GOING FOR THE GOLDEN GOOSE
Many little wins? Or occasional big wins?
By Frank Scoblete
I am a conservative player and I have become even more conservative in my goals and betting strategies as I’ve aged (beautifully, I might add—aging, that is).
I do not look to make a killing at any game. I want to be able to play for the number of hours that I wish and win or lose, nothing really touches me on an economic level. I play the games as games and not as a way to get rich quick—or get rich at all.
I think a sizable proportion of slot players are just like me. They play the machines in a way that doesn’t devastate them in any way. Even if such players have losing streaks, even long losing streaks, which are quite common in slots, these players are not really hurt very much. Their fun doesn’t have a huge price tag. It’s worth it.
These players are not looking for riches beyond Midas; they just want to play and have a little fun. Are they looking to win a boatload in one fell swoop? No. They know that isn’t in the cards for almost all slot players, so they are happy to play machines that give a little, take a little, and so on. Those multi-million jackpots are basically pie in the sky for them. They are looking to keep their losses at arms’ distance. And that’s how they choose their machines.
They stay away from progressive machines and look to play fun games that are self-contained.
They’ll even look for machines that don’t give more returns for more money wagered. Three coins, for example, don’t give a higher percentage of pay than one coin. In these they might just play that single coin.
Big jackpots usually mean the machines have a heavy price to play them. These careful players will play machines that are very much like the old-fashioned ones that don’t look to have a player bet many more than one or a few coins. Yes, indeed, I consider this a fun and safe way to play the slot machines. Such players are satisfied with little wins and little losses. That’s quite fine with them.
However, there is another group of slot players who are looking to make a killing—a killing so big that their lives will change for the better as, of course, a lot of money makes a lot of happiness. That’s the theory anyway.
More money makes marriages better, and children become better behaved, and such awesome lucre allows one to eat in the finest restaurants and live in the finest towns or city neighborhoods or, even better, to have houses in multiple locations and maybe even more than one country. It also means you’ll drive the finest cars and have well-to-do friends. And great clothes, too!
With a bundle of money that fills a safe so large that the bills can’t be counted without spending days doing it, you’ll have the life. Heck, you can hire people to count your money. Peasants need something to do with their idle time. Oh yes, oh yes, the slot machines are a way to such riches, to such a luxurious life.
Big players, meaning those who want the slot machines to open their golden doors to the world of the real OZ, don’t really care about small wins and small losses—where will that get them? They’ll be stuck in the same place, in the same life experiences, as they’ve always had. No, big money means big changes; good changes. Isn’t that a rule of nature?
So, which type of slot player are you? Are you a person who wants to play and win a little or lose a little and continue with your life? Are you in control of your wild fantasies and enjoy casino slot playing as a game to be used strictly for fun? Or are you going for the golden round? Looking to eat that golden goose? Are the slot machines the mechanical equivalent of the various lotteries that promise players wealth unbelievable? Is that how you think?
Okay, it is obvious where my bias resides. I go with the low, slow and steady when it comes to my casino play. I have fantasies, of course, just like just about everyone, but these fantasies are little ones. I do not think of randomness, which is what these games are all about, as some divine element looking to bestow monumental gifts upon me. I do not rely on my luck at being lucky.
I do not disdain people who think their luck might change into glorious living arrangements if they can hit the big one. That seems to be a common human desire. We want better. Most of us are not born wealthy; most of us have to work hard to get what we want.
The first five years of my life were spent in a cold-water flat in New York City. We had no hot water and three of the rooms were not heated in the winter. Maybe coming from that has influenced me?
Probably.
All the best in and out of the casinos!
Frank Scoblete’s website is www.frankscoblete.com. His books are available from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Kindle, e-books, libraries and bookstores.
