RNG & DEAL/DRAW button timing

[Benford's Law]

Faygo,      You are *partially* right about each random number actually having *something* to do with the previous, but it is such a weak connection (due to some very fancy algorithms written in the RNG) that it is of negligible importance.       On top of this, by the time you press the DEAL button compared to the last time you pressed it (normally 5-10 seconds), hundreds of thousands (perhaps millions) of numbers cranked out by the RNG's algorithm will have passed through the machine....negating any possible "streaks" in the meantime.        The reason why casino RNG's are referred to as "pseudorandom" rather than purely random is because the RNG's number output is based on a *PREDETERMINED* code and a long "warehouse list" of random numbers is fixed in stone based on an internal clock that works with the RNG's pre-set programming.         If you were sophisticated enough to know exactly what the RNG's internal formula was, the seed, and (I think) what sort of internal clocking device or processor speed is being used.....You could quite literally predict exactly when a naturally dealt royal flush will pass through the machine.  Unfortunately, most newer machines have processor speeds that crank out numbers at the rate of anywhere between 100 million - 1 billion  numbers per second.        My knowledge here is fairly limited since I don't work for a gaming machine manufacturer or at any state gaming commission.        Hope this helps.       ~Benford's Law    

[shadowman]

BL, everything you stated is correct except I think the numbers are more in the neighborhood of hundreds of thousands. Still much more than anyone could detect. I based this on a little experiment I ran where I downloaded an RNG and wrote a program to simply count the number of cycles/second. It came out to around a million. I assume the processors in VP machines are probably a little slower than mine which is what led to my value above.

[faygo]

BL,Shadowman
 
Read an article recently on "Confidence Intervals."  The author said there are four things that influence winning at VP. Paytable, strategy, number of hands played, and randomness(Luck).  His conclusion is that based on the number of hands we will play in a lifetime, randomness(Luck) will have a greater effect on our results than making, say penalty card adjustments.
 
BL, I appreciate the  answer you gave on the RNG. While I still don't know what makes it work, I do know what the outcomes should be. I can relate it to the Computer on a car, don't know how it does it, but do know what it is supposed to do.
 
VP kind of boils down to "Pays your money and takes your chances".
 
Faygo

[shadowman]

In my case with over 5 million hands played so far I believe that paytables is number 1, strategy is number 2 and luck is number 3. For those who only play occasionally I agree that luck might be #1. On the other hand, it never hurts to find the best paytable.