Winning a life changing amount on an online pokie is clearly a dream for many Australians. While the possibility of hitting a massive win on a single spin exists, you must understand that it is pretty low and a much wiser strategy is to aim for a constant profit over the long run rather than one super lucky spin on your favorite online pokie.
Understanding that it’s a numbers game is the first step towards pushing down your bad gambling habits and replacing them with a healthy and profitable pokies strategy.
1. How do online pokies work?
The next step is understanding how pokies work and what mechanisms are involved in every single spin. You must know right off the bat that they are surprisingly complex machines and building one involves some pretty hardcore mathematical algorithms.
First off, as you already know, pokies feature 3 to 5 reels, with up to 256 virtual symbols, which leads to literally millions of possible combinations. The rewards for each winning combination are determined by the likelihood of that particular combination to appear on the screen. Obviously, the less likely winning combinations pay the most.
Pokies are “powered” by a Random Number Generator, which generates a different outcome for each spin and your win is determined by the value of each winning combination you hit on one or more of your active paylines.
As you can see, pokies are complicated machines, powered by incredibly complex mathematical algorithms, which makes the outcome of any spin virtually impossible to predict. That being said, in order to be profitable playing slots, you need to either be extremely lucky, or to have a winning strategy.
2. What are the best strategies to be profitable playing pokies online in Australia
We all know that chance favors the prepared mind. So, unless you want to let Lady Luck run things for you, let’s dive into it. While there aren’t any mathematical strategies available (at least yet) for winning at slots, like we see for other games like BlackJack or Baccarat, there are still a couple of things you need to be careful of.
Bankroll management
Managing your money effectively whenever you play slots should be your first concern. Set a daily/weekly/monthly budget for your gaming and stick to it. Once you have decided how much you can afford to lose per day/week/month, you need to start dividing that amount in a manner that gives you at least 200-300 spins per playing session.
It is ideal to play higher denominations or even at max bet level. Taking that into account, in order to be profitable, you will need to have money in your balance for at least 200 spins at max bet on your favorite slot.
Quit while you’re ahead
Greed is an ugly trait and one that the whole industry of gambling is based on. Everybody wants to win money fast and casinos promise exactly that. Being a smart gambler means that you need to understand your desire to win, manage it and use it to your advantage rather than letting it become your kryptonite.
A good strategy is to stop playing whenever you’ve managed to increase your balance by 20%. Let’s say you start playing with a 100$ balance. If you manage to increase your balance to 120$, stop playing. Take a break, switch games, or play again the next day.
Pick pokies with the highest payout ratio
Even though everything is random in pokies, one thing is predetermined: the payout ratio. Each pokie has a different payout ratio, which means that over an infinite number of spins, that pokie will pay out a certain percentage of the funds that have been put in the game.
Most pokies have payout ratios over 90% nowadays, but you will need to look after pokies with payout ratios of 97% or more. These give you the best odds of winning and staying profitable in the long run.
Try the games for free first
Most pokies are available in free as well as paid versions. The free versions allow you to use virtual money to spin the reels. It is always a good idea to take advantage of this, in order to understand the mechanics of the game, to see how the bonus features are triggered and what you need to do when you hit them.
A free version of any pokie will be a bit friendlier with the payout than the real money pokie, always keep that in mind.
These are just a couple of the things you need to be careful of whenever you decide to start playing pokies online in Australia. And remember, regardless of how strong your strategy is and how disciplined you are, luck still plays a big role in the outcome of any gambling session. So always risk only the money you afford to lose.
