Roulette is one of the world's favorite casino games, and gamblers have been in thrall with it for centuries. It's a very easy game: players place a wager on numbers, ranges of numbers, colors, or odd/even if the number. The dealer will then spin the wheel and roll a ball around it in the other direction. A wager wins when the ball lands on the number chosen by the player.
The attraction of roulette is its unpredictability and sheer amount of betting possibilities. There are three standard types of roulette that are commonly used in American casinos:
- European Roulette with a single "zero" and increased opportunities for winning.
- American Roulette with two "zeros" and an increased house edge.
- French Roulette with additional rules like "En Prison" and "La Partage."
Although roulette is a game of luck, some strategies will have you winning more or will assist you in managing your bankroll. Most players also experiment with roulette advantage play strategies, created to minimize the house edge and increase winnings. Let us look at some of the most sought-after strategies.
Martingale Strategy: Doubling Your Bet After Each Loss
The Martingale is a very simple and ancient betting system developed during the 18th century. The concept is to double the wager after each loss until a win is achieved. When a win is obtained, the initial stake is placed back on the bet.
For example, if you have placed a $10 bet on red and lost, you will double the wager to $20. You would place a wager of $40 on the second loss, and so on, until you win. With the win, you will have recovered all your losses and earned a small profit that is equal to your initial stake.
Its simplicity and brevity are its charm. But it does have some very serious flaws:
- You need an enormous bankroll as the stakes are progressively larger.
- The maximum bet limit is typically set by casinos, which you can fairly easily surpass.
- Raising bets in the long term does not compensate for the house edge.
The Martingale system is therefore most suitable when it comes to short low-bet game sessions. It is not used by professional players.
d'Alembert Strategy: Gradually Increasing and Reducing Bets
The d'Alembert system, named after French 18th-century mathematician of the same name, is a slower variant Martingale
The principles are as follows:
- Add by 1 unit during losing.
- Subtract by 1 unit during winning.
- Never risk more than 1/10th of the bankroll on a single spin.
For instance, if you begin with a $10 bet and lose, the next bet will be $11. Losing once more would put your bet up to $12. When you win, you fall back to $11. This process continues until you are back to the initial bet.
d'Alembert's greatest strength is its risk management. The bets do not increase as quickly as in Martingale, and there is never more than 1/10th of your bankroll exposed at any one moment. Nevertheless, like all increasing systems, it can't overcome the house edge in the long run.
Fibonacci Strategy: Betting According to the Fibonacci Sequence
Do you recall that famous Fibonacci sequence, where every number is the sum of the two immediately previous ones? Amazingly, you can apply it to roulette wagers:
- Start at 1 unit (e.g., $10).
- On a loss, proceed to the next number in the sequence (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, etc.).
- On a win, proceed two numbers back.
For example, you start with a bet of $10 and lose. Your second bet is $10 (the second 1 in the sequence). If you lose again, you will bet $20, $30, $50, $80, $130, etc., until you win. If you win, you go two steps back in the sequence.
Like the other progressive systems, Fibonacci requires a solid bankroll. But it does allow you to handle your money well, especially with the "backtrack" after a win. But again, there is no guarantee of sustained profits.
Parlay Strategy: Increasing Your Bet After Every Win
The Parlay system is special in that it suggests increasing your bet after a win, and not after a loss. This is how it is done:
- Begin with the minimum bet (i.e., $10).
- Double your bet after each win, using all of your winnings.
- Return to your original bet after each loss.
For instance, if you bet $10 and win, you wager $20 (initial $10 plus $10 winnings). And you wager $40 if you win again. And so on until you lose, where you lose only the amount of the last bet and retain all the previous winnings.
The benefit of Parlay is that you can win huge amounts from a series of consecutive wins and lose the least. The drawback is huge ups and downs in your bankroll and no "safety net" for a long string of losing bets.
Proportional and Non-Proportional Bets: Mixing and Matching
Apart from the above strategies, you can attempt to mix the nature and size of your bets when you play web roulette. For example:
- Proportional bets: These are wagers on some related areas (e.g., a number and the line the number is on). This reduces the risk of a large loss.
- Non-proportion bets: These are wagers on unrelated bets (e.g., betting red and on a specific number). This increases your chances of winning.
Also, don't forget to add outside bets with less risk, i.e., red/black, odd/even, or dozens of numbers. These can be substituted with higher-risk inside bets on lines or individual numbers.