Slot tournament advice for the novice?

My wife and I never play slots. We're strictly there for the Craps and, occasionally, some BJ. Regardless, we keep getting offers for "Free Entry in Slot Tournament". Lately we've been thinking what the hell, might as well give it a try. The fine print says you have to first play the slots with your own cash and earn $5 Comp Dollars to qualify. So my questions are:

1. is it a waste of time?. If not....
2. what's the cheapest/quickest way to earn $5 CD on the slots?
3. what's the recommended strategy for playing in one of these tournaments?

BTW, the prizes are
1ST: $5,000 Cash
2ND: $1,000 Cash
3RD: $500 Cash
4TH - 5TH: $250 SLOT DOLLARS
6TH - 10TH: $100 SLOT DOLLARS
11TH - 20TH: $50 SLOT DOLLARS
21ST - 500TH $25 SLOT DOLLARS

If ALL you have to do is play $X in action to get $5 comp dollars then you get an entry, well that is basically like having to pay an entry fee. That's a pretty lame "free entry in slot tournament" considering it's not free. Your negative EV to get that $5 in comp dollars may or may not be worth the tournament (probably not) pending the number of people in it. If there's only going to be 500, or even 1000 people then it's probably worth it.

Strategy for the tournament? ...Hit the button really really fast.

Not showering and passing prodigious amounts of gas may lower your neighbors scores by distracting them, other than that, hit the button as fast as you can. You may want to practice that as doing this for five minutes isn't as easy as you might think.

Quote: billryan

Not showering and passing prodigious amounts of gas may lower your neighbors scores by distracting them, other than that, hit the button as fast as you can. You may want to practice that as doing this for five minutes isn't as easy as you might think.

How do you practice passing gas for 5 whole minutes? Even tooting the national anthem only takes about 2:15 (see SB prop bets)

Kidding.

5 minutes is a looong time to mash a button. The best way I've found is to knit your 3 middle fingers together and peck it like a bird with one hand for 20 or so seconds, then switch hands. Repeat until time is up. Have the second hand up there ready to take over so you don't miss a beat, just before you trade.

You'll want to let your arm drop to your side for a few seconds so the muscles can relax while the other hand is working. Otherwise, you'll really feel it after a coyple minutes. The knit fingers keeps individual fingers from getting tired before the end, and gives you room to trade hands easily. It's all about stamina in the last half, so you can keep your spin rate as fast then as when you started.

Fists, palm or side of your hand, and flat fingers all take more and bigger muscles to move, so you can't keep it up at quite as quick a pace. In these things, even one or two more spins than the masher next to you over 5 minutes makes a difference.

If it's one where you have to touch the screen as well for random pop-ups, both hands need to be up top the whole time. (Arms will get tired faster, but you can do it) You don't need to stop spinning to get those kind of targets: they're on a timer. Use the non-pecking hand to touch the target rather than stopping the spin trigger. Watch the screen instead of your hand.

(Caveat : I haven't seen EVERY slot they use for these things; if you must stop spinning to touch a target because it will disappear with the next spin, you'll know it quickly, so just change to doing that, still with the other hand. Default starting choice is to keep spinning. )

Don't stop to admire your work. Don't bother looking at the top screen, your score, anybody else's machine, or listening to what anyone else is doing. Watch the reels and keep your hand moving.

I feel kind of silly trying to describe button mashing technique, but what the hell. Someone asked.

Is it worth it? It depends, but earning 5 comp dollars is a pretty low threshold for entry most places, and it's unlikely you'll just lose everything in the slot you pick to earn them; might even win. With top 500 earning at least 25 in free play, it should be worth a try.

Comp dollars are usually the quickest won on slots. Not necessarily the cheapest, but places I play award 1 comp POINT for 1 in a slot, or 2 dollars, or similar per point, while the same places require 5 or 6 dollars per point on video poker, or 10 minutes playing craps at 10/hand, for example (since you play craps). 100 comp POINTS usually equals 1 Comp DOLLAR. So you need to find out for sure if the entry is 5 comp points earned or 5 comp dollars (100 times as much), and how much each cash dollar spent in a slot earns in points, before you do this. It's not a secret formula.

I'd want to know I was going to be there to collect, too. Check the rules for when the tournament ends, and when prizes will be awarded. It might go beyond your stay (either the end or the redemption period) and be a sneaky way of getting you to come back.

Quote: beachbumbabs

5 minutes is a looong time to mash a button. The best way I've found is to knit your 3 middle fingers together and peck it like a bird with one hand for 20 or so seconds, then switch hands. Repeat until time is up. Have the second hand up there ready to take over so you don't miss a beat, just before you trade.

You'll want to let your arm drop to your side for a few seconds so the muscles can relax while the other hand is working. Otherwise, you'll really feel it after a coyple minutes. The knit fingers keeps individual fingers from getting tired before the end, and gives you room to trade hands easily. It's all about stamina in the last half, so you can keep your spin rate as fast then as when you started.

Fists, palm or side of your hand, and flat fingers all take more and bigger muscles to move, so you can't keep it up at quite as quick a pace. In these things, even one or two more spins than the masher next to you over 5 minutes makes a difference.

If it's one where you have to touch the screen as well for random pop-ups, both hands need to be up top the whole time. (Arms will get tired faster, but you can do it) You don't need to stop spinning to get those kind of targets: they're on a timer. Use the non-pecking hand to touch the target rather than stopping the spin trigger. Watch the screen instead of your hand.

Hmmm, sounds too much like work and not a whole lot of fun. On the other hand....

Quote: billryan

Not showering and passing prodigious amounts of gas may lower your neighbors scores by distracting them, other than that, hit the button as fast as you can. You may want to practice that as doing this for five minutes isn't as easy as you might think.

with the right lunch I can easily do that!

