Ncl slots - do any ships pay?

[mitsugirly]

Does anyone happen to know if they have Let it Ride on the Pearl?

 

I usually make it a habit to look at all the slots offered on any ship I'm on. I did not notice any that said that on it.

[scar4711]

Does anyone happen to know if they have Let it Ride on the Pearl?

 

 

Yes.. Yes they do.. I won $300 playing Let it Ride earlier this year. :)

[Lou33]

With a payback of 90%, unless you hit a big jackpot, you are assured of losing if you keep playing for hours and hours. I just won't do it. It's a waste of money IMO.

 

We only play video poker, where you know the % payback because the pay tables are listed. We only play machines that pay 99%+, but you will never find those on a cruise ship. On a cruise we might put a $20 bill, and maybe we will get lucky and hit a jackpot. Otherwise all we lose is $20.

 

We met one person on a cruise who was playing video poker, maybe for the first time, he says he almost never gambles. He bought one roll of quarters and hit a Royal Flush right on the deal. He didn't even have to draw for it. But you guessed it. He put in only one quarter and got paid 250 coins.

[mitsugirly]

Yes.. Yes they do.. I won $300 playing Let it Ride earlier this year. :)

 

Hmmm, tell me about this slot :confused: I must have missed it. Does it have the bonus rounds? Is it a penny or .02 machine or more? If it's more, that might be why I missed it.

[tahoemw]

I was on the Dawn back in 2004, the day before the cruise was over, I hit the progressive slot for 2,000; I was going on the Spirit 2 weeks after and that paid for my bar bill and the Spirit

[marc b]

Let it Ride is a table game with not very good odds, but it is extremely entertaining. Blackjack and craps are best table games for odds. Slots is a losing proposition on a cruise ship, video poker or not. Look at it as entertainment, stay within budget, and if you come out ahead, so much the better.....Someone will always win, hit a jackpot, etc. Hopefully it is you or a loved one, but most of the time, it's a story heard third hand......I spend lots of time watching the Texas Hold 'em Table. Lots of money to be made there, but I haven't the patience on a cruise ship.....

[Cruisin from Utah]

Let it Ride is a table game with not very good odds, but it is extremely entertaining. Blackjack and craps are best table games for odds. Slots is a losing proposition on a cruise ship, video poker or not. Look at it as entertainment, stay within budget, and if you come out ahead, so much the better.....Someone will always win, hit a jackpot, etc. Hopefully it is you or a loved one, but most of the time, it's a story heard third hand......I spend lots of time watching the Texas Hold 'em Table. Lots of money to be made there, but I haven't the patience on a cruise ship.....

 

Texas Hold 'em is horrible odds on a cruise even for a good player. The house takes a rake of approximately 25%. So in other words if the pot reaches 100.00 the winner will only get 75.00 with these odds the only one making money is the house. A typical casino takes 10%

[mitsugirly]

Let it Ride is a table game with not very good odds, but it is extremely entertaining.

 

Ohhhh, that's why I never heard of it. I thought they were talking about a slot machine (which is all I play). :)

[VideoTech]

With a payback of 90%, unless you hit a big jackpot, you are assured of losing if you keep playing for hours and hours. I just won't do it. It's a waste of money IMO.

 

We only play video poker, where you know the % payback because the pay tables are listed. We only play machines that pay 99%+, but you will never find those on a cruise ship. On a cruise we might put a $20 bill, and maybe we will get lucky and hit a jackpot. Otherwise all we lose is $20.

 

We met one person on a cruise who was playing video poker, maybe for the first time, he says he almost never gambles. He bought one roll of quarters and hit a Royal Flush right on the deal. He didn't even have to draw for it. But you guessed it. He put in only one quarter and got paid 250 coins.

 

Lou33, if you'll tell me where you find VP with 99%+ pay tables these days, I'll be there in a flash! Sadly, the days of really good VP are mostly over.

