Single Column and Evens
Online Roulette Guide
The Single Column and Evens roulette system is a hedging strategy similar to the 2 Column System, where you try to hedge your bets by covering more of the table. The idea is to dampen down the volatility of your bets so that you win more often.
The price you pay, is that it is expensive if you do lose, as you are having to pay to cover a lot of numbers. But here´s the main advantage- you will be covering the table using the even chance bets plus 1 column (see below for details), so you can take advantage of La Partage Rule which refunds you half you bet on an even money bet if the ball lands in the zero. You´ll need to find a French Roulette game that offers this first, of course. This reduces the house edge in your favour.
You could compare this to a high volatility roulette system of say betting on one single number on the table. Following this strategy, you are less likely to see frequent wins, but when you do hit a win, it pays out big.
Of course, most people don´t just bet on a single number, (some do!). Most players at least hedge their bets a bit with additional numbers. The more table areas you cover, the less volatile your session, and the less numbers you target, the more volatile.
Play the Single Columns and Even at Casino.com
Playing a volatile strategy isn´t necessarily a bad thing if you hit a win early on or you have deep enough pockets to ride out the lean period. But it is riskier on shorter sessions. You need to be able to stay at the table long enough to be able to catch some of your numbers. It is no point playing a high variance roulette strategy if you can only afford to bet on 2 spins. Most likely you´ll lose your money.
So let´s look at the Column and Evens strategy which is a low variance roulette system, in a similar category to the Even Money Switcher strategy.
You´ll notice, if you look at the layout of a roulette table, that the second and third columns don´t have an equal number of reds and blacks. Column 2 has 8 blacks and 4 reds. Column 3 has 8 reds and 4 blacks.
We can use this to our advantage to pull together some fast bets that cover a good % of the table.
Variation 1. Higher Risk/Volatility
For this variation of the system you bet one unit (you decide the level, let´s say it is (£10) on the third column (8 reds) and you combine that with a £5 hedge on the red even chance bet. So you have covered all of the reds (18 numbers) plus you have covered 4 additional blacks. Your table coverage is 22 numbers which is 59% of a European Roulette wheel or 58% of an American Roulette wheel (remember there are two zero pockets on an American Wheel). Test it out on one of our free online roulette games in the demo section.
What´s more, you have overlapped on 8 red numbers, 3, 9, 12, 18, 21, 27, 30, 36. If those come in you will reap the rewards of a double payout- a 1:1 pay out on your even money bet (plus your original bet back) and a 2:1 pay-out on your column bet (+ your original bet back). But, if any of the other 14 black numbers come up in the other 2 columns (2, 4, 8, 10, 11, 13, 17, 20, 22, 26, 28, 29, 31, 35) then you lose BOTH bets.
This is similar to the Two Column System, but you are covering less table, so it is a riskier version of that system (on individual bets).
Variation 2. Lower Risk/Volatility
The other option, is to cover the 3rd column again (£10), except this time you will make your insurance bet on the black numbers (£5).
In this scenario, you will have covered 18 blacks and 8 reds giving you a table coverage of 70% on a European Roulette table and 68% on an American Roulette wheel- a significantly lower volatility than the variation above. You have overlapped on the following black numbers: 6, 15, 24 and 33. However, you will lose both bets if one of the 10 reds in the other 2 columns hits (1,5,7,14,16,19, 23,25,32,34)
This scenario gives you more table coverage than the 2 Column System.
Progression Betting
One of the strategies that is often used with these kinds of lower volatility systems (an other example is just a bet on the even payout bets) is to bet on a negative progression to counter any losses. What you are hoping for, with a decent table coverage, is a long run of wins. Flat betting should be the order of the day here, and your plan should be either to exit the session before you lose, or you increase your bets after a loss to claw back any losses. The progression will have to follow a Triple Martingale (triple your bets after a loss) as you are covering in the region of 2/3 of the table.
Be careful here– a Triple Martingale is about as aggressive as you can go on the roulette table within any realms of sensible play. You do not want to be progressing up a Triple Martingale sequence for long, otherwise you´ll just end up chasing your losses with high bets. Set yourself a maximum bet and pull out if you need to exceed it. Remember, anyone can leave the table with a nice profit, but it takes a disciplined player to pull out and minimise his or her losses We wouldn´t go more than 3 steps on a Triple Martingale and even that would depend on the level of your initial bet- the lower it is, the more room for manoeuvre you have.
Summary
The Single Colum and Evens strategy is a useful and quick way of covering a qood portion of the table to lower the volatility of your session at the table. There are 2 options here- one will give you more table coverage than the Two Column System, and one will give you less. You can even mix it up a bit, and flip between the two depending on how you think your luck is panning out. The main benefit of this versus the 2 Column and other roulette systems is that you can benefit from La Partage rule in French Roulette.
But do these systems improve your actual odds at the table? No. The house edge will remain at 2.6% if you are playing on a European Roulette wheel and 5.2% if you are playing American [Tip: play French Roulette that plays La Partage or En Prison and you will get half your even money bet back if the ball lands in the zero pocket- that is what improves your odds further].
Try this system at one of our recommended virtual roulette casinos or play it at Betfair live roulette on a real table.
It is still up to you to judge your swings in fortune and to try and maximise your wins and minimise your losses.