With poker machines being games of chance and luck, players can be very superstitious when it comes to playing. As such, there are plenty of myths circulating that have skewed many players’ perspectives of pokies.
One of the most popular myths about poker machines is that players can predict when they will win. Many players believe that of they study the sequence of symbols, they can determine a pattern. This is simply not true. Unlike skill games such as poker, there is not amount of studying that can be done in order to help you win while playing pokies. This is important because it means that no players are more likely to win than others. The games operate on a random sequence, so that players cannot determine when the next payout will be.
Players also assume that casinos determine when a particular machine will payout its biggest jackpot. Because games run on random number generators, it is impossible for casinos to rig the outcome of any poker machines. It is also considered illegal for any casino operator to attempt to the fix the outcome of any games, so players should be well-aware that it is highly unlikely for a casino to set the time and date when a player will hit a big jackpot on a poker machine.
Another myths concerns the frequency of pokies’ payouts, assuming that a machine will not pay out a large jackpot if it has already done so recently. Like Poker Online, land-based poker machines operate on random number generator software, meaning that there is no way a pokie can time its jackpot payouts. A machine may not payout a jackpot for 6 months, or it could only be 6 days or 6 hours – it is entirely random and a player should not let a recent win prevent them from playing any poker machine.
A common situation that pokie players encounter is seeing the machine they’ve been playing payout a jackpot to the player who sits down after them. They believe that if they have continued playing, they would be the one to hit the jackpot. However, this is not the case. Again, the random number generator dictates the sequence of symbols and the outcome changes with every second that passes. For the first player to hit the same jackpot as the new player, they would have to spin the reels at exactly the same second and place the exact same wager.
These myths can be damaging to avid poker machine players, as they hinder your gameplay experience. It is best to go into a casino and play without any preconceived notions about pokies, so that they can play without anything holding them back.