It’s a question I’ve heard asked many times – is there a strategy to playing a slot tournament? The short answer is yes although the skill factor compared to a baccarat, blackjack or poker tournament is hugely diminished. In those other tournament types you need to know the game as well as the strategy behind your play in order to increase your chances of winning.
The strategy behind slot tournaments, on the other hand, can be taught in a matter of seconds so anyone can enjoy the thrill of the competition without having to spend years fine-tuning their game.
The obvious starting point is to find out the terms and conditions of the slot tournament you are planning to play. Most of the time you are given a set amount of credits to play with during a short period of time. You basically gamble with these credits and move through the tournament based on your winnings, so the strategy is easy – bang those buttons as hard and as fast as you can! The goal is to get as big a result as possible.
This is why you will generally hear a slot tournament from the other end of the gaming floor as players bang on the spin button constantly. And you want to bet the maximum credit amount to achieve this goal, because there is no point being left with a small number of credits that won’t get you through to the next stage of the tournament. Bet to win – or bust out trying. If your credit balance gets to an amount that you think has a very good shot of getting you through to the next stage of the tournament, you can slow down, or even stop. But until you get to that point you want to bet as hard and as fast and as much as you can.
A sage piece of advice is to look for slot tournaments that offer big prizes for a small outlay. You can even find tournaments that you can play in for free by using the points you have accrued on your player’s cards, or you might even be invited to a tournament based on your good level of play at a property. Sometimes there might even be a guarantee prize pool but not many people show up on the day to register and play. This creates what is known as an “overlay” as there is more money in the pool than is covered by entry fees. Casino operators might put on a free slot tournament or one with an overlay to encourage players to come to their venue. This is very nice of them, so take them up on their offer!
The other great thing about slot tournaments is there will always be winners. You don’t have to beat the machine, you just have to accumulate more winnings (or less losings!) than the other players. Turning a small investment into a significant windfall is a wonderfully satisfying feeling, so if you think Lady Luck might be on your side, make sure you check out what slot tournaments are coming up at your favorite casino.
