Roulette is without question one of the most popular casino games. It can be played with no skill and you can find a roulette table almost in just about every casino in the world, online or live.
Roulette is purely a game of luck, but if you learn these roulette strategies, you can significantly improve your odds of winning.
Above all, it’s important to keep in mind that all gambling games are nothing more than entertainment. The casino wants to cash in on your desire to win. Therefore, they make it very hard for you to not only realize how much you are losing but to quit playing whether you’re up or down.
There are more strategies and systems out there than I could possibly cover in one post, and each of them claims to be the most successful roulette strategy.
So, rather than cover every situation under the sun, I’ve chosen to focus on four of the most popular roulette betting strategies.
These strategies will help you hedge your losses and maximize your enjoyment.
There are lots of different bets you can make playing roulette, although most beginners bet on either red or black or a number. That’s fine, but there are tons of other bet combinations you can make. While this is a game of chance, and you’ll need some help from good old lady luck to go on a streak and win big, using a proven and effective roulette betting system to win can help.
Under each roulette strategy below, I’ll give a brief description of how it works. I’ve tested these strategies over a countless number of spins of the wheel, and the results are clear. These aren’t new roulette strategies but are some of the best-known and battle-tested systems available today.
One of the advantages of the Martingale roulette system is that it’s incredibly easy to understand. In effect, all you need to do is double the size of your previous bet until you win.
The theory is that when you eventually do win, you’ll win back everything you have lost and the value of your original stake. This system only works on even money bets like red or black.
Let’s say you start by betting £5 on red and lose. Using the Martingale system, you double your next bet to £10 on red, for example. If you lose again, you double your next bet to £20, and so on.
Using the example above, if you won on the £20 bet, you would have won back £40, covering the £15 you had previously lost, plus the £20 stake, and putting you up £5.
But does the Martingale strategy work when playing roulette at online casinos?
Yes, to a certain degree.
You can profit from it short-term, but the key is knowing when to get out. If you keep betting, the odds of roulette will catch up with you, or you’ll hit a table limit which doesn’t allow you to double your previous bet.
If that happens, as it has to me, you’re in too deep. It is probably best at this point to cut your losses and start over with your initial bet.
If you believe in hot streaks and dry spells, which we’ve all endured when playing roulette and other casino games, the Paroli or ‘Reverse Martingale’ is likely to be right up your alley.
When using the Paroli system in roulette, the idea is to do the exact opposite of what you do when using the Martingale, increase the size of your bets when you win and lower them when you start losing.
This way, you take advantage of win streaks when they occur and reduce your risk when lady luck decides to head out for a bite to eat or shine on one of your fellow gamblers for a while.
An Example of the Paroli Roulette Strategy At Work:
You start by betting a smaller amount such as £5 per spin on red or black, even or odd, or high/low numbers. As long as you keep losing, you keep betting £5. When you win, you double the size of your bet to £10. If you win again, you double it again to £20, and so on.
The intelligent readers among you have probably already figured out that this roulette strategy requires perfect timing. If you keep doubling your bet and you lose, you’ll wipe out everything you have won plus a few bucks. Are you seeing why this is called the reverse Martingale, yet?
In order to use the Paroli system to win at roulette, you’ll need to get out after a few wins in a row. Yes, it can cause your bankroll to grow quickly, but it relies on the winning streak lasting, and as all experienced gamblers know all too well that lady luck leaves just as fast as she arrives.
While I won’t suggest using the Paroli system for anything other than short pops when it feels right, I nonetheless wanted to make you aware of the option. Should you ever find yourself getting hot, you may want to press your luck.
The James Bond roulette strategy is among the riskiest of those listed here, but its creator, Ian Fleming, claims that it is “foolproof”.
To use the James Bond strategy, you need to place multiple bets worth £200 on a single spin. The idea is that you cover most of the possibilities, and you come out in profit no matter what happens. Of course, there’s always the possibility that the improbable happens and you wipe out.
Bet £140 on the high numbers from 19 to 36, risk £50 on numbers 13 to 18, and stick £10 on the zero for insurance. Note that this is based on a European roulette wheel, where there is only one zero to consider.
You have most of your bases covered here, but keep in mind that if numbers 1-12 come up, you’ll lose the lot. But what happens if you win?
So, does the James Bond strategy really work? In theory it holds some water, in application it’s buyer (or bettor) beware. It is probably best to leave this to fictional British super-spies.
The D’Alambert strategy is undoubtedly one of the safest roulette strategies. It involves way less risk than some of the others you see here, but as a result, the potential payouts are lower, too.
When using the D’Alambert roulette system, you increase or decrease bets by one unit, rather than doubling them like you would when using the Martingale or Paroli systems.
For Example:
Start by placing a £5 bet on odds or evens. If you lose, increase your bet size by £1. If you lose again, increase it by another £1, for a £7 bet, and so on. This is far less risky than the Martingale and Paroli systems, but when you run the numbers, you’ll see that the potential payouts won’t cover what you’ve previously lost like the others.
In this example, let’s say you win on the fourth bet with a total bet size of £7. We’ll win £7, get back our £7 stake, but we’ll have lost £6 in the runup to the bet. Therefore, we will have won only £1.
Once you win, you’ll need to begin decreasing your bets by £1, taking risk off the table with the thought that any win streak can only last so long. Of course, this also reduces the potential profits you can make when win streaks do finally roll around.
The D’Alambert system is for risk-averse players, but we still wanted to give it a try in our hunt for the most successful roulette strategy.
After trying the most popular 4 roulette strategies over countless hours at the table, I’ll let you in on a secret. There’s no such thing as a roulette strategy that works every time. All of these strategies have flaws and none of them increases your chances of winning roulette mathematically.
When looking for a roulette strategy to win, keep in mind that there are endless numbers of marketers out there who want you to believe that they have the best roulette strategy ever that will allow you to win consistently.
I am here to let you know that’s a load of you know what, roulette odds don’t change because you’re using what you think is the most successful roulette strategy, and the house always has an edge no matter what bet you make.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t play roulette. It’s undoubtedly one of the most fun games in the casino and wins can grow dramatically when you do finally go on a hot streak.
However, I am saying that most systems don’t improve your odds in the long run, and you shouldn’t believe they will actually help you win roulette more often.