A. While the final arrangement of symbols that appear on fruit machines when they stop is entirely random, the patterns that pay and the amounts they pay are calculated to ensure a definite financial advantage for the house. The mathematics of gambling probability is a well-developed science and it's relatively simple to determine what fraction of your money you should expect to lose if you play the game for a very long time.

The current trend for online slot machines has not dampened collectors enthusiasm for the traditional fruit machine. Bell-Fruit has been producing fruit machines for more than 50 years, so it is possible to come across a vintage slot made by this brand from as far back as 1963 when ‘3-A-Like started appearing in British pubs; in 1966 the. Slot machines are known around the globe with various names.Some of those names are fruit machine, the slot, poker machine, puggy, slot, and most commonly, in the USA, one-armed bandit.

Q. So how do I win

A. Sadly there is no easy way of winning money on these machines. If you do play long enough to sample the full statistics of the game, you are certain to lose money. It's only if you play briefly that you can take advantage of statistical fluctuations to leave with more money than you had when you started. It isn't a case of how to play - but generally when to play.

Q. And when is that then

A. The basic rule is that these machines are fixed and there is usually no real skill to playing them. When you have to select a bonus or take a chance, the machine fools you into thinking you are using real skill. Repeat chances also work on this principle, so trying to time a repeat is not going to do anything more than pressing the button with your eyes closed. Only when a machine offers you 'true skill', such as holding down the cancel button can you actually have any control over the bonus, chance, win or repeat.

Q. You have to be an expert to win then

A. Sometimes, but because of the fixed nature of gameplay - a machine will actually give you wins even if you try to lose or don't know what you are doing. This is why complete novices can often win as wins literally spin in.

Q. And so why do experienced players keep coming back for more

A. Many machines have hidden features and little tricks that can make a regular player feel that they can win more. In some cases this is true in as much as you can be offered more wins in a shorter period of time. The problem arises when, by knowing all of the tricks, you play the machine more. The average punter who puts in a few pounds and wins a tenner is satisfied and walks away. Meanwhile, the regular gamer keeps playing looking for more bonuses. The result is that the experienced player has put in a small fortune and probably lost money.

Q. Don't the machines have to pay out a certain amount by law

A. Yes, each fruit machine has to pay out a certain amount of money. UK law states that the minimum percentage for payouts must be 70 per cent (68 percent on cross channel ferries). This means for every 1000 it collects, 700 is paid back to the players - leaving 300 profit. In theory anyway. The payout is averaged over a series of plays, but this is not set at a particular amount. The machine can go over and under this amount and the design of the software can make a big difference.

Q. Does it affect the play if I collect the money in the bank

A. It's an urban myth that fruit machines do not check their balances until money is paid out. In fact there are two sets of payout information logged by the machine. The internal logs are what the game software looks at for the payout percentage. This is updated in real time, so the money in the bank is already counted whether it is paid out straight away or kept in the bank until it reaches the bank limit (up to 5 times the jackpot value). The payout meters are updated as and when money is paid out. This enables machine owners to check the balances accordingly. The mechanical meters cannot be reset and are like the odometer on a car, while the 'local' meters on the machine can be reset by an engineer.

Q. Is the Hi/Lo gamble 'true skill'

A. Sort of. But it is dependent on when you are gambling. For most of the time, it may as well only be a heads-or-tails gamble, and may be no more than another guaranteed way of losing regardless.

For more on How It Works click here

By Simon Smith

Opening comment[edit]

According to an April 15, 2006 obituary in the Las Vegas Review Journal, Pearson was born in Adairville, Kentucky on January 29, 1929.

Urinating on a Dealer[edit]

I have heard the rumor that Pearson once urinated on a dealer, but until someone can provide substantial proof, that statement does not belong in this article. I have reverted the edit. If someone wants to write a brief synopsis of his alleged poker table manners then please do so. SmartGuy 06:24, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

Poker authority Mike Caro confirmed the story in a 1997 post to rec.gambling.poker which is archived here, see post 7 and Caro's reply in post 8:

Mike Caro is enough of an authority that I can't see how his confirmation doesn't count as substantial proof.

I've also heard the story many times that he once put out a lit cigar on a dealer but I haven't seen any confirmation of that which would count as substantial proof.

4.239.108.132 19:00, 19 May 2006 (UTC)Edgar Siffel

I agreed with Mr Siffel that Mike Caro's confirmation counts as 'substantial proof,' but I wasn't sure if a citation to that rec.gambling.poker post was necessary or not. If someone thinks it's necessary to include a link to the rec.gambling.poker post, feel free to add it.

