Cluster Keno Patterns
Posted By admin On 08/04/22Selecting Keno Patterns; Keno is a very popular land-based game played in a community format. Most online casinos also offer keno to their customers. In online keno players mark 15 spots from a ticket of 80 numbers. Then 20 numbers are drawn by the casino. These numbers are matched with the spots marked by the players. Keno Numbers Most Drawn gives an insight into what comes out most often, so you can decide whether to risk including these regulars in your selection, or to steer clear of them. The table below provides a unique insight on which balls are drawn most often. The Keno Numbers Most Drawn tool gives you the data to see the draw frequency of any. Subtitled 'Keno Patterns and Winning Numbers'. A collection of video keno jackpots with patterns and related winning jackpot numbers. Suitable for use in all keno games. THE ULTIMATE CLUSTER KENO. Availability: Available.
One of the most technical explanations of how a video keno game works was delivered to me from a reader who claims to have received the information from a former technician of a major slot manufacturer.
Now, I don’t endorse this explanation or suggest that it is a true reflection of how keno machines work. But I thought it might prove interesting, if not worthwhile, to our readers. Here is the explanation, in the reader’s own words:
These machines are designed and programmed to do one thing. Pay the house a certain pre-determined percentage of every dollar gambled, and I have been assured that if the machine has not registered enough intake of money to enable it to pay out a major jackpot, it will not hit no matter how many times or how often you re-set your numbers. These machines have a three phase program written into them.
Phase one … there isn’t enough money to pay a jackpot. This is when the machine will somehow manage to miss your numbers most of the time, hitting small pays just often enough to keep the 'it’s due' type of player feeding it.
Phase two is the real kicker. When the machine has enough money to pay out a jackpot without hurting the house 'hold' it actually switches over to a second program that is truly run via a random number generator. At this point the machine is actually running an honest RNG program, and your numbers may or may not hit depending on how lucky you are. This is when your true odds of hitting a jackpot based on the number of spots picked come into play. The more numbers picked, the longer the odds. (One note here: Almost all these machines except those connected to a progressive jackpot, pay the same maximum jackpot for an 8-, 9- or 10-spot. So why play a 10-spot when an 8-spot pays the same and your odds of hitting one are exponentially better?)
The third phase programmed into the game is the one you hope you’re lucky enough to have running when you put your money in and pick your numbers. Everyone from the Gaming Control Board to the manufacturer will deny this even under the pain of death, but just remember it is a computer and it can be programmed to do anything you want it to do. And it is the only way that a machine manufacturer can guarantee the house that they will make their percentage in profit. When these machines switch over to the third tier of the program, it reads that the machine is holding far in excess of what it is programmed to earn for the house, usually from 15 percent to 18 percent. It’s just way too close to the maximum 25 percent hold mandated by state gaming regulations. Now it doesn’t matter what numbers you pick, they are going to hit!
Interesting stuff, wouldn’t you say? Beyond that, I don’t have a clue whether this is an accurate explanation of a video keno program. And, of course, the game manufacturers aren’t talking.
People who lose again and again need to rationalize it with the conclusion that the game must be fixed. Notice that some guy heard this from some guy. Yeah, it's interesting, but show me the facts.
Administrator
This is the kind of tripe that surfaces a lot on this board -- conspiracy theories based on second- or third-hand information. It's in casinos' interest to offer fair games because the house edge -- particularly in KENO(!!) -- is already on their side. No need to risk everything by cheating. Plus, they're highly regulated, at least in Nevada.
People who lose again and again need to rationalize it with the conclusion that the game must be fixed. Notice that some guy heard this from some guy. Yeah, it's interesting, but show me the facts.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Yeah, it's interesting, but show me the facts.
Book: License to Steal: Nevada's Gaming Control System in the Megaresort Age
An excellent and fun book to read.
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Read page one and two in Chapter One for free. Pages 43 and 44 are good also.
There WAS cheating back then, and they had HE on slots back then,in the mid 80s and 90s, so then they must have cheated because they were greedy. Only reason I could figure.
But no one is greedy any more, from Wall Street to Casinos and Banks. Im sure they all learned their lessons and will be 100% honest til the end.
