Roulette is a perfect embodiment of worthwhile casino gaming. It features decent odds for players with solid strategies, and there’s no shortage of action and excitement when there’s a crowd at the tables. As is the cornerstone of the majority of casino games, roulette offers players a chance to take a crack at random outcomes. Sure, you may feel really good about that little ball landing on a red slot on the next spin (it’s landed on black six spins in a row, after all), but your hunch is more of a feeling than a statistical fact, because each round of roulette is completely and absolutely independent from the results of all past and future rounds. To sum that idea up in an easily remembered statement, roulette results are random.
While games such as blackjack get a lot of press for giving educated players an advantage, roulette is far from alone when it comes to offering random results. Slots, for example, which are the most popular form of casino gaming, leverage an innovative piece of tech known as a random number generator to keep things unpredictable. While we may all be willing to admit that games such as slot machines and roulette are completely random when we’re thinking about it at home, things change when we’re on the casino floor. Grandmas find themselves chasing hot streaks at slot machines, and young adults desperately scan the roulette board to determine playable patterns emerging in the results. For these players, roulette strategies can make all the difference. Sure, the results are random and strategies are therefore, by design, ineffective, but let’s ignore that for the sake of argument. The following are some proven roulette strategies employed by the world’s most successful roulette fanatics.
Spreading the Wealth
The first roulette strategy we’re going to discuss involves making multiple bets in order to maximize your odds. Let’s assume you start with 20 chips broken down into five stacks of four chips each. In your first round, you’ll want to play five of the 6-line bets, wagering all 20 chips on a single spin. By covering five of the six possible win lines, you’ve ensured strong odds of winning. With a little luck, one of your wagers will be true, netting you a payout of 24 chips. If you lose the first bet, you’ll need to restart with new chips. This strategy can be a little risky. After winning your first bet, you’ll break down your 24 chips into two stacks of 12. Then, bet one of the stacks on one of the dozens and another stack on another of the dozens. At this point, you’ll have two of the three dozen bets covered, giving you nearly two-thirds odds of hitting. If you win, you’ll rake in a total of 36 chips.
Moving on to step three, you’ll break down your 36 chips into six stacks of six chips each. Use these stacks to place six wagers on corner bets around the board. Spread them around, and hope for the best. If you hit a winner, you’ll have 54 chips. Break those chips into nine stacks of six, and choose nine of the 12 possible street bets. If you hit, you’ll have 72 chips. Break those into 14 stacks of five chips and place them on 14 different split bets. This will leave you will two extra chips, which can be placed on any of the empty numbers as insurance. If you hit on the split bets, you’ll win 90 chips. Winning 90 chips from a 20 chip buy-in is already a win, but there’s another step if you’re feeling courageous. Bet four chips each on 22 straight up bets (as well as two chips for insurance). If you land a winning number, you’ll win 144 chips, which is a huge return on your investment!
Well-Known Systems
There are dozens of well-known betting strategies that can be used at the roulette table. Some popular choices include the Martingale Roulette System, which calls for players to increase bets after a loss until they land a win, and the D’Alembert Roulette System, which leverages even chance bets to keep play relatively safe. While implementing one of these strategies can be effective in helping you minimize losses and better control play, they’ve all got downsides. The Martingale system, for example, can lead to a quickly depleted bankroll if a cold streak occurs. Consider that you’ve got a 20 chip bankroll, and you start the game with a two chip bet on red. After the ball lands on black, you place a four chip bet on red. Another loss, and you place an eight chip bet on red. If that bet loses, you’ve already lost 14 chips, meaning that the Martingale system is rendered ineffective after just three rounds. The best strategy for roulette is to play within the bounds of your bankroll.
The Chaos Theory
You’ve heard of card counting, but you may not know about a similar approach to roulette. A group of chaos theorists attempted to use precise measurements and computer simulations to develop a method of predicting the outcome of roulette games. By noting the time it takes the ball to pass a fixed point and the velocity of the ball, researchers were able to produce results that made for feasible predictions. With this data, the group could reportedly predict the ball’s stopping point roughly 59 percent of the time, opening the door for an 18 percent return on their gambling. For comparison, a normal roulette game offers a negative 2.7 percent return. While this may seem exciting, keep in mind that casinos frown on tricks to beat the odds. Games in which math and skill reign over chance, such as poker and blackjack, are still the better option for gamers seeking an advantage.
While it may seem ridiculous to develop strategies for random games, that doesn’t stop people from creating ‘fool-proof’ systems for toppling chance games like roulette. Try to remember that roulette is completely random, and you’ll have a better time. If your bets are smart and conservative, roulette offers one of the smallest house edges in the casino, and this is good news for your bankroll.