Substantial proof of this story exists, why was it removed after being included for 2 years? 68.45.106.216 (talk) 15:05, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Usenet posts are not considered reliable sources. The other two parts of what you tried to add are not sourced at all. Pearson may have been a jerk, but articles must follow WP:V. 2005 (talk) 21:04, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Mike Caro is not a reliable source??? A random Usenet poster is one thing, but Mike Caro has been considered a poker authority for about 25 years. Additionally, I did not 'try to add' anything. That paragraph has been on the page since May of 2006 and you're the first person to have a problem with it. Apparently you consider yourself the authority of all Wikipedia poker pages, as I've made exactly 3 edits to poker pages and you've reverted all of them--one included information in Chris Moneymaker's biography, a second added Chip Reese to a list of poker players named Chip, where you inexplicably reverted my Chip Reese addition without removing Chip Jett, and now this third one, where I reverted information that was here for 2 years that you deleted and you've accused me of 'adding that info.' It is obvious that you have some sort of problem with me for whatever reason, but a rule of Wikipedia is to deal with the content and not the poster. I see how the other information is unsourced, but only a complete newbie would consider Mike Caro to be an unreliable source. 68.45.106.216 (talk) 10:24, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

The following appears on the WP:V page:

'Self-published material may, in some circumstances, be acceptable when produced by an established expert on the topic of the article whose work in the relevant field has previously been published by reliable third-party publications. However, caution should be exercised when using such sources: if the information in question is really worth reporting, someone else is likely to have done so.

Puggy Fruit Machine Game

Self-published sources should never be used as third-party sources about living persons, even if the author is a well-known professional researcher or writer.'

Mike Caro has been publishing poker books for at least 25 years, if not 30, so there is no argument that he is not an expert on poker and poker culture. Because Pearson is dead, a self-published Mike Caro quote appears to be acceptable according to WP:V. Were Pearson still alive I would agree with you, which is probably why the 'urinating on a dealer' story was not included until Pearson had died. 68.45.106.216 (talk) 10:28, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Usenet is the issue, not caro, so forget it is him... 'if the information in question is really worth reporting, someone else is likely to have done so.' In other words, it's not worth repeating since it has not been (apparently) off of Usenet. But that isn't the issue real. The passage I removed says a dealer hit him on the head with a shoe. There is no source for that. It also quotes Amarillo Slim, and all direct quotes MUST have sources. There isn't any issue with reporting incidents where Pearson was a jerk, as long as they are reliably sourced. Here there are three different passages. Two clearly should be removed. The Caro one could be included, but is marginal. It clearly though should not be included as part of a paragraph with the other two unsourced incidents. Add sources for those and it would be fine. 2005 (talk) 11:11, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Those other two quotations have been on the page since it was created 4 years ago. I understand that quotations need to be cited and I don't object to their removal, but if thousands of people have viewed this page and nobody realized until now that those quotes needed an attribution, that represents a fundamental problem with Wikipedia, and it is silly to complain about 'quotes I added' that have been on this page for 4 years. With respect to the urination story, it IS relevant that Caro is the author. As the WP:V page states 'Self-published material may, in some circumstances, be acceptable when produced by an established expert on the topic of the article whose work in the relevant field has previously been published by reliable third-party publications.' Mike Caro certainly counts as an established expert on the topic of poker. He wrote part of Super/System over 30 years ago. As far as 'Why hasn't it been published elsewhere,' Pearson just died recently and as the WP:V article clearly states, both with respect to Wikipedia and the real world, that the standard of what you can say about living people is stricter than what you can say about the dead. That's probably why the urination story was posted into the article until Pearson was dead. Poker back then was a 'good old boys' network where I'm sure lots of Pearson's friends would be more than willing to cover up a story that Pearson urinated on a female dealer, hell they probably thought it was funny. This is the same guy who is known for putting out a lit cigar on a female dealer. (I couldn't find a source for that but I was told that story by several very well known poker players.) 68.45.106.216 (talk) 19:40, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