I say, if someone (a casino anywhere in the world)wants to cheat, they will, regardless of risk being caught. History has shown it HAS happened and I am sure it continues to happen.
This is the kind of tripe that surfaces a lot on this board -- conspiracy theories based on second- or third-hand information. It's in casinos' interest to offer fair games because the house edge -- particularly in KENO(!!) -- is already on their side. No need to risk everything by cheating. Plus, they're highly regulated, at least in Nevada.
People who lose again and again need to rationalize it with the conclusion that the game must be fixed. Notice that some guy heard this from some guy. Yeah, it's interesting, but show me the facts.
That's just it. Who's going to show anyone any facts about what's done with video gaming machines? We're in a recession right now and anything's possible if it weren't already. All we have to go by are Gaming Regs, and who's to say if they're complete or if they have multiple interpretations available.
People will lie, companies will cheat, governments will mislead; happens all the time. I believe machine fairness is an individual perception, bounded by hope that everything's on the up & up.As to whether the machines can be set to 'cheat'--well, we all know this is trivial to do. It is also completely undetectable. Even if the Gaming Control Board were to descend on a casino, guns drawn, and spirit away all the video keno machines with the purpose of carrying them back to their underground lair and making them confess--well, the act of powering the machines down would destroy any loaded program (in software, not in firmware). And I doubt very much whether any clueless third party could ever decode the program anyway.
So the question is, they can cheat--but would they? Well, first, you have to define 'cheat'. The casinos have already decided, AND THE COURTS AGREE WITH THEM, that fiddling with the outcome of a 'random' slot machine event is NOT cheating. If a reel slot was going to display (blank) 7 7, the program will rearrange the outcome to 7 7 (blank), making the customer's heart skip a beat, rather than the anticlimactic initial blank.
So as long as the eventual preset payback is realized, both practice and law (I'm talking Nevada law here, which is more like 1920's Chicago or 1990's Russia law) say that the casino can rearrange those payouts any way they want. Do keno machines cluster results in the way you mention? We'll never know--but the casinos have shown no compunction against mucking with supposedly randomly generated results. The silver lining is that if they ARE doing that, it doesn't actually change your overall chances one way or the other--it just increases your variance (which can actually be a Godsend on a -EV game, as you might hit something big and be able to get away from the damned machine before it crushes you).
Administrator
...the casinos have shown no compunction against mucking with supposedly randomly generated results.
I stand by what I have said many times, that video poker and video keno in Nevada is fair, as if real cards/balls were used. If anyone can provide me evidence that such is not that case, I'll be happy to investigate, and use my bully pulpit to shame any game maker that is not offering an honest and fair game, as well as making a formal complaint to Gaming.
The financial incentives to expose/litigate this sort of cheating far outweigh any advantage either IGT or the casinos would gain from it.
That's not to say that there have not been instances in past where shoddy RNGs and clever programmers have found ways to beat the system. But, these were isolated cases, and I believe it is not systemically integrated into the machines.
If it sounds just like religious quackery, it is.
I believed the 'Wizard' was a wizard until I pulled back the curtain. Now I know he passes every statistical test for fairness created by man.
--Dorothy
There are several aspects to Cluster Keno, but I would like to start with one underlying premise that has remained a foundation of my play strategy for years. And that is that video keno jackpots are most frequently won soon after the machine is “reset.”
By “reset,” I mean that the numbers from the previous game are erased, and new numbers are marked — even though the new numbers may be exactly the same numbers that were played before!
A reader of my book, Cluster Keno, recently wrote and asked whether re-setting meant asking the casino personnel to switch off the machine and re-start, or somehow open the door and re-start the computer program on the inside.
Obviously, that was not my meaning, but it might be worth trying!
Note that I don’t think it is necessary to reset the numbers after every game. But I seldom play the same numbers for more than three games before I re-set the machine. Also, keep in mind that many times after re-setting the machine, I will mark the same numbers.
Let me give you an example. If I’m playing the solid eight numbers in the “nine column,” I may play the numbers for two or three games, then erase and mark the same column of numbers. For some reason, this sometimes leads to hitting, say, a seven out of eight jackpot, more frequently than when simply sitting on the same numbers, game after game.