[BurtonRiderT6]

Let it Ride is a table game with not very good odds, but it is extremely entertaining. Blackjack and craps are best table games for odds. Slots is a losing proposition on a cruise ship, video poker or not. Look at it as entertainment, stay within budget, and if you come out ahead, so much the better.....Someone will always win, hit a jackpot, etc. Hopefully it is you or a loved one, but most of the time, it's a story heard third hand......I spend lots of time watching the Texas Hold 'em Table. Lots of money to be made there, but I haven't the patience on a cruise ship.....

 

Roulette has the best "odds". 38 numbers on the wheel, picking 12 numbers pays 2-1, so you play 24 numbers, if neither hit, stick with those and double your next bet, if one hits, again double the one that didnt and move your bet to the other 12. Playing this method works best if you are going to bet with straight chips as I recently found out the dealers will start rushing things and deal you all your winning chips last so you have no time to reset. Thats one problem, the other is in order to continue winning you need to have deep pockets and hope you don't hit the table max. Your odds of winning while playing 24 of the 38 numbers is 63%. Best odds I've seen.

 

Texas Hold 'em is horrible odds on a cruise even for a good player. The house takes a rake of approximately 25%. So in other words if the pot reaches 100.00 the winner will only get 75.00 with these odds the only one making money is the house. A typical casino takes 10%

 

It's impossible to say your odds with Texas Hold'em are terrible as that is the only game you're NOT playing against the house. The house takes it's fee off the top and you play other people in a game of cards. Now if you're talking about the table game Ultimate Texas Hold'em then yea I'm sure the odds are bad.

[LodgeLady]

Sailing on the Pearl next May. Do they have nickel and penny slots? Is the smoking inside the casino really bad? ( I know its a non smoking ship but I think they can smoke in the casino?).

[lamchops]

We sailed the "Star" 2 years ago and the "Banana King" slots were paying the "minor & major" pots out regularily. However, last fall on the Pearl the "Banana King" pots continued to rise without much wins on the 19 days that we were on board.

[mitsugirly]

Sailing on the Pearl next May. Do they have nickel and penny slots? Is the smoking inside the casino really bad? ( I know its a non smoking ship but I think they can smoke in the casino?).

 

Yes they have both penny and nickel slots...as well as a happy medium with .02 machines. :D Yes, smoking is aloud in the Casino.

 

We sailed the "Star" 2 years ago and the "Banana King" slots were paying the "minor & major" pots out regularily. However, last fall on the Pearl the "Banana King" pots continued to rise without much wins on the 19 days that we were on board.

 

I have never been lucky on Banana King, however a lot of people seem to play them on the cruises that I've been on. I'll have to try once again on the Star for my upcoming cruise.

 

Do you know if they have Cave King and the Gold Fish games on the Star?

[Lou33]

Lou33, if you'll tell me where you find VP with 99%+ pay tables these days, I'll be there in a flash! Sadly, the days of really good VP are mostly over.

 

At Lake Tahoe, we play $0.25 9/6 JOB 99.6% or 9/6 DDB 99.0%. When you combine that with the slot club benefits, we should not (and have not) lost money in the long run. I would prefer to play the 100%+ machines, but those are really hard to find.

 

In Las Vegas, it should be easy to find 99%+ machines. If you go to Las Vegas downtown, or Off-strip locations you can find 100%+ machines.

 

Try googling "full pay video poker locations" This seems to be a good site:

 

http://www.vpfree2.com/

[Lou33]

My wife loves to gamble, and she played mostly slots. About twelve years ago, I introduced her to video poker as a way to cut our losses in the long run, and we are AMAZED at the difference. We play only full pay video poker, we only play the correct strategy for each game, and we sign up for slot club card.

 

Many people are not aware of just how great the statistical difference is. If one person plays a 99.6% VP game, and the person next to them is playing a typical 93% slot. The slot player's expected loss is not 7% worse, it is about 1650% worse.

 

We have seen the difference first hand. Our days of sometimes losing $400+ on a weekend trip are long over. I have no doubt that we have saved many thousands of dollars over the years by switching. We will never go back.

 

Another way to cut losses is to just not gamble. But my wife much prefers the video poker alternative.

