Roulette: next steps and betting strategies

Roulette: next steps and betting strategies

In the third of our instalments on the classic game of roulette, we are moving on to look at how to place bets and some strategies for winning. We’ve already covered the history of roulette in part one, while in part two we looked at the basics of roulette, includings the odds and payout of each type of bet.

Once you’ve figured out the odds of winning and what combinations of bets are pointless and which