Because I don’t have any knowledge of how a keno machine operates, or what the computer program consists of, I couldn’t tell you why this seems to work. But keep in mind that the keno program was designed by an engineer who is charged with the task of creating a machine that makes money for the casino. It’s not likely they would ever create a keno game that would pay a jackpot just because you put in “enough” quarters.
In fact, I’ve noticed in recent months, that some keno games go into a losing spiral the more you play the same numbers. Maybe others have noticed that, on some occasions, the numbers continue to be “bad,” that is, return little or nothing at all, no matter how long you play them. I’ve found that re-setting the machine is the only way to “stop the bleeding.”
Of course, changing your method of play, that is, experimenting, is always worthwhile. But at the same time, it’s important to be consistent. By following your system, whatever that happens to be, you give yourself a chance to keep up with, if not overcome, the odds of the game. In order to make the odds work for you, it’s best to be consistent and follow your system.
Cluster basics
Anyone who has played video keno has seen how numbers form certain patterns. or instance, there are eight rows of 10 numbers on a keno screen, and if you play long enough, you’ll see that most of the eight rows eventually hit seven or even eight of the ten numbers.
In addition, there are ten columns of eight numbers, and during the same session you might note that several columns line up seven of the eight. Occasionally, all eight will fill up. The key is being there when they do — and re-setting the machine frequently has been a method to do so.
Other clusters that I’ve found have paid off include sold eight boxes, two by four boxes, either above or below the center line, and three-by-three boxes of nine numbers, again marked above or below the center line.
A good way to illustrate the various clusters is taking a closer look at Four Card Keno. I suppose Four Card Keno can be construed as video keno’s answer to the immensely popular multi-hand video poker, such as Triple Play, five-hand, 10-hand poker and more.
Its concept is very simple: players can play up to four different keno cards on the same keno game. That is, you can mark one to four cards (you don’t have to play all four), picking any number of spots on each card. Then the game proceeds as in regular keno, with 20 numbers being drawn.
The obvious advantage is that you can cover a lot more numbers than with one card. Equally, the disadvantage is that you’re betting four cards instead of one, and the costs can mount.
I’ve noted a few popular patterns that I like to play — and have actually won with! — but Four Card Keno really lends itself to playing these clusters because so often we see our pattern, whether it be a box, an “H” or whatever, occurring next to or near our numbers.
This is where the cluster system pays off. Many long time video keno players will probably agree that numbers always seem to land right next to their chosen numbers, almost as if they had “eyes” and knew how to just miss! Well, by playing numbers in clusters that are in close proximity to each other, you are often able to catch those numbers and hit a jackpot.
Here are a couple of examples: A 10-spot player often bets the entire horizontal row, which is fine. But you can get a lot more mileage out of playing two 10-spot rows on top of each other (such as the 20’s and 30’s rows), as well as the two 10-spot cards made up of 21-25, 36-40 numbers and the 31-35, 26-30 numbers. This way you have an overlap, in which you can sometimes hit, say two seven out of 10, or even two eight out of 10 jackpots.
Similarly, I like to play two solid eight columns (vertical), such as the 3 and 4 columns, coupled with the two 8-spot cards made up of the 3, 13, 23, 33, 44, 54, 64, 74 and the 4, 14, 24, 34, 43, 53, 63, 73 numbers. Again, you have overlap, opening the possibility of “doubling up” on a six out of eight or even seven out of eight jackpot.
Another winning combination that has come up for me has been the overlapping 9-spots consisting of four 3 by 3 boxes. Specifically they include these four cards: 45, 46, 47, 55, 56, 57, 65, 66, 67; plus 55, 56, 57, 65, 66, 67, 75, 76, 77; plus 46, 47, 48, 56, 57, 58, 66, 67, 68; and finally, 56, 57, 58, 66, 67, 68, 76, 77, 78.
(L.J. Zahm is the author of “Cluster Keno: Using the Zone Method to Win at Video Keno.” For information about this valuable guide, write to Cluster Keno, P.O. Box 46303, Las Vegas, NV 89114.)
4 Card Keno Patterns
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