Improve Your Roulete Odds

This article should help you to improve your odds in roulette and help you to win at roulette more often. That sounds like a grandiose claim, we know (maybe we should have that in capitals with a bunch of exclamation marks at the end). But it’s true. Honest Guv.

Can you completely eliminate the house edge in roulette? No, we are not saying that (although some people have managed to by spotting and playing on biased wheels). It doesn’t matter if you bet on a few roulette numbers or lots of numbers, the house edge remains.

What we are saying, is that you can increase your odds choosing the roulette game that you play and the bets that you make. The rest is up to you, and the challenge becomes more psychological. Can you extend your winning streaks and cut shot your losses, and quit while you are ahead? Or will you chase your losses or get greedy and play away your profits in the hope of scooping bigger and bigger wins? Hopefully the first.

1. Observe Before You Play

Sit out a few turns and watch the action as a spectator. You won’t lose any money this way! Plus you can get the “feel” of the table.

– Note how quickly each round of roulette takes (how many minutes on average between each spin of the wheel). That way, you’ll know how long you have to make a considered bet.
– You won’t be rushed into making rash bets.

This only applies to live roulette if you are playing online of course. If you are playing video roulette, you set the pace, and you spin the wheel.

2. Practice on the Free Tables

Head to our roulette free play section and test some games out. You will need to sign up first at most of our recommended casinos to access the demos. You can get the feel of the games by actually playing them. If you are thinking of using a roulette system, again you can test it out for free. There is no risk on the free tables, it’s pure zero house edge roulette!

Bear in mind though, that it is another story playing for free. The psychology is different- meaning you might play more aggressively if you are not risking any money. There is no substitute for playing for real- you can always progress to playing for real on a scratch budget to minimise your risk while you get to grips with the game. That’s another good plan- play for low stakes (on Penny Roulette for example) and minimise your risk.

3. Have a Plan before you Begin and Play the Plan

Only bet what you can afford to lose. That’s your total budget- let’s call it your Entertainment Budget, so there is no pressure for you to win. It would be better to win, obviously, but you don’t HAVE to win. This will help you psychologically to make bets that are considered and not rushed. Plus, it should help you to not chase your losses.

– Divide your total budget up into smaller portions-. 5% or lower is a good rule of thumb, so if you have an entertainment budget of £100, we are talking £5 max bets.
– Now make your plan. When will you walk away from the table? After 50% profit? After a £80 loss? Or will you play the whole budget. You can bank profits along the way until you are in a situation where you are just playing with winnings. Perfect! – use the casino’s money to win more money off them.
– It often helps to write these things down – stick it up on the wall.

4. Do Your Research

Pick your casino wisely. We hope that’s what you are doing on Roulette17.com and that you find the site useful.
– Make sure you play at a reputable casino that is licensed by the Gambling Commission in the UK or another reputable jurisdiction (Malta, Gibraltar for example) and choose one that is roulette friendly, particularly when it comes to the bonus terms.
– You don’t need to take the bonus, but if you do, choose a casino that doesn’t lay onerous conditions for wagering on roulette games.

The wagering terms for roulette are one of the first things that we check when we are reviewing a casino.

5. Play European Roulette When You Can

If you have a choice between playing on a European roulette game and an American roulette game, play European every time. No exceptions.

– European wheels are single zero, American wheels are double.
– This means if you are making and even money bet or a column bet, the house edge is double that of a European wheel.
– The house edge on a European Wheel is 2.6%. The house edge on an American roulette wheel is 5.2%. It’s simple.

6. Extend Winning Streaks and Cut Short Losing Streaks

Sounds easy doesn’t it? In fact, it takes a lot of will power. If you feel the rub of the green is with you, try and “make hay while the sun is shining”. If you are having bad luck, minimise your bets and try and ride it out, minimising your losses. When people ask us: “Can you Beat the Roulette Wheel?”, we remind them that the big killer in roulette is volatility- those runs of weird results where you might see 15 reds in a row. You’re more likely to see weird stuff like that if you spend a long time at the table.

Above all, don’t be greedy! If you hit your profit target (or your stop loss), leave the table!

7. Try Systems Like The Martingale

Try different systems like the Martingale. In the Martingale (normally played on even money bets like red/black), you double your bet after a loss to claw yourself back into profit.

But be careful– the bets can ramp up quickly if you experience a long string of losses, so set yourself a maximum bet level and start off with a low bet. If you start with £1, you can play 5 consecutive bets and still be betting a reasonable £16.

– Don’t fall in to the trap of the Gambler’s Fallacy, where you bet black, for example, when you have seen 3 reds in a row.
– Each spin is a new event, it doesn’t matter what came up on the last 5 spins. Chop and change between red/black, hi/lo, even/odd even money bets.
– Mix it up! Why not?

8. Or Try Less Aggressive Systems Like the Fibonacci

In the Fibonacci, you also increase your bets after a loss, but the sequence goes 1,1,2,3,5,8,13 instead of 1,2,4,8,16.

Each bet is the sum of the previous 2. You go back 2 numbers after a win in the Fibonacci (in the Martingale you revert to your original bet).

The numbers don’t ramp up so quickly, but you are still betting higher after a loss, so be careful that you don’t get carried away. These kinds of strategies are best used in short bursts otherwise you could dig yourself a big hole.

9. Look For French Roulette With La Partage or en Prison

If you can, play on a French Roulette game that offers the en prison or La Partage on even money bets.

These are special rules that kick in when the ball hits the zero pocket. In en prison, your bet “rides on” to the next spin- you get a free spin, basically. In La Partage, you get half your bet back, kind of like an insurance.

10. Never Play the 5 Number Bet

You can only make this bet in American roulette, so ideally this last piece of advice will be irrelevant to you (see point 5 above). But if you do find yourself in Las Vegas in a casino that only offers American Roulette, make sure you steer clear of the 5 Number Bet- it has the worse odds in roulette- 7.9% to be precise. That’s because they have rounded to payout down to 6:1.

We don’t mean the number 5 bet by the way (ie a single bet on the number 5). That’s fine.