$1 reel slots = $1,000 minimum
$5 reel slots = $5,000 minimum
45-coin nickel video slots = $500 minimum
90-coin nickel video slots = $1,000 minimum
Quarter 3-coin reel slots = $800 minimum
Quarter 2-coin reel slots = $600 minimum
Progressives: $1 three-coin = $100 for a tryout. After that, play something else.
Progressives: $1 two-coin = $80 for a tryout. After that, play something else.
Progressives: quarter 3-coin = $60 for a tryout. After that, play something else.
Progressives: quarter 2-coin = $40 for a tryout. After that, play something else.

What does all this mean, and why is this so? Consider this: For the $1 reel slots, playing 3 hours a day for 3 days, this bankroll of $1,000 comes to only $333 per day, which is only $111 per hour. This is barely adequate. Personally, I wouldn’t go near this kind of action without at least $3,000 as the starting bankroll. But most people will balk at these amounts, so I’m trying to make this at least feasible, and at the same time workable. The $1,000 bankroll is adequate; it will give you that average per-hour amusement, and it will give you a chance to win. However, the best way is to triple that bankroll. That amount will give you the the best odds of success. Again, these are only guidelines. I have no way of knowing what your personal situation may be, or how you see the requirements of a gambling bankroll.

For the $5 reel slots, the $5,000 minimum bankroll comes to $1,666 per day, and about $555 per hour. That’s about as close to the bare minimum as you can get, but it is adequate. In $5 machines, $500 buys you a rack. Assuming 2 coins per pull, with an average of around 15 seconds per pull, plus another 5 seconds for various delays, such as credits running up on the meter, cocktail servers coming by, and so on, this will give you about 3 pulls per minute, which comes to total play time of 37 minutes. About right, for this kind of action. Enough time to enjoy the game, rack in the coins, cash in, and go find another machine for the second hour, and so on. Quite respectable. Personally, I would prefer a stake of $1,000 per hour, for $3,000 per 3-hour day, and a total of $9,000 for the 3-day trip, as de-fined. But that’s up to you. This guideline is, again, derived from the base minimum of what you will need to give the game the best chance to pay you.

Those video nickel machines are a toss-up. With 45 coins, that is $2.25 per pull. With 90 coins, that is $4.50 per pull. Adjust the above figures for the $1 and $5 reel slots, and you can come up with a median on your own.

The quarter reel slots are, well, a downer. I’d say don’t play them at all. But if you must, then bring at least that amount of money. It won’t be the most interesting experience you ever had, but perhaps you are new to spin the reels slots, and this will give you at least a reasonable introduction to the slot playing experience. But try to graduate from the quarter reel slots, and reach at least the $1 level. It will be far more rewarding, and only a little more expensive.

Finally, the progressives. Most of the progressives have enormous odds against a win. Some are no better than state lotteries, with odds of hundreds of millions to one against you. If you must try them, allocate 5 percent of your bankroll, or no more than $100 for those that take $1 tokens (usu-ally 3 at a time), or no more than $40 to $80 for those which are quarters, or nickel progressives. That’s it. That’s your experience with progressives. If you are really lucky and win millions, so much the better, because it didn’t cost you thousands, or tens of thousands, to get it. Be thankful, and send me a commission. For the rest of us, well, we enjoyed our few dollars in the progressives, won nothing, but at least we tried. So now we will do what we know is better— allocate our bankroll for better uses and play those ma-chines which are a much better investment for our hard-earned gambling bankroll.

The differences that exist are largely dependent on locale, although variations do exist from casino to casino in the same city. The classic example of this is the difference in how to black jack play online between casinos in downtown Las Vegas and those located out on that amazing stretch of pavement known as the Las Vegas Strip. Downtown, dealers hit on Soft 17 - somewhat of a departure from that old saying we read about in Chapter One: “Dealer must draw to 16, and stand on all 17s”. A change in rules usually means a slight change in the player’s overall advantage or disadvantage. In this case, that’s a slight increase in house advantage, because in those situations where the Exclusive blackjack
dealer would have otherwise stood with 17, he instead will get another chance of improving his hand without the possibility of busting (since the ace can be totaled as “1″ if totaling it as “11″ ends up exceeding 21). In this case, the house advantage increases by about 0.2 percent, which in the long run will end up costing the player a couple of dollars in expected value.

On the Strip, rules vary from casino to casino. In some places doubling after splitting is allowed, while in others it isn’t. Likewise, surrender can be a "yes" or "no" depending on location. In the same casino, rules at single deck are likely to be a little more restrictive than rules for multiple deck. All in all, the Las Vegas Strip with its single-, double-, and multiple-deck games is one of the more favorable locations in the world to play blackjack, but differences among casinos do exist in terms of what blackjack rules apply. So it’s prudent for the serious player to shop around some for the best game available.