Any casino goers here? Story to share.

I just wanted to start a topic about my experience at the casino over the past couple of months. I've been going to the casino with my grandmother for years. She don't like to go by herself because the casino is in Detroit so I escort her there. She gives me money to play here and there and I spent a lot of time watching her play. She has spent upwards of $50k a year in the casino. She plays video poker and for years as I've watched I've studied these poker machines.

I have a cousin with a masters degree computer science and I told him that I didn't think the cards being dealt were truly random. He told me nothing with computers is truly random. So with that in mind I've searched for patterns in the cards as I watched my grandmother play. I found several combinations that when played a certain way they increased my chances of winning by allowing me to play for longer periods. I also noticed that when certain combo's showed up it was almost a certainty the machine was going to pay out.

With my new found wisdom I took on the casino and I won and I kept winning. For those that don't know casino's offer players cards. They're cards that you put in the machine and your rack up points and comps the longer you play. I decided that I wasn't going to use my comp card because I didn't want the casino to track my playing habits. I didn't want them to see what machines I was playing and how much I was winning.

Between December and January I walked out of the casino with $9800 in 6 trips. The last winning trip I had they caught on to me. As I was playing one night I hit 4 aces 4 times twice on the same machine. A man in a suit and tie came up to me and said "Can I offer you a players card sir?" I said "no thank you". After I left the machine that I hit the 4 aces on the guy in the suit and a technician opened the machine up. The man in the suit played the machine for about 20 minutes. I'm pretty sure they were checking the machine out to see if I was cheating in some way.

My winning streak finally came to an end. I've been back 5 times since then and they changed the programming on all of the machines. I no longer see the combo's of cards I use to and my technique no longer works. It was fun while it lasted.

I didn't walk away with millions of dollars or anything but for a short time I beat the casino. I tried to explain to my grandmother what I was doing but she's not that tech savoy. She's pretty stubborn and set in her ways.

a reply to: wantsome

I was always taught that the random number generators (RNG) in these machines changed their algorithms every couple of weeks to stop consistent players getting reads? No RNG is infallible - if you're willing to put in hours and hours of hard work you can eventually predict 2 out of 3 cards that will come on the flop on many online poker sites - but the joy will be short lived due to the RNG changing its algorithm.

As for video poker - I was taught it worked the same, at least modern machines do. Sounds like your 4 aces story was just a streak?

Anyway, always love a gambling story, especially when it involves winning!

Sounds like you managed to recreate the Press Your Luck scandal.

This Michael Larson guy realized the board on the show had patterns. He basically managed to hit the 3000, 4000, or $5000 dollar and a free spin square a bunch of times.

You can check out his videos here. Link.

a reply to: and14263

In 6 trips I got 4 royal flushes for $1000 each 4 aces 5 times for $500 and countless other premium hands. I've been going to the casino with my grandmother for over 10 years. Neither of us has ever hit a streak like this before. Video poker takes skill to play. It has the highest payout of any type machine in a casino because there is a large room for human error. You have to make decisions on what cards to play. If played correctly using the perfect play method it is possible to win more then you loose. I've studied the perfect play method and these machines aren't programmed to match it. In many instances I see the machines contradict the perfect play method by paying out winning hands opposite of is suppose to be the correct playing method.

Correct me if I'm wrong but a RNG wouldn't change unless programmed to? Computers don't do anything unless instructed to right? I've always wondered if the machines had some sort of timer in place.

I know that what I discovered was more then just a coincidence. In 10 years I've never been approached by anyone other then a waitress serving drinks. After the man in the suit approached me him and the tech ran a diagnostic on that machine. Then he played it to see if there was anything funny going on.

