Marc,
You quoted a big, long article ( since removed by the admin) talking about slot percentages. A couple of points:
1) Slot percentages and video poker returns are 2 different things. Slot percentages are determined by weighting factors used for each position on the slot machine. For example, the 3rd Megabucks symbol shows up a whole lot less than the other 2 Megabucks symbol.
Video poker is completely different. Each card ( until used) has to have an equal likelihood of occurrence.
The video poker return is determined by the paytable. 6/5 JOB returns less than 9/6 JOB. It doesn't return less because the distribution of dealt hands is different. It pays less because the paytable pays less for the flsuh and full house. Ignoring strategy differences, both games should get about the same number of full houses and flushes.
2) Your quoted article says if you play slots for a while, start with $50 and end up with $40, your return was 80%. That's not true unless you played exactly $50 through the machine. The number you are referring to is called the hold. Here's an example.
Let's say I play slots starting with $50 and play for 30 minutes and cash for $40. In that time, I actually played 200 spins of $0.75 each for a total coin in of $150. Out of the $150 bet, I lost $10 so my return was $140/$150 or about 93%.