Understanding Pokie Terms

In the pokie world, you will hear many different words that will have little meaning outside of a pokie machine. Not understanding what these words mean can cost you money and at the least cause a little embarrassment. This article will get you up to speed with all the terminology used in today’s pokies market.

Pay lines

A pay line is a way that the pokie determines if a spin is a winner. The pay lines are the directions in which the machines payout. You may see different type of pay lines in today’s machines. The older style simply went straight across the reels and wouldn’t cause much confusion. However, in today’s high tech pokies, you will pay lines that go every direction, zig zag, and sometimes backwards.

Jackpot

This one may be one that you already know, but it can have 2 meanings when it comes to pokies. A jackpot is a large sum of money that is awarded to a player at random. The jackpot can come by hitting the top combination of symbols. Or, it can mean a side jackpot that is won regardless of what you hit.

Progressive Jackpot

This is almost the same as above, but this in reference to a jackpot that pays out regardless of what symbols you hit on a spin. It’s called a progressive due to its growing nature. The jackpot amount will slowly grow, or progressively grow based on how many people are playing it. It is won at random and will reset at a certain amount once someone is fortunate enough to hit it.

Reels

Like many words in the English dictionary, reels have a few meanings. Outside of the pokies world it may mean a fishing instrument or a movie reel. In the context of gambling it refers to the parts of a pokie that spin. The wheels that spin and contain the symbols are called reels. Even if they are played online, they are still referred to as a reel. Some machines will as many as 10 reels, with the more common ones having 5.

By now you should have a good understanding of some of the unique words used when talking about pokies. You can now feel comfortable joining a conversation and actually know what someone is talking about.

Pokie Bonuses

When it comes to playing online pokies, you should be aware that many online casinos offer some type of bonus. These bonuses can range from a new player deposit bonus, to free bets on their selected games. Pokies are not alone when it comes to receiving a bonus. Many of these same casinos along with others will give you special, pokies only bonuses. These bonuses will vary in what they are, but one thing remains constant; they should always be taken advantage of.

One of the more popular pokies only bonuses are the free spins. A casino will give you a certain amount of free spins to win up to a certain amount. If you lose, it’s on the house and you can walk away without having lost any of your own money. Often the value of these bonuses can be very generous and should be used whenever possible.

Some of the deposit bonuses you will find will be pokie specific and only allow players to play the pokie machines to clear the bonuses. Most bonuses require you to play a certain amount before releasing this bonus into your account. This is a standard practice among casinos and isn’t something that you can get around. The fact that they are out there should be good enough and it can be a nice little boost to your bankroll if used properly.

One of the more lucrative promotions regarding pokies is the cash back bonuses. Cash back is a way the casinos give players back some of their losses while playing pokies. This amount will vary from site to site, but can be as much 50% or even more. Imagine getting half of your losses while playing pokies, it would definitely allow you to play more and possibly win more with that extra cash coming back into your bankroll.

The best part about these bonuses is that you can use more than one. What I mean is, you are not restricted to playing at one casino. You can easily move from site to site and take advantage of all the bonuses that are out there.

The Hottest Trend: Pokie Tournaments

If you’re looking for a new way to play pokies, you may want to check some of the new pokies tournament. These tournaments have become very popular among players as of late. You still get pokies, but in a unique new format.

The tournaments start out with all players paying the same amount of buy in. The buy ins are all put into a massive prize pool that is divided among the winners at the end. These tournaments will generally start during a certain time or some when a designated number of players are registered. Once the tournament starts, you will be on your way to one of the more fun ways to play pokies.

At the beginning of the tournament all players will have the same amount of coins pre-loaded in their pokie. It’s important to note that the coins you play with have no real monetary value. For example; just because you may start with 1,000 coins does not mean you have 1,000 worth of actual money.

As soon as the game starts, you will have a certain amount of time to rack up as many wins as you can. Some formats may allot a certain number of spins before ending, but most of the time it will be time based. At this point you will want to keep pace with everyone else and go for the lead.

The winner will be determined at the end and whoever has the most coins on their machine will win. The money won comes from the prize pool that was funded with the players buy ins to enter the tournament. The amount you win will depend on how much is in the prize pool, place finished and the tournaments payout structure. Some sites and tournaments will vary and some may even have a winner takes all format which can be very exciting and valuable.

Regardless of what format you play, I highly recommend playing them at least once. They offer users a chance to play pokies for a long time with a one-time fee rather than having to pay for each spin. Not only that, but they are a nice change of pace form the standard way of playing.