You added something. It silly to suggest that i go through four years of vesions to see if text had been there before. Clearly though the non-Caro portions are inappropriate and should not be in the article. Caro also is not the source of the story. The Usenet post says he herd the story from someone. He does not confirm it happened, rather he heard the story. Again, this is clearly not a reliable source that it DID happen. Caro is a reliable source though that he HEARD it happened. 2005 (talk) 00:47, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Very hypocritical discussion here. This article, until a recent edit, contained all sorts of unsourced information about things like Puggy Pearson's golf exploits, and this information, which was completely unsourced, was allowed to remain for years. I see from the user history of some of the people involved that they seem to remove anything negative about poker celebrities, but Wikipedia is supposed to be objective. It is both hypocritical and non-objective to remove information critical of Pearson, namely that he was notorious for abusing dealers, going so far as to put out a lit cigar on one and urinate on another, claiming that it isn't well sourced, while allowing completely unsourced information to remain. And there's no WP:BLP at stake since the jerk's dead. Uhy would you repeatedly remove information that's sourced by a poker expert but allow a bunch of unsourced information to stay??? I do find it amusing that a bunch of you don't even seem to know who Mike Caro is, but I guess he never shows up on TV these days. 68.244.196.144 (talk) 17:45, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

Definitely agree with the above commenter and this seems to be the case throughout the poker articles on Wikipedia. There is a massive bias towards including positive things about these players while removing anything negative, even if the positive information is poorly sourced and the negative information is well sourced. I just noticed on Mike Matusow, it says 'Early in his career, he won 51 out of 53 sessions and $250,000. (It was first believed that he had won 81 out of 82, but he corrected that statement on the Rounders Poker Show.[8][2].' On what planet is a poker player's own bragging about his winnings considered verifiable? There are hundreds if not thousands of people who know Puggy peed on a dealer and someone who's been a poker authority for over 30 years heard it directly from the dealer's spouse, and that's considered 'not verifiable,' but a convicted drug dealer's claims about his own poker winnings is verifiable? I would love to hear some sort of justification for that. 174.146.255.243 (talk) 18:30, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

Quotes section cleanup[edit]

The Quotes section should be broken down into individual quotes, not one paragraph. I'm at work so I can't access gambling sites to look up the exact wording. ♣♦SmartGuy♥♠ 14:42, 6 February 2008 (UTC)

Puggy[edit]

Here in the West Coast of Scotland a puggy (noun) has a very different, vibrant and everyday meaning.

A fruit machine is commonly referred to as a puggy in that it is something you put money into and get little or nothing out of. It could equally be an expensive to run car, a money eating business or a woman and so on.

Q.How's the wife?

A. Whit, that puggy? She's costing me a fortune and I'm no getting ma nuptials! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.44.34.209 (talk) 01:55, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Puggy in Nashville[edit]

In November 1954 I came to Nashville for the Country Music Disk Jockey Convention as an aspiring 20 year old song writer. I went broke without enough money to buy gas for my 1940 La Salle to get back to Brooklyn. I wasan average pool player and hung around Pug's (that's the name I knew him by) three table pool hall. I am no longer cetain of the street number but it was about two blocks from Ryman Auditorium. I struck a deal with Pug. Since he did not like to come in early and open the pool hall, in exchange for letting me sleep there, sweep up, rack games and sometimes play for the house, I would open and if necessary close his business. Pug was not satisfied with the pool hall business and even then confided in me that he was heading for Vegas as soon as possible.

So I moved into Pug's place, sleeping literally on the table after closing, opening about 10 AM and perhaps making a few quarters racking and playing. This arrangement lasted for about four week, up until a few days before Christmas.

Did I learn a lot. Pug could hustle. He really knew cards and I have seen him in a gin game where the play would stop and he would tell you what cards had been played in the last several hands. He knew how to palm dice expertly and took many an airman's paycheck on Friday and Saturday nights in a game on the back table. Watching Pug I knew I could not match any of his skills, moreover I learned to have a deep distrust of people I did not know. I am wary to this day of what strangers say. I saw how easy it was for Pug to con the unawares and how proposition bets always were a set up.

Puggy Fruit Machine For Sale

Pug did me a great favor, but I don't know why. About three days before Christmas he asked my to move out. Said it just wasn't working. With no place to go, and part-time jobs unavailable even though it was the Christmas season, I took up sleeping in the lobby of the YMCA. That only lasted two nights. The director said if I kept that up I would be in jail as a vagrant. He made me a deal and gave me $40 for gas to get back to Brooklyn and I pledged him my high school graduation ring. (I'd already pawned my watch that my parents had given me.)

I went to the pool hall to say goodby to Pug and some of the wise guys, seeing I had a few bucks, tried to get me in a game. Pug told me the best thing I could do was get in my car then and there and head north.

I like to think Pug saw the road I was on and somehow knew it was not for me. Prhaps he asked me to leave as a spur for me to move on. I like to think that. A few years later I was drafted into the Army, stayed for 26 years and retired az full colonel. I like to think that Pug Pearson had something to do with that in a small way.

Tom MarshallNaples, FL —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.3.180.221 (talk) 18:20, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Puggy Fruit Machine Games