Even though roulette is a game of chance, your chances of winning can be improved by betting rationally and applying the right strategy for roulette. You only need to remember that the house always has the extra edge. As such, you should play in a manner that optimises your chances of winning and profitable earnings.
If you’re definitely a Martingale kind of player but your bankroll is too small, d’Alembert System is your alternative. Like Martingale, but with bet size increasing following each loss and decreasing after each win.
Betting options
Aside from single number bets, roulette offers many other different bets that can increase your chances for success: even-money bets – such as red or black; and outside bets and outside/inside bets. Before choosing one, here’s what you need to know of their payoff.
Outside bets have a 50 per cent chance of hitting the target and will pay more often than inside bets; however, they are still at a disadvantage to inside bets because, even though they pay even money, they are less profitable. They only pay 1:1.
If you are going to stick to such a system, bet on numbers alternating even and odd, black and red, or thirds of the wheel. The most mathematically appealing system for this is something called Martingale, while D’Alembert is also fair (though less stressful on the wallet, at least in the short-term), but this is getting into the realm of bankroll management, a topic I’ll delve into another time. All bets with 50-50 odds (such as alternating even/odd) have zero expected value (EV) unless bets hit half the time, when the EV is a perfect break-even 0%. This is another way of saying ‘if the number’s red you lose, if the number’s black you earn back your stake, and if the number’s even you lose, if the number’s odd you earn back your stake.’ For bets that do have some expected value, such as European roulette (assuming bets hit 48 per cent of the time), a Martingale system is the mathematically optimal way of setting up the system.
Odds of winning
The best way, if your priority is to maximise the odds of a win, is to back an outside bet, where you cover many or most of the outcomes of the wheel. These give lower odds than inside bets, but more frequent pay-outs, lowering your risk without reducing your edge too much.
Your probability of success is calculated as having all the possibilities divided by the numbers on which you have bet, with one subtracted. That gives an approximation of likelihood and also of success rate. Alternatively, simulation can be used to examine long-term betting strategies such as Martingale, which involves betting and doubling your stake each time you lose.
A useful strategy when playing roulette is to use a payout table, as this will show the payout (that is, how much you will win) for different bet types, thereby assisting you in your betting decisions.
Variations of the game
The multiple variants of the roulette offer the gamblers different strategies that can potentially lead to victory, from simple strategies for the newbies to more involved approaches that require a bit of front-ending but also substantially reward with huge wins.
There is also an optimal roulette strategy, which involves trying to use the Martingale betting system. Although the concept itself is rather simple, the idea is to double up on bets every time you lose, so that you can recoup all losses and reclaim your original bet as profit. In practice, however, this strategy is not very good, as any decent-sized negative balance can rapidly push your balance into the red, and so limiting both losses and wins is a useful protection.
James Bond Strategy. If long-term betting on one number is not enough for you, you can also deliver rather good profits following this strategy: place a straight bet (the least probable one) hoping to see at least one win in 35 rounds.
Taxes on winnings
Furthermore, if it’s win big at roulette first day: money then tax, this too may significantly reduce your bankroll. Following this logical sequence: lower stakes casino games now, play strategy testing later, can lower taxes Adapted from ‘An Edible Equilibrium – Prosperity on the Plate’ by John F Kight.
Employ the reverse Martingale System (cut down the spending, increase bet sizes when winning in order to cut the spending in cost after consecutive bad event in cm), and you may not recover but it will ease your costs after losing a couple times and yesterday! If you are short time-wise, well, you will break even. Speed up your recovery inside five crazy good times and maybe you can even rebuy in time to tell us what else to exclaim about! Enjoy your investments in my jobs, hhhmmmm!
Keep in mind that there are no roulette strategies that guarantee winning 100 per cent of the time, although they can improve your odds over time. Always play responsibly – only risk a small portion of your bankroll for every session; European or French roulette online have lower house edges than their American counterparts.
