Gaming Guru

Scobe's Quick Tips: #33 and #34 (Slot Payback Percentage and Hit Frequency, House Edge)

Scobe's Quick Tip #33

The house edges of some games are directly affected by the playing decisions you make. The house edges of the other games are not.

Games such as blackjack, poker, video poker, Caribbean Stud, Let It Ride, and Three Card Poker are affected by your decisions. Make the right choices and you can maximize your winning potential on any given hand.

Games such as craps, baccarat, roulette, the Big Wheel and slots are not. In these games, you just have to bet the lowest house-edge bets or machines and hope!

For more information on the above games, read Bold Card Play by Frank Scoblete.

Scobe's Quick Tip #34

There are two concepts that are sometimes mistaken when it comes to slot machines: payback percentage and hit frequency.

Payback percentage is the amount of money over time the machine is programmed to return for every dollar wagered.

Hit frequency is the percentage of time you will get something back from the machine.

You can have a low hit frequency but a high payback percentage machine and vice versa. The two concepts are not related.

For more information on slots read Break the One-Armed Bandits! By Frank Scoblete, The Slot Machine Answer Book by John Grochowski, and The Slot Expert's Guide to Playing Slots by John Robison.