According to the American Casino Guide 2015 and looking at articles, the Harrah’s Casino has been out of Business since June 2014. Too bad, it was one of the best places to play blackjack in the Tunica, MS. An MGM Resort located in Tunica, Mississippi, Gold Strike Casino Resort provides guests comfortable accommodation, easy access to its on-site casino, and endless entertainment. As the name suggests, Gold Strike’s premier amenity is its 50,000 square foot casino with slot machines, table games, and a full-service gaming experience.
A survey of the Tunica, Mississippi, nickel video slots was conducted by Marsha Ness. She used the same methodology as my study, except she correctly weighted each game type by the total number in the casino. The following table also shows her results.
Rank | Casino | Tested / Total | Pay Range (%) | Average | Av plus Slot Club | Outlier Machines |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sheraton | 49 / 389 | 93.48 - 94.96 | 93.974 | 94.474 | One at 98.01%, one at 87.51% |
2 | Sam's Town | 20 / 306 | 92.43 - 92.76 | 93.030 | 93.530 | Three at 98.01% |
3 | Fitzgerald's | 24 / 456 | 92.43 - 92.76 | 92.588 | 92.788 | |
4 | Gold Strike | 15 / 267 | 90.05 - 92.54 | 91.976 | 92.601 | |
5 | Hollywood | 26 / 267 | 88.29 - 90.46 | 90.176 | 90.510 | One at 98.01%, one at 87.51% |
6 | Bally's | 14 / 307 | 90.01 - 92.76 | 90.847 | unknown | |
7 | Grand | 19 / 566 | 87.51 - 90.04 | 89.946 | 90.612 | |
8 | Harrah's | 20 / 360 | 86.18 - 88.41 | 87.882 | unknown | |
9 | Horseshoe | 7 / 89 | 85.01 - 86.18 | 85.769 | 86.269 |
Notes: The pay range represents only test results. The Hollywood average also includes 12 guaranteed 98% machines, which were not tested.
Video Poker
The two best ways to win at video poker is know how to play the game you're playing and play the best possible pay schedule. Unlike slot machines you can determine a video poker machines return from just looking at the odds (pay glass). This seems too easy, right? Well, not really. The odds glass just tells you that a machine will return such and such percent to the player with perfect play over the life of the machine, but even with mediocre play you can eek out a win.
There are many programs for sale on the internet that'll teach you how to play perfectly or nearly perfectly, the problem? You have to pay for them and I like free stuff. You can find a greatfree tutorial and practice game atwww.simslots.comjust click on the video poker machine let it load, select your game and turn the trainer on. You can even change the pay tables to suit the game you want to learn by clicking on the pay for a certain item to increase or decrease the pay. If you feel so inclined you can even cash in your credits you earn and enter the monthly drawing on that website to win cash.
The other half of this equation is know what pay schedules to look for on your favorite flavor of game. That's where I come in, listed below are links to the flavors of video poker games and the most popular pay schedules associated with them. Feel free to print these 'cheat sheets' and carry them with you on your next casino trip.
How do I use this information, you say? Well, you can take these pages to a video poker machine and either look at the pay glass or the video screen pay table. Compare what your machine says to what the pages say for that specific game. To make it even easier you can usually glance at 2 pays on that pay table. Generally the only pays that are changed and have the most effect on the return of the game are the pays for aFull House and the pay for a Flush.When you hit a match you know the return that game is set at, using optimal play strategy.
All pay tables open in a new window and print on an index sized card for easy carrying on the casino floor.