Theres plenty of RNG algorithms around so swapping them around at random (when some human decides not every x plays) will make the game over a long term impossible to guess as you don't know if the guys swapping them around every hand and actually swapping every hand would allow some sort of determining i'd guess unless theres multiple factors to pick the method such as time/press on the screen location and even the strength and length of the press etc someone will be able to work out the best strat given time but for those sort of people i'd imagine they'll bribe someone to give them the source code and work it out from there.

a reply to: wantsome

Not a big Casino visiting person, mostly for a show, but found out that there is controlled luck. If I get in tune with my inner self and am in a positive mood I can win. However this is not something I can force. I stopped playing Black Jack when my name was taken a second time by a Casino. Like I said not really my thing

If your good at pattern recognition and have patience.. can use similar strategy playing roullete .. sorry cant share my casino stories here but due alcohol.. scantilyclad women .. theyd violate t&c ...

a reply to: wantsome

The RNGs on modern machines are changed remotely via internet. An old machine probably wouldn't have worked this way. I would still doubt that the old machine would stick to the same RNG. I may be wrong but it's the first line of investigation when trying to 'glitch' a machine.

I will add though, even though the RNGs are not random they're very, very hard to pre-empt/predict. The example I gave above regarding an online texas holdem RNG - I am not exaggerating when I say it took two people ten hours a day for over 5 days, maybe almost two weeks to be able to predict (reasonably accurately) 2 out of 3 flop cards.

Subconsciously (and then becomes consciously) we do recognise patterns on these electronic machines. Fruit machines though - here's the clever bit - they're made in such a way to make you think you are recognising meaningful patterns but all this is just to keep you playing. Very clever machines designed for not very clever people - fruit machines.

50K a year... Jesus...
Wish I had that much money to piss up the wall.

Props to you though for beating the casino for a short while.

a reply to: SilentE

Most likely, the tech was running a diagnostic to see if the machine was malfunctioning in any way. If they can prove a malfunction, it voids your win and your pay. Other than that, I've been routinely approached as I played by people asking me if I want a player's card.

Greektown or MGM ? I'm in NW Ohio and have visited both, I think I might like Greektown a little better.

Slot machines make guaranteed money because they never pay anywhere near the true odds.

They don't need to establish patterns in the electronic programs that control the games.

It seems to me that winning at the casino , especially online , is something out of the realm of fantasy . One of a hundred. Why do people keep playing them?

a reply to: wantsome

Yeah this has happened to me before. Over about a year long period I was playing the same machine and it would always pay me out the jackpots. They were $15, $100, $1,000. Unfortunately the casino was 2 hours away so I only got to play on the machine five times. Last time we drove to that casino, the machine was gone. It was one of the very few older machines in that casino, and I don't know what was wrong with it or how it went unnoticed for so long but I cleaned up for quite a few trips there.

a reply to: wantsome

I decided that I wasn't going to use my comp card because I didn't want the casino to track my playing habits. I didn't want them to see what machines I was playing and how much I was winning.

I seem to win bigger jackpots when I do not use the comp card. I had a big win $3500 on a slot machine and did not use my comp card, then a female employee came over and asked me for my full name and I didn't see any reason why not to tell her. Now you have me wondering.

I too question if the spins are random or a timing thing or set to hit a jackpot at a certain denomination. Oddly, I seem to win the large jackpots pressing the denomination buttons in sequence (back and forth) first then if and when it starts to payout a little, then more, I will switch to the maximum denomination and I am usually very lucky. Also, some times when I press multiple buttons it seems to behave and sound differently. Once when I won a $1600 jackpot on a Tarzan slot machine (and nobody ever wins that much money on those machine) a male employee came over to me and said that I cheated by pressing multiple buttons. I just gave him one of my famous 'whatever" looks.

I don't go to the casino regularly but when I do, the machines that I always won on in the past are usually replaced with more modern machines.

I play a lot of poker and don't really play the house games.
I've consistently won and had some good days where I profited in the thousands. Tournaments and cash games are both easy to find here with the 8 casinos to choose from.
Still want to win a big tournament and get my picture on the wall at my favorite casino some day.
I might go to the 165$ buy in this sunday.