For example, if you intend to play a 2-coin reel slot machine in the $1 denomination, and you have selected $100 as your game session stake, then buy $100 worth of the $1 tokens from the change person or the change booth. Then play them in the machine as you intended, 2 coins per pull. Whatever wins you get will accumulate on the credit meter. Don’t play those credits. They will provide you with a perfect gauge as to how well some slot machines are performing. At the end of your session, after you have run all the 100 coins through the machine, look at the credit meter and see what you have. It will then be easy for you to see exactly how well your slots machine did for this play session. You can then make further decisions accordingly. These are the two best ways to approach the coin vs. credit selection.

Among reel slots, this is less of an issue. Most of the bet-ter reel slots are in the $1 and $5 denominations, and since you should mostly play no more than 2 coins per pull (on 2-coin-maximum-wager machines, more on machines which require slots tournaments more coins for maximum play value), the credit play option does not have nearly the impact that it has for the nickel video slots, or the quarter video slots, where the re-quirement of multi-coin multi-line play is essential for the game and the win success. It is, however, very handy for keeping track of your progress as you play the machine.

To be continued…

The credit meter functions in two ways. First, if you insert paper currency the bill acceptor will read the value of that currency, and then credit to the credit meter the equivalent amount of that currency. So if you are playing a $1 reel slot machine and insert a $100 bill, then the credit meter will show 100 credits. start playing blackjack if you are tired from slots. The second function is to accumulate your wins. Continuing with this example, if you played the first pull at 2 coins, your credits would now have been reduced by those 2 credits, and so you would now have only 98 credits on the meter. But let us say that your first spin was a winner of 10 coins. The credit meter runs up and reg-isters that win, and now you have 108 credits on the meter.

To be continued…

Some of these machines and games may look the same but have a different payout hierarchy. This we have already discussed. Don’t forget to look at this payout hierarchy and make sure that you understand what it means and how it will affect your bankroll, your play and session investment, and your win expectation. You acquire this understanding by combining all of the information shown here and applying it to your overall machine or game selection.

Years ago, the agency developed the infamous Griffin “mug book” containing the names, pictures, and associates of undesirables, includ-ing card counters, that are considered threats to casino operations. Many of the photos and mug shots on file of card counters are pictures taken by the client casino’s own video surveillance system, and shared with the Griffin agency. Today’s version of the book is electronic. One television documentary showed a live video surveillance feed from an Australian casino to the car of one of Griffin’s most famous agents, whereupon the individual under surveillance was compared to every-one in an existing electronic database. A match resulted in the agent’s revealing all information on file about the player to the client casino, which then allowed casino personnel to decide on what action would be most appropriate.

Thus, if you’re a card counter and you’re in the Griffin database, your risk of being barred, backed off, or experiencing any kind of counter-measure is a lot more likely than it would be for a counter who has managed to stay out of it. A listing of those casinos that subscribe to Griffin can be found in Stanford Wong’s Current Blackjack News.