The reasons for its popularity are that it is both easy to play and requires skill. By using the basic blackjack strategy card you can lower to the house advantage to less than 1%. This is one of the highest payouts in the casino. In order to give yourself the best odds you need to follow a few simple guidelines.

You need to learn and understand the rules of blackjack. Do your homework; there are thousands of websites dedicated to blackjack. You need to learn not only the basic rules, but the variations and how they affect the play of the game. If you start reading you will learn about variations such as blackjack switch, Spanish blackjack and European blackjack. Each of these games presents a slight twist and changes the player’s strategy. Do not assume that you will play a variation the same as you would the basic game; this is what the casino wants you to do.

Learn the basic blackjack strategy card. Learn the card, do not just memorize it. There are times when you will want to deviate from it, but only if you understand it. The blackjack strategy card is based on statistics. Playing by the basic strategy card will increase your chances of winning. Playing by gut feel is your worst enemy. This can increase the house edge by as much as 5%. The only times that you should be deviating are when you know that there are an inordinate amount of low cards left in the deck. Use this to your advantage and hit with low cards against low to mid cards. Your goal is to beat the dealer, so remember that when the count is against you hit more often. Both you and the dealer will pull more low cards in this situation.

There are two main differences between playing online and playing blackjack in a casino. Traditional casinos intentionally over stimulate you. The loud noise, crowds, use of chips, lack of windows and clocks are used to confuse and distract you. The land based casino also uses either a six or eight shoe deck. They do not reshuffle every hand because this would take too long. Online casinos reshuffle after every hand. If you are trying to keep track of the count you will need to play at a traditional casino. If you are not keeping track of the count the online casino is usually a much better bet. Online casinos allow you to play from your own home. You can prepare yourself to play and make sure that you will not be distracted. You can use your strategy card and shop for your best online opportunities. Online casinos offer many different bonus opportunities than traditional casinos. They offer match bonuses on your deposits. When you make your initial deposit at an online casino they will usually match it to entice you to try out their casino. There are other weekly and monthly match bonuses available through most online casinos.