How to Know When to Leave a Winning Slot Session
Slots are the most popular casino games, being chosen by 80% of players.
With so many titles available at any of the top 10 UK online casinos, playing slots can be exhilarating, especially when you're on a winning streak. The thrill of watching the reels line up in your favor and the joy of seeing your balance grow can make it tempting to keep spinning, hoping for even bigger payouts.
However, slots are notoriously difficult to have sustained success at because they are so random in payouts and knowing when to walk away is a crucial skill that many players overlook.
A typical scenario for slot playing is knowing when to walk away from a machine because it feels “cold” and isn’t paying out. That’s an important skill to learn, but another, which is talked about far less, is what happens when you are winning.
What should you do on the occasions that you hit a “hot” machine that is paying out? Maybe the slots session is going so well that you get caught in the middle of trying to make the streak continue and walk away while you are ahead.
The Hot and Cold Myth
One myth that should be busted about any game is that machines can run “hot” and “cold”. This simply doesn’t happen. A slot machine is no more likely to win from one spin to the next, no matter how much money you have put into it during a session.
The outcomes of all slots are based on a random number generator, which prevents machines from running hot and cold. Whatever the result of your last spin was, it doesn’t influence or impact the next or any future one.
Sometimes a machine will start winning more frequently, simply because of the randomness, and that means that it could stop paying in the next two minutes or 2 hours - you just never know.
Set a Win Limit
Before even starting playing on a slot, it’s good to have an idea of your limits. Determine what your win limit would be. This embraces the idea that once you reach your desired winnings, you walk away because you are content with what you have achieved.
Set a Loss Limit
The loss limit protects you from going further than you can afford to. If you have a budget of £100 for the slot session, that’s all that you are going to spend and no more. It’s ideal to balance this with putting winnings aside.
That way, by avoiding the temptation of reinvesting earnings, at the end of play, you know that you haven’t spent more than the initial £100. If you’ve spent the last of your stake, just walk away, regardless of how much profit you may have taken.
Time Limit
Another approach that slot machine players use is a time limit. This is simply the length of the session that you are prepared to sit there for at a machine. Put a timer on your phone or smartwatch and when it’s up, cash out and walk away, even if the machine is “hot”.
Be in the Right Frame of Mind
If you are under stress or have been having more downs than ups in a day, it’s probably best to avoid the slots in the first place. Gaming requires a player to be in the right frame of mind, because you may get more desperate for a win, just a positive result, that you end up breaking your limits. Also, losing streaks can just cause more stress.
Understand That Losses Will Come
The simplest way to know when to walk away from a winning slot machine is by using cold, hard logic. Throw away all the emotional highs of seeing a winning pay line hit and understand that everything can turn very quickly. Know that the losses will happen, and while you don’t know when that will be, it’s best to get ahead of the game.
Don’t Tilt!
It may also be worth remembering the adage “Quit while you’re ahead”. That’s never bad advice when it comes to any form of gambling. Winning can be a rush that you don’t want to let go of, and the fear of missing out (FOMO) will creep in and you feel like staying because you think you could get even more.
This is tilting, making bad decisions based on emotions, which can lead a player down a tricky rabbit hole. If you’ve already won more than what you started with, why would that not be a good time to walk away?
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