Remember to stay realistic about the long odds on this popular game of chance. Approach roulette with the sober realization that, with a house advantage of 5.26 percent on the American wheel, roulette is among the worst bets in a casino. Despite the odds, you can still use some simple strategies to stretch your roulette bankroll and enjoy the thrill of the spin. This article contains a few tips that can help you improve your chances of winning.
An outside bet (for example odd or even, red or black, 1-18 or 19-36) often gives players the best chance of a payout. Half of the possible outcomes of a game of roulette are covered by 'outside.
Roulette is a drain on your wallet simply because the game doesn’t pay what the bets are worth. With 38 numbers (1 to 36, plus 0 and 00), the true odds of hitting a single number on a straight-up bet are 37 to 1, but the house pays only 35 to 1 if you win! Ditto the payouts on the combination bets. This discrepancy is where the house gets its huge edge in roulette.
Strategy is critical if you want to increase your odds of winning. The first time you play roulette, the players sprinkling the layout with chips may look as if they’re heaping pepperoni slices on a pizza. You can make many different bets as long as you stay within the table’s maximum limits. Consequently, few players make just one bet at a time.
Of course, the more bets you make, the more complicated and challenging it is to follow all the action. Here are two possible plans of attack to simplify matters:
If you happen to find a single-zero European wheel, you greatly improve your odds: The house edge is half that of roulette with the American wheel — only 2.63 percent. You may see a European wheel at one of the posh Vegas casinos, such as Bellagio, Mirage, or Caesars Palace. If you can’t find one on the floor, it’s probably tucked away in the high-limit area along with the baccarat tables, so you may need to ask. You can also find the single-zero wheel at some other upscale casinos around the country.
Because casinos set aside the European wheel for high rollers, you’re likely to find a higher table minimum, say $25. But because the house edge is half that of a double-zero wheel, the European wheel is the better roulette game to play for bigger bettors.
Your chances of winning get even better if the casino offers an advantageous rule called en prison. Sometimes available on the European wheel, the en prison rule lowers the house edge even further to a reasonable 1.35 percent. The rule applies to even-money bets. For example, say you have a $10 bet riding on black. If the ball lands on zero, your even-money bet doesn’t win or lose but remains locked up for one more spin. If the ball lands on black on the next spin, the house returns your original bet of $10, but you don’t win anything. If the ball lands on red, you lose. And if the ball repeats the zero number again, your bet stays imprisoned for another round.
The most popular bets on the roulette table are Red and Black, this is especially the case in online casinos. Our list of roulette strategies is quite long so what we’re going to do here is list all of the different systems that are aimed towards Red and Black betting. It’s important to remember that Red and Black have exactly the same odds as Odd/Even and 1-18/19-36 so all of these systems can be used for those bets as well.
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The Martingale – This is the most common system that players use. All you do is bet on a colour and then when you lose, you double your next bet. You repeat this process over and over until you get a win. Once you get a win, your overall profit will be whatever bet you started out with. This is one of the riskiest roulette strategies that you can use. Side note – this is a system that can be used all over the roulette table, not just red and black. It is red and black where it is most commonly used though.
Reverse Martingale – This is the exact opposite to the system above. It’s know as the Reverse Martingale or the Paroli. Instead of increasing your bets after a loss, you increase them after a win. The hope is that you will get a long streak of the colour that you’re betting on and take a big win.
The D’Alembert – This is a steady little strategy that shows better results than flat betting when you get as many wins as losses. As far as roulette strategies go, this is one of the safest. This is a system that can only be used on even chance bets.
Reverse D’Alembert – This is the opposite to the strategy above. The downside to this system is that it requires more wins than losses to be successful.
The Fibonacci – This is a strategy that involves you increasing your bets after a loss like the Martingale but it’s safer and it’s more steady. Patience and discipline is required with this system.
Reverse Fibonacci – This is the opposite to the strategy above. As with all “reverse” systems, you need to go on am extended winning run to get a profit.
The Labouchere – This is a strategy that will take a bit of practice to get used to. It’s another steady system that is safer than the Martingale and the maths adds up nicely when you use it properly. As with all systems though, a losing run can send your bets too high.
Hollandish Strategy – This is a slow progressive system where you go through “stages” and each stage has 3 bets.
Oscar’s Grind – This is a very similar system to the D’Alembert. You increase your bets after a win and keep them the same after a loss. A slow system that attempts to grind out wins, hence the name.
Whittaker Strategy – This system is almost identical to the Fibonacci. The only real difference is the name.
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