Reason #2 why the Wizard likes Bovada:

No-hassle practice games

Most online casinos spend more effort trying to separate you from your money than they do trying to give you a good experience. They have all kinds of popup windows, they usually make you download their software, and if they do offer play-in-browser games then you have to register an account before you can play. And if you register they start sending you emails trying to get you to deposit real money.

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Slot Machine Appendix 1

Last Update: Aug 04, 2008

Between October 28 and November 1, 2000, I played and recorded 3976 plays at a 25 cent Double Strike machine at the Silver Legacy in Reno. This particular slot machine is a flat top made by IGT and is Silver Legacy machine number 4533. Following is the pay table for said machine. Some sybmols were marked with the word "double", in which case the total prize was doubled, except for three red double sevens.

Double Strike Pay Table
Combination	1 Coin Pays	2 Coins Pay
Three red double 7s	2000	5000
Three red 7s	200	400
Three blue 7s	100	200
Three green 7s	40	80
Any three 7s	20	40
Three 5 bars	20	40
Three single bars	10	20
Any three bars	5	10
Any three symbols	2	4

As I played I wrote down where the payline symbol on each reel. By also observing the symbols above and below it did not take long to piece together the exact order of symbols on each reel. Later I entered the outcome of each play into a spreadsheet and tabulated the results. The following table shows how often each symbol occured over the course of this experiment.

Double Strike Actual Results
Symbol	Reel 1	Reel 2	Reel 3
Blue 7	169	156	112
Blank	109	178	224
Double 5 bar	138	120	107
Blank	166	211	253
Red 7	116	115	53
Blank	161	199	275
Double single bar	161	101	125
Blank	121	99	104
Green 7	322	390	349
Blank	251	240	300
Double blue 7	115	72	51
Blank	215	220	292
Single bar	403	353	163
Blank	250	248	291
Double red 7	52	51	55
Blank	259	292	262
Five bar	392	332	372
Blank	139	182	227
Double green 7	113	107	44
Blank	110	111	108
Single bar	125	104	102
Blank	89	95	107
Total	3976	3976	3976

The following chart displays the number in the sample at each stop and for each reel. This may better show visually the range in sample.

Assuming these were the exact weighting the following table displays the pay off per coin based on two coins played, the probability of each paying combination, and the contribution to the total return.

Combination	Pays	Probability	Return
3 Red 3 Double	2500	0.000002	0.58%
3 Red 2 Double	800	0.000013	1.01%
3 Red 1 Double	400	0.000022	0.87%
3 Red 0 Double	200	0.000011	0.22%
3 Blue 3 Double	800	0.000007	0.54%
3 Blue 2 Double	400	0.000039	1.57%
3 Blue 1 Double	200	0.000075	1.50%
3 Blue 0 Double	100	0.000047	0.47%
3 Green 3 Double	320	0.000008	0.27%
3 Green 2 Double	160	0.000122	1.95%
3 Green 1 Double	80	0.000524	4.19%
3 Green 0 Double	40	0.000697	2.79%
Any 7 3 Double	160	0.000136	2.18%
Any 7 2 Double	80	0.001128	9.02%
Any 7 1 Double	40	0.002992	11.97%
Any 7 0 Double	20	0.002526	5.05%
5 Bar 3 Double	160	0.000028	0.45%
5 Bar 2 Double	80	0.000256	2.05%
5 Bar 1 Double	40	0.000771	3.08%
5 Bar 0 Double	20	0.000770	1.54%
Bar 3 Double	80	0.000032	0.26%
Bar 2 Double	40	0.000321	1.28%
Bar 1 Double	20	0.001015	2.03%
Bar 0 Double	10	0.001017	1.02%
Any Bar 3 Double	40	0.000183	0.73%
Any Bar 2 Double	20	0.001714	3.43%
Any Bar 1 Double	10	0.005345	5.34%
Any Bar 0 Double	5	0.005569	2.78%
Anything 3 Double	16	0.001189	1.90%
Anything 2 Double	8	0.010477	8.38%
Anything 1 Double	4	0.030698	12.28%
Anything 0 Double	2	0.029908	5.98%
Total		0.097644	96.73%

The bottom row in the above table shows a theoretical return of 96.73% based on two coins played. The return with one coin played is 96.62%. Note also that the player can expect to win anything 9.76% of the time. The standard deviation based on maximum coins played is 8.54. It should be emphasized that these statistics are estimates based on actual results. I am not implying that these figures are exactly right. The purpose of this experiment was mainly to illustrate the concept of weighted reels as opposed to providing an exact return or wheel weightings.

Based on the actual distrubtion and assuming 128 virtual stops it can be approximated what the actual wheel weighting are. Following is an educated guess of the actual reel weightings.

Double Strike Approximate Reel Weightings
Symbol	Reel 1	Reel 2	Reel 3
Blue 7	3	3	2
Blank	2	3	4
Double 5 bar	2	2	2
Blank	3	4	5
Red 7	2	2	1
Blank	3	4	5
Double single bar	3	2	2
Blank	2	2	2
Green 7	6	7	6
Blank	4	4	4
Double blue 7	2	1	1
Blank	4	4	5
Single bar	7	6	4
Blank	5	5	5
Double red 7	1	1	1
Blank	5	5	5
Five bar	7	6	7
Blank	3	3	4
Double green 7	2	2	1
Blank	2	2	2
Single bar	2	2	2
Blank	2	2	2
Total	72	72	72

Based on the approximate weightings the hit frequency is 9.77% and the return is 95.53% with 1 coin and 95.66% with 2 coins.