If you lose your initial bankroll, don’t start looking for an ATM machine. Stop playing. The machine has been cruel to you, and enough is enough. There are other machines that will be kind; that will give you constant payouts and some big ones at that. There’s nothing sweeter, other than hitting the Royal Flush, to keep getting Full Houses and Four of a Kind hands, with the credits mounting up into the high 100s.

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But no matter how many credits you have, make sure to cash out. You will either get coins or a printed ticket which will say “Cash-Out” and show the name of the casino, the date, the amount of the ticket in terms of cash, and a notice that it expires in 60 days.

What you don’t want to do is have a big win, a ton of credits, and then watch the machine turn sour and those credits evaporate. Make a mind decision to get away as a winner. Suppose you’re ahead 380 credits on a quarter machine. 300 credits add up to $75. If you go down that far, cash out. I’ve seen players lose their 380 credits, take more money from their wallets and end up with a frightening loss. Leave a winner, if possible.

Sometime a machine will fool you. I was in a downtown Las Vegas casino and had the choice of two quarter machines, the end one or the one next to it. I was waiting for a friend to take to lunch, and figured I’d take a shot with $20. It was a progressive paying about $1,600. As I stood there, a middle-aged man took the end machine, so I sat down at the other one and slid in the $20 bill.

My neighbor chuckled as he was dealt a Full House. I got zilch. Then he got another Full House. I was rewarded with nothing. He followed this with a Flush, then Three of a Kind and another Full House. I looked at my watch. I had about five minutes to go before my friend would show up. And was down to 10 credits. Well, there went the $20, I thought, and then the following hand was dealt:
diamonds A hearts Q hearts10 spades 5 spades 4

I saved the Ace and 10 of diamonds. Instinctively I always go for the possible Royal. As my neighbor hit a Straight, I tapped the Deal/Draw button and looked at the screen: A Royal Flush! WINNER!

There was this beautiful hand showing: diamonds A clubs K clubs 10 hearts J clubs Q HELD HELD
A casino employee paid me off just as my friend arrived for lunch. I wished my neighbor good luck and we were on our way to a buffet lunch, which the casino comped without me asking.

I would start with $20 on the nickel machines, $ 100 on the quarter machines and $300 on the dollar machines. If any of these bankrolls will hurt you financially, don’t gamble on Video Poker.

Practically all machines now take bills, and some tickets that can be used in lieu of cash. Most machines still pay out in coins, so make certain that you have a bucket nearby to use when you cash out. Don’t leave the machine either with credits on it or coins in the well. Ring the bell for service and have a casino employee bring you one of the casino’s paper buckets.