I think slow and steady is the key here. You want to have a nice momentum and not be jamming your fingers like a super maniac. I can't tell you how painful people it looks when people are jamming their fingers rapidly fast and hard. It's best to play somewhere in the middle of super fast and super snaily.

First, I want to say, it's hitting a button for 5 minutes. HOW HARD CAN IT BE? 5 minutes isn't even that long, it will go by so fast it will feel like 2 minutes, even if, you are slamming the buttons like a maniac. Play a slot steady for 10 hours and then complain it's boring work.

I don't know what kind of machines they are, but I'm going to assume it's a standard 3 reel IGT slot.

You should be able to rest your wrist on the edge of the machine and just diddle the button with 2 fingers at a fast steady pace.

Normally you have to hit once to bet the credits then once more to spin, so If you have a limp wrist or something like that you could just double tap, pause( pause as the reels spin), double tap(as the last reel stops), pause, double tap, pause, double tap, pause....

If you only have to hit the button once, then just tap and pause, tap and pause if need be....

Quote: beachbumbabs

How do you practice passing gas for 5 whole minutes? Even tooting the national anthem only takes about 2:15 (see SB prop bets)

Kidding.

5 minutes is a looong time to mash a button. The best way I've found is to knit your 3 middle fingers together and peck it like a bird with one hand for 20 or so seconds, then switch hands. Repeat until time is up. Have the second hand up there ready to take over so you don't miss a beat, just before you trade.

You'll want to let your arm drop to your side for a few seconds so the muscles can relax while the other hand is working. Otherwise, you'll really feel it after a coyple minutes. The knit fingers keeps individual fingers from getting tired before the end, and gives you room to trade hands easily. It's all about stamina in the last half, so you can keep your spin rate as fast then as when you started.

Fists, palm or side of your hand, and flat fingers all take more and bigger muscles to move, so you can't keep it up at quite as quick a pace. In these things, even one or two more spins than the masher next to you over 5 minutes makes a difference.

If it's one where you have to touch the screen as well for random pop-ups, both hands need to be up top the whole time. (Arms will get tired faster, but you can do it) You don't need to stop spinning to get those kind of targets: they're on a timer. Use the non-pecking hand to touch the target rather than stopping the spin trigger. Watch the screen instead of your hand.

(Caveat : I haven't seen EVERY slot they use for these things; if you must stop spinning to touch a target because it will disappear with the next spin, you'll know it quickly, so just change to doing that, still with the other hand. Default starting choice is to keep spinning. )

Don't stop to admire your work. Don't bother looking at the top screen, your score, anybody else's machine, or listening to what anyone else is doing. Watch the reels and keep your hand moving.

I feel kind of silly trying to describe button mashing technique, but what the hell. Someone asked.

Is it worth it? It depends, but earning 5 comp dollars is a pretty low threshold for entry most places, and it's unlikely you'll just lose everything in the slot you pick to earn them; might even win. With top 500 earning at least 25 in free play, it should be worth a try.

Comp dollars are usually the quickest won on slots. Not necessarily the cheapest, but places I play award 1 comp POINT for 1 in a slot, or 2 dollars, or similar per point, while the same places require 5 or 6 dollars per point on video poker, or 10 minutes playing craps at 10/hand, for example (since you play craps). 100 comp POINTS usually equals 1 Comp DOLLAR. So you need to find out for sure if the entry is 5 comp points earned or 5 comp dollars (100 times as much), and how much each cash dollar spent in a slot earns in points, before you do this. It's not a secret formula.

I'd want to know I was going to be there to collect, too. Check the rules for when the tournament ends, and when prizes will be awarded. It might go beyond your stay (either the end or the redemption period) and be a sneaky way of getting you to come back.

Rolls eyes*

It completely wipes my arms out after playing in one of those tournaments. It's not hard, I just can barely move them afterwards.

Quote: AxelWolf

First, I want to say, it's hitting a button for 5 minutes. HOW HARD CAN IT BE? 5 minutes isn't even that long, it will go by so fast it will feel like 2 minutes, even if, you are slamming the buttons like a maniac. Play a slot steady for 10 hours and then complain it's boring work.

I don't know what kind of machines they are, but I'm going to assume it's a standard 3 reel IGT slot.

You should be able to rest your wrist on the edge of the machine and just diddle the button with 2 fingers at a fast steady pace.

Normally you have to hit once to bet the credits then once more to spin, so If you have a limp wrist or something like that you could just double tap, pause( pause as the reels spin), double tap(as the last reel stops), pause, double tap, pause, double tap, pause....

If you only have to hit the button once, then just tap and pause, tap and pause if need be....

Many of the tournament machines I play in Vegas have symbols that flash on the screen and you have to touch them, unlike a normal slot. Its a two handed operation.
I've done about 50 Daily tournaments now and have only cracked the top 100 once, so I'm learning what not to do.

I played a Palazzo slot tournament in early April. The icons that you have to touch are worth more points than the spins. And the last 30 seconds is at 5X making the first 2:00 nearly worthless. It went 1:30 at 1X, :30 at 2X, :30 at 3X, :30 at 5X. I saw an old guy not paying much attention to the icons and he was the lowest score of the 50 in his session.

There is about 95% luck and 5% dexterity skill involved. Some people could definitely get tired and miss some spins. Most people are playing at the spin cap - you can press spin 3 times a second but you'll still only get 1 spin every 4 seconds because it's capped.

Locally they use the TournEvent machines. In those you have to pop balloons but there's only 5-10 that show up in the 3 minutes compared to the probably 30-50 icons in the one above.