[Lou33]

I once met a mathematician who worked for a casino, and she gave me insight about settings for slot machines.

 

Her casino's machines paid about 93% on average. Some more, some less. The higher dollar machines paid more. She said they rarely adjust the payout for each machine. There is no need to. The exception is they are changed for slot tournaments so they pay more (credits). Some players may see their credits climb during the tournament. Subliminally, they may think that may continue when the tournament is over and they are using real money, and that is just fine with the casino.

 

All machines are completely controlled by software, even though the symbols may be mechanical wheels. Each symbol does NOT have an equal chance of landing on a center line. Many people don't know this. How many times have you got two jackpot symbols, and the third one "just missed". This is no accident.

 

The machine payback % is analyzed and set to maximize profits for the casino. If the machines are set too loose, then all machines are full of players who are cycling the same quarters through the machine while other people are waiting to play with a pocket full of money. Not good for the casino. If they set the machines too tight, then the customers will be frustrated, they won't come back, and they will have a dead looking casino with many open machines. They try to find a sweet spot right in the middle.

[mitsugirly]

I found an interesting video by a guy that had wrote a book about slot machines.

 

They buy a "chip" that goes in the machines that determines the pay out rate and even though people had stated that the machines seem to hit bigger at the beginning of a cruise (to lure people in to playing them) and less toward the end...he says is bologna. It's all programed in the chip and unless they shut down each machine and put in another costly chip, then this is a false statement.

 

Also the payout rate is not done in any given order. Someone could hit big on a machine and walk away. That doesn't mean that the next person isn't going to hit for awhile. With the next pull, you could be a big winner too.

 

He also stated the rate in which the machine determines what the next spin will be is something crazy like it changes 1000 times in a second. So, if you think you have a "routine" of pulling/pushing the button every so often before you "hit big", it's highly unlikely because of it changing the odds so many times just in 1 second.

 

It was real interesting. He has a web site too that is suppose to tell all the slot games and their pay out rate and for each state.

 

I'm not sure how much is truth or not, just posting what I had watched. :D

[Lou33]

Mitsugirly,

 

Thanks for the video link. That is an excellent explaination of how slots work. They also have a good video for video poker.

[travelerpair]

Or I got some of the past losses back. Whatever. Last January on the Star, the winnings were the only good thing. I play the slots and after a slow start I got a favorable return. Played enough to get a small amount in free play and won a small bonus on that. The casino staff had one friendly woman and that is all I can say. Reach a certain level and get free house drinks (finding a waiter is the problem). Tables did not seem to be paying off. Met someone who was with a group and no one was winning. I did not find the casino fun. Maybe because most everyone was loosing.

[mitsugirly]

Mitsugirly,

 

Thanks for the video link. That is an excellent explaination of how slots work. They also have a good video for video poker.

 

No problem. I know it helped me relate to what goes on inside a slot machine and kind of put my mind at ease. I've heard/read so many stories about how the winnings are better in the beginning of a cruise just to get people hyped up and want to come to the casino...then they go down toward the end (however, I can honestly say that I've never experienced it). :D

[VideoTech]

At Lake Tahoe, we play $0.25 9/6 JOB 99.6% or 9/6 DDB 99.0%. When you combine that with the slot club benefits, we should not (and have not) lost money in the long run. I would prefer to play the 100%+ machines, but those are really hard to find.

 

In Las Vegas, it should be easy to find 99%+ machines. If you go to Las Vegas downtown, or Off-strip locations you can find 100%+ machines.

 

Try googling "full pay video poker locations" This seems to be a good site:

 

http://www.vpfree2.com/

 

I use vpfree all the time for my casino visits. Be careful, as many of the casino reports on the site are seriously out of date, and I can tell you, as an experienced and long time VP player, that the days of good VP at the levels I prefer to play ($1 or $2) are long gone. Yes, there are a few decent games left - mostly at the "locals" casinos on the fringes of the industry, as you've pointed out. But the major casinos no longer offer much good VP, even in the high limit area.

