Jerry "Stickman" is an expert in craps, blackjack, video poker and advantage slot machine play. He is a regular contributor to top gaming magazines. The "Stickman" is also a certified instructor for Golden Touch Craps and Golden Touch Blackjack. For more information visit www.goldentouchcraps.com or www.goldentouchblackjack.com or call 1-800-944-0406. You can contact Jerry "Stickman" at stickman@goldentouchcraps.com.

Slot machines are "cash cows" for the casinos. They are easy to play; impossible to beat – until now.

To play a slot machine, you only have to be able to sit, insert some money, and push a button. They offer potentially large payoffs for seemingly little risk. For this reason many casino neophytes (and not-so-neophytes) enjoy playing them. Casinos enjoy them too, because casinos can extract a larger edge and monetary return from them. The edge on the typical slot machine can go from a low of around two percent, to a high of around 17 percent.

What do those edges mean? You will lose two dollars to 17 dollars for every $100 you bet. That is no small amount considering most players spin the reels a thousand or more times an hour.

There is no way a player can determine the house edge for slot machines. That is a secret known only to the manufacturer, casino, and technicians who have access to the PAR data sheet (this is provided to the casino by the slot machine manufacture and it contains all the statistical data for the machine).

While players looking for the best games – the games with the best chance of the player winning – have shunned slot machines in favor of Blackjack, Video Poker, and Craps; these recent additions make some slot machines a great play for anyone that wishes to get the edge at slots.

Now a new book explores these games, and gives you the necessary, specific information to be able to find and play the slot machines that have a winning expectation.

This book is the only slot book on the market that will show you specific machines that can actually give the player an edge over the casinos at slots. That’s right. Smart slot players can now get a real edge over the house if they play these machines properly. In its pages, I explain which machines these are, and how and when to play them. I explain the minimum bankrolls you will need for each machine, and also which machines are more volatile – that is, which machines will give you wild swings of fortune.

How do these machines differ from other slot machines? They all bank something. That something increases as the machine is played. As a hypothetical example, every time three pizza slice symbols appear on the pay line, another piece of a complete pizza is added. Once the last piece of the pizza is added and the pizza is complete, a bonus is collected. One other important requirement – the collection or "bank" must be carried over from one player to another and it can not be reset at the start of play.

Each advantage slot also collects the "bank" relatively frequently. Unlike progressive slots where a very infrequent single event yields a large amount of money for a lucky player, these advantage machines pay-out smaller amounts on the occurrence of a more common combination of symbols. In the above example, having three pizza slice symbols appear on the payline when the pizza is complete would trigger the bonus payout.

Because the "trigger" events occur much more frequently, it is possible through the observation of only thousands of spins to determine the frequency of the trigger event. By combination of the frequency information with the bonus amount, it’s possible to determine when the player has the advantage. The frequency of collecting, and the amount collected, can also be used to determine the bankroll and volatility of each machine.

Incidentally, I am not talking about one or two machines from obscure manufacturers. IGT, WMS Gaming, and Bally’s Technologies are among the companies that manufacture the slot machines highlighted in the book. These games are available virtually anywhere class III (Las Vegas-style) gambling is available. I have even found advantage slots on cruise ships.

(Editors Note: Read Jerry’s Tunica Blackjack Report in this issue of BJI for locations of Tunica casinos that offer advantage slot machines).

Counting cards in Blackjack will give you an edge at that game, but the card counter is at risk of being "backed-off" – or worse 86ed from the casino.

A "controlled throw" in Craps is a physical skill that is susceptible to physical and emotional influences similar to what a pitcher experiences in baseball.

Playing Video Poker optimally requires a great deal of memorization of the proper cards to save for each hand. If you make a mistake, you hurt your edge.

Playing advantage slot machines, however, has zero risk and is non-stressful because it requires no skill. If you can feed money into the machine and push a button, you can play the game. Wouldn’t it be great to add a game such as this to your advantage play tool kit – one that can be played when you aren’t able to play another advantage-play game?

Jerry "Stickman"

Editor’s Note: The book referred to by Jerry is "Specific Slot Machines That Give the Players the Edge." It gives you everything you need to know to find the specific machines that will give you the edge, It will also give you the minimum bankroll required to play each machine, and tells you the volatility (the swings in bankroll) you can expect. Blackjack Insider is now exclusively selling the e-book in our BJI web store (see below). While $99 may seem like a lot to pay, we feel this is the most unique and clear work ever published on legitimately beating select slot machines. Slot players can recover the price in their very first win!