No comments about Prosperity.

No comments about Slots: 41 different systems for playing the slots.

No comments about The Adoption of the Pharmacoeconomic Center as a Resource by Air Force Medical Treatment Facilities.

No comments about Coin-ops on location.

4 comments about Slotplay : Build Your Own Jackpot!.

1. Financially sound. Statistically correct. This woman really knows her stuff.



2. How delightfully ironic, the thought of saving money at the same time I am planning my next trip to the casino. Ms. Cole has some great tips and she presents them clearly, spiced with a real sense of humor. I can't wait to take my new Slot Play concepts with me on my next encounter with the one armed bandits. I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to Ms. Cole's next creative gem.



3. I cannot believe the good reviews this book has gotten. There is so little here that a serious slot player wouldn't have figured out for himself long ago. The only thing valuable is her discussion of "Times pay," and it is unnessarily vague and difficult to follow. She discusses 6 "times pay" payboards in the text, and my cards at the end numbered 3. They seemed to have been placed with the same care as the prizes in a Cracker Jack box. I felt ripped off. The book is repetitive, full of white space...in short a few ideas blown up to make a book to sell to unsuspecting buyers. It is a good thing Ms Cole does not program the slots in your favorite casino...you would be better off dropping your twelve bucks in the nearest Double Diamond machine.



4. I'm writing this review a year after buying this book.
   
   Let me begin by saying, I have a hard time saving money unless I have a goal. In this case my goal was 4 trips to Vegas over a year's time. I not only made my savings goals, but then got to play with it. Brought my winnings back with me and ended up with over $3,000.00 in my special Jackpot savings account.
   
   I owe this accomplishment to the book "Slotplay". The Money Management in this book gives one such a feeling of being in control. I will no longer go to Vegas saying that I will limit my losing to $xx.xx. I now say they will get no more then 15% of what I take to play with.
   
   The book was easy to read and the concept easy to understand. I enjoyed the humor sprinkled amongst the wisdom.
   
   I thoroughly recommend this book to everyone, especially the people tired of returning their winnings to the casinos.

No comments about Watling (Slot machines of yesteryear operator's companion).

1 comments about Expert strategy for Let it Ride.

1. I have played using the information that the late Mr. Frome wrote and I found it to be very beneficial! I watched people at a Casino play the game and lose alot of money. By using the information in the book, I was able to take $100 and turn it into $1000 in 20 minutes.

   Mr. Frome was the person that had completely calculated the game and the house "edge" so that the Nevada Gaming Comission could allow it to be played in its' Casinos.

   The information is invaluable! I recommend this book to anyone that has watched the game and was unsure if they should play it or those that play the game and want to win more!

No comments about Owner's Pictorial Guide for the Care and Understanding of the Jennings Bell Slot Machine.

2 comments about Owner's pictorial guide for the care and understanding of the Mills bell slot machine.

1. This book is a necessity for any serious collector of Mills bell machines. It is filled with reproductions of the original Mills sales literature, parts lists, price lists, pictures with parts callouts, etc. A treasure of information. See also Mills of the Thirties



2. If you own a Mills slot machine you need this book. Detailed information on machine breakdown, lubrication and cleaning, theory of operation. It has gotten me past many otherwise hard to solve problems.

2 comments about Video Poker & Slots for the Winner, 2nd Edition.

1. With all due respect to Marten Jensen, he does not deliver the simplification and consolidation promised in the book. I bought the book for 2 reasons: (1) I'm a new Las Vegas resident who wants to enjoy the casino scene, but I want to play intelligently; and, (2) having graduated with a degree in Mathematics, I am curious how the odds and payouts work in these machines.

   I will focus my comments exclusively on Jacks or Better Video Poker content (my game of choice, and as far as I read, once I realized the shortcomings of the book. )

   Mr. Jensen identifies play strategies based on the various payout amounts of machines, collapsing 12 possible payout schemes to 2 strategies (excluding the Not Recommended to play strategy.) After an hour of analysis, I concluded the two play strategies are identical -- the only differences that I found are that the same hand is given different descriptors between the two strategy charts (what is described as JQ, JK, QK and JA, QA, KA as 2 separate hands in one strategy is simply described as 2 High Cards in the other, each with the same play strategy), and that he omitted a possible hand in one of the strategies (he describes what to do with a 4 card Inside Straight with 3 or 4 high cards, but he neglects to offer advice for any other type of 4 card Inside Straight.) My conclusion -- if Mr. Jensen recommends a Jacks or Better machine at all, he really means to tell me to play them all the same.

   He further advises taking his book to the casino with you to match payout schemes on the machines to the charts in his book, rather than taking the time to reduce the various play/no-play strategies to a simple list of questions. I was able to reduce 12 charts to 3 simple questions to determine if (using his approach) you should play a machine or pass on it.

   Finding such puzzling omissions and inconsistencies in this book makes me question the fundamental validity of his numbers and his strategies. He may be absolutely right (I'm not going to bother to do the math to double-check his assertions,) but I am left with enough lingering doubt that I'll pass on his advice and buy a different book and see what it says.




2. The previous reviewer was too kind. The strategy tables presented are not only over-simplified, but there are incorrectly ranked hands in the strategy tables as well.

   For example, he uses the same strategy table for Double Bonus, regardless of whether it is 10/7 full-pay or 9/6 short-pay.

   Marten's incorrect "BQE" chart recommends keeping a pair of J-A over a 4-card flush, even though the average expected value of a 4-card flush is 7.55, compared to only 7.28 by holding J-A. His strategy of J-A over a 4-card flush would only be correct in a 9/6 game, where the flush pays 6.

   Given the number of casinos in Las Vegas and Reno that offer the 10/7 version of Double Bonus, you follow Marten's advice at your own peril.