 

I always use a player's club card, but since the name of the game with those is maximizing your player credits, it gets pretty hard to justify playing low-pay VP since no player's club gives you full credit for your VP play. You end up losing on the low-pay machines, and only getting half the credits that you would have gotten for the same $ at risk on a slot machine.

 

In short, although I spent several years studying correct VP play, and still enjoy playing VP, I'm using slot machines to maximize my player credit return for my dollar.

[justlaff69]

We didn't have any luck with slots or VP on the Sky (7/9-7/13).

 

Max bet on a penny was 2.75, my $20 on that machine didn't last long at all.

 

What are the max bets on the $1 machine?

[VideoTech]

I found an interesting video by a guy that had wrote a book about slot machines.

 

They buy a "chip" that goes in the machines that determines the pay out rate and even though people had stated that the machines seem to hit bigger at the beginning of a cruise (to lure people in to playing them) and less toward the end...he says is bologna. It's all programed in the chip and unless they shut down each machine and put in another costly chip, then this is a false statement.

 

Also the payout rate is not done in any given order. Someone could hit big on a machine and walk away. That doesn't mean that the next person isn't going to hit for awhile. With the next pull, you could be a big winner too.

 

He also stated the rate in which the machine determines what the next spin will be is something crazy like it changes 1000 times in a second. So, if you think you have a "routine" of pulling/pushing the button every so often before you "hit big", it's highly unlikely because of it changing the odds so many times just in 1 second.

 

It was real interesting. He has a web site too that is suppose to tell all the slot games and their pay out rate and for each state.

 

I'm not sure how much is truth or not, just posting what I had watched. :D

 

Mistsugirly, that's a good video, and I wish more people would watch it and pay particular attention to what he says at the end when he answers the questions about the common misconceptions.

 

He only touches on this briefly, but it's worthwhile to point out that the machines that use a chip to set the payback percentage are mostly the older style reel machines. The more modern video reel machines have their payback percentages set by software selection, not by a chip. On most of those machines, it still requires a slot tech to physically change the programming and percentage at the machine, and, as he points out, most casinos have no need of doing this on a daily, hourly or weekly basis. Regulated casinos are prohibited from doing this in any case.

[VideoTech]

We didn't have any luck with slots or VP on the Sky (7/9-7/13).

 

Max bet on a penny was 2.75, my $20 on that machine didn't last long at all.

 

What are the max bets on the $1 machine?

 

Max bets on a $1 machine can range from $5 to $10 and up. BTW, there are many penny machines that have max bets of $5 or more as well.

 

If you are playing with a small bankroll and want it to last, you need to play 1 line at 1 credit (if the machine allows it...many "penny" machines don't actually allow a 1 cent bet). You won't win much, but you should be able to play a little longer.

[VideoTech]

Roulette has the best "odds". 38 numbers on the wheel, picking 12 numbers pays 2-1, so you play 24 numbers, if neither hit, stick with those and double your next bet, if one hits, again double the one that didnt and move your bet to the other 12. Playing this method works best if you are going to bet with straight chips as I recently found out the dealers will start rushing things and deal you all your winning chips last so you have no time to reset. Thats one problem, the other is in order to continue winning you need to have deep pockets and hope you don't hit the table max. Your odds of winning while playing 24 of the 38 numbers is 63%. Best odds I've seen....

 

And the casinos love you, too. You do realize that the house edge in Roulette is a minimum of 5.26% and goes up from there? And that the best win probability is only 47.37%. You're playing a game that's heavily in the casino's favor, my friend.

 

As for the "Doubling up" system, it's been around forever and here's what one source says about it:

 

The oldest and most common betting system is the Martingale or "doubling-up" system,in which bets are doubled progressively. This probably dates back to the invention of the Roulette wheel, but every day of the week some gambler somewhere reinvents it, or some variation of it, and believes he has something new. Over the years hundreds of "sure-fire" winning systems have been dreamed up, but regardless of what system is used, in the long run it cannot overcome the house's advantage of the 0, or 0 and 00. This house advantage is the only system that consistently wins in the long run.

 

If you'd like to know more about it, read about the "Martingale" system here.