How many roulette strategies are there?
Well, people have been trying to crack the roulette code for centuries, so its a big number.
But do any of them actually guarantee you a win?
Roulette Strategies: the Facts
One thing we don’t do here at Roulette17.com is to make big claims about knowing the secret code to roulette and how to use strategies to guarantee a win on the wheel.
We see enough of that rubbish online to want to contribute to it.
But it´s a valid question- Do Winning Roulette Strategies Exist? Or does the house always win? There are all sorts of different ways of playing the game, to high table coverage system like the Three Quadrant System, to single number betting systems like the Makarov Strategy. Which one is best?
It’s a Grey Area
As ever, the answers to these questions aren’t black and white. The house doesn´t always win, otherwise, no one would play roulette. Some people win, and some people lose. A more useful question, we think, is whether it is possible to win consistently at roulette over the long term.
When you start digging around, you find that roulette has captured the imagination of punters around the world when it comes to trying to crack the code. No other game comes close- there have probably been more systems dreamt up for roulette than for all the other casino games put together.
These include progression systems like the Martingale and Fibonacci, combination systems like the Even Money Double Dozens and mechanical systems used by roulette clockers and teams of people trying to systematically identify wheel bias or dealer signature.
Why Would You Publicise a Winning Roulette Strategy?
Some of these wheel signature-based systems were undoubtedly winning roulette strategies that gave the player an edge in the casino.
Gonzalo Garcia-Pelayo became famous for devising one and profiting from it. But here’s the thing- the casinos are probably more interested in winning roulette systems than anyone else, and if a winning roulette strategy comes out into the public domain, they are not likely to sit around on their hands and do nothing about it.
Quite the opposite- they´ll move quickly to shut that loophole, as their business depends on it.
So successful roulette strategies don’t remain successful for long once they become public knowledge. If someone is trying to sell you a winning system and it’s in the public domain, you can be pretty sure that, even if it used to work, it doesn’t work anymore.
Improve Your Odds with Game Selection
But there are things that you can do to improve your odds at the table. One example is to choose the best game, so always choose European roulette over American for example- the odds are better.
Change your mindset and make yourself smaller achievable goals, like staying ahead in more sessions than you fall behind in.
Win Fast and Leave Early
TIP- the house edge is always there, and will eat away at your bankroll. You should aim to win bigger amounts with fewer spins- that way the casino has less opportunity of clawing your winnings back off you.
Remember that roulette is not a game where the probabilities change from spin to spin. This is a game that doesn’t change its rules or physical makeup from spin to spin.
The wheel has no memory, so if you see eleven reds in a row, the ball still has the same chance of going in a black pocket or a red pocket on the twelfth spin. Any other belief is just a Gambler’s Fallacy.
The Wheel Has No Memory
TIP- test this out for yourself. If you are one of those people who just have to bet based on trends, and you normally bet against the flow (so if you see 3 reds in a row you bet black), try flipping it around as a test and start betting with the flow (so if you see a bunch of reds you take the view that red is hot, and bet red). Now compare your results!
I’ll bet you’ll find it didn’t make much difference. The important thing is that you are playing to some sort of a system and you are thinking.
If you look at the hard facts, the casino edge in roulette is 5.3% on an American Wheel and 2.7% on a European Wheel. In a perfect world, if you were betting $10 at a table on a European Wheel, and played for 37 spins, you would win 18 times, and lose 19 times.
You would have bet $370, won $180 and lost $190. So you’d lose your $10 over bets of $370. 10 divided by 370 is 2.7%- there’s your house edge. Notice we are talking on average. You might see deviations from this, but the more spins you play, the more accurate this forecast will become. That’s just statistics.
Life is Volatile in the Short-Term
In reality, life doesn’t work like clockwork over smaller timescales. You could have been lucky over ten spins, won $50 and then quit. Or it could have gone the other way, you chased your bets and lost $50. When you look at it like this, it becomes pretty clear that the winning roulette strategy is to try and win a decent amount early on, and then quit while you are ahead.
The key thing you need to be planning is when to quit. Bear in mind that you will have lucky sessions and unlucky sessions. Try to quit early on in an unlucky session and prolong the play in a lucky session. If you can play more winning sessions than losing sessions then you should be up overall.
Tip: On a bad day, quit as soon as you can. Cut your losses.
Think of the house advantage or house edge as a fee for using the machines. That’s how the casino makes its money- they have to pay for the building, the heating, the free drinks or the servers if you are online. So the longer you stay playing in the casino enjoying those comfy chairs and the air conditioning, the more “rent” that you’ll need to pay!
These are the things that casinos love. Take note, and try to avoid being one of them!
– Greedy players who aren´t satisfied with wins, no matter what their level.
– Erratic players that do not play systematically, but rather play on “hunches”.
– Players that can´t seem to leave the table.
– Players who think they can win back their losses by betting more aggressively. “My luck will turn!”
These are the qualities that casinos hate. Try to do more of these!
– Careful, considered players.
– Players that vary the amount and type of bet depending on how their luck’s running.
– Players that have no problem quitting either when they are ahead or down. Players that live to fight another day!
– Players that set themselves a stop loss and a take profit target
– Players that set themselves a maximum time at the table.
Tip- try and mix things up a bit if luck is not running your way. If you are betting on the even chances (red/black, even/odd etc), try throwing in a few column bets- cover 2/3 of the table. Vary your bet level.
Try increasing your bets after a win rather than the usual approach which is to chase losses and increase bets after a loss (negative progression betting). Instead of covering half of the table with a bet on red, make six Street Bets and then you can mix it up a bit from spin to spin. Keep the wheel guessing!
Finally
But if there is one piece of advice you should take away with you it’s this- try to quit while you are ahead or at least quit while you are on a small loss. You won’t win every session. If you can win more than you lose, you will be up overall.
That is one of the best winning roulette strategies, but it is not that easy to pull off. It’s more of a psychological challenge than a physical one.
Ask any forex trader and they will recognise the challenge!
