Why Your Emotions Matter to Slot Machine Winning

Introduction to Your Emotions Matter

How do you feel when you visit a casino? What’s the state of your emotions? As another winning slots strategy, let’s talk about why your emotions matter when you visit a casino.

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Manipulation of Your Emotions

Do your emotions change while you’re at the casino? Do you start feeling different and then, what? Do you then win, or lose?

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Or do you win first, then your emotions take over and not for the better? Meaning, you deviate from your plan and then chase wins or do something else that ends up spending your winnings? You know that’s the whole plan of the casino, right?

Let’s say that you’re driving to the casino, cruising along minding your own business, and someone cuts you off. How rude! But life goes on, only now you’re a bit agitated.

When I was a teenager, my father went on a vacation to Germany with his mother and sisters. I remember my mother and I dropping them off at Detroit Metro Airport. I didn’t see what happened when our car was cut off, but there was a lot of angry voices.

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And, a week later, they returned still angry. Their emotions ruined the trip for them. To this day my father can still get upset about it. I hope he isn’t reading this, as I don’t want him upset now all these years later.

This family example may seem a bit extreme, but it can be hard to get back to the proper frame of mind after something happens which disturbs us, whatever the cause. Our attitude matters when we are trying to focus. If you think slot machines are fully luck-based, that means nothing we do can matter.

Data-Based Decision-Making

I’ve repeatedly shown you return statistics from casinos reported to their states showing slots are not “fully” random. That state data couldn’t be clearer. So, our intent, our focus, our decisions, and choices matter to winning at slots.

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But sometimes emotions get in the way of winning. Which emotions help and which hurt our winning at slots? Well, isn’t that a great question!

We got to talking about this the other night in my membership community. A member shared that lately he’s only been winning at slots when he’s tried, hungry, and a little upset. Usually around 2 AM.

Under those conditions, for him, he’s winning hand pay after hand pay. And not winning hand pays at other times he’s at the casino. But is it luck, strategy, or attitude?

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Has that happened to you? Or are you the opposite, where unpleasant traffic while driving to the casino results in a charged emotional state which gets in the way of winning? Either are your emotions.

And your emotions matter. Why? Because slots aren’t “fully” random, so our choices matter to winning. And losing.

My Challenge to You

The next time you walk into a casino, I challenge you to write down or record your emotional state. Do this for six visits. For some, that may be over a week and for others it might be over a year.

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After doing this six times, compare your emotional state to how much you won or lost on that casino trip. Which emotional state is better for you? This challenge is a winning slots strategy.

For me, I was visiting Horseshoe Cincinnati every month or two in the first year it opened. Playing low limit machines on the same game theme I’d won on in Iowa ten years before, I’d bring in a $500 bankroll and leave when it was half gone.

My emotional attitude was focused and clear, kind of like how I get when I work on math problems. Analytical. Watchful.

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And then after a dozen visits, in November, I won a hand pay for $3,750. With it, I got back everything I’d spend at slots for the year AND made that much in profit.

And, thinking about it, I decided to get angry. Well, not angry exactly. Passionate.

I decided to care. Why? Because after nine months, I had only a $2,000 profit. I told myself, “Not good enough!”

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Well, long story short, I started caring more, working harder, and ended up with seven hand pays that day in the middle of November. And 54 hand pays by the end of the year. And 90 hand pays in the next nine months plus winning a car at the end of it.

That’s when I started writing my slots book, Learning to Win.

An Advantageous Emotional State?

What’s the right emotional state for you? Do you need to become more passionate? Or more analytical?

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Or more hungry, tired, and upset? I don’t know what works for you. But you either know or, with just a bit of effort, can learn.

During paid consultations, my slots enthusiast clients tell me what it’s like for them on a typical visit. And a lot of them do better by being more thoughtful. Others are overwhelmed by suddenly winning hand pays they’d never gotten and have a great deal of trouble getting out of their casino with any of their winnings.

I’ve been overwhelmed by emotion. Certainly! I was overwhelmed every time I won my largest jackpot.

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Over a month, I won four $5,000 hand pays. The first three were overwhelming, but I guess you could say I got used to winning that much. I was feeling confident!

But then I won $27,000 W-2G hand pay. Surprise! And none of the experience I’d gained by winning those $5,000 jackpots mattered because I was again overwhelmed.

Create a Plan NOW

If you win a massive jackpot, decide beforehand (right now!) to leave the casino. Just leave. All plans are shattered and there is no recovering any time soon.

My huge win was years ago and I’m still in awe. Yes, I got a little bit used to it. But it only helped a little when a few months later I won the car and accepted the $40,000 cash option.

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Being surprised happens, especially when playing slots as that’s kind of our whole goal, so have a plan. And I cannot imagine doing anything else after a tremendous win except leaving. Can you?

Decide now while you’re clear-headed. Then all you must do is remember, not think up a plan, when you have an emotional event.

Walking in Level-Headed

But something much more minor happens far more often. We walk into a casino a little off axis, emotionally. What then should you do?

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Well, taking a break and relaxing usually works for most people. And that usually means not being on the casino floor. If you have a hotel room, that’s great.

Go calm down, get back to normal, get some rest, but fix whatever was the issue.

If you’re trying to replicate being tired, hungry, and little upset because that seems to be when you win hand pays, well, I don’t know how you got that way in the first place but maybe do that again?

That reminds me when I went to a Halloween party in physics graduate school. I went as a tired graduate student who had just finished his master’s thesis but hadn’t gotten much sleep in the last three days.

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As I told my friends, it took me three days to prepare myself for that Halloween party. And, unfortunately no, I didn’t win any of the many prizes for most interactive, most functional, most whatever costume. Oh, well.

So, if you arrive at the casino in an odd emotional state, get yourself into the right frame of mind so that YOU do win a prize you may well remember as a momentous event for the rest of your life.

Know Your Triggers

What else abruptly changes your emotions? Well, we could be treated poorly by another slots enthusiast. Or have an encounter with an unhelpful casino employee.

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What else has happened to you at a casino which ticked you off or changed your mood and not for the better. And how do you get over it? Assuming you can get over it?

Triggers for switching your emotional state are deeply personal. But learning yours is more than about winning at slots. It’s about being able to leave with your winnings.

If your gambling goal is making money, not just entertainment, then you need to learn the skill of getting out of the casino with those wins. It’s not just discipline and will power alone.

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It’s about knowing the battlefield and what you’re fighting. And usually? It’s your emotions.

Summary of Your Emotions Matter

What triggers your emotions when you’re at a casino? And why were your emotions manipulated by the casino? You get one guess, which should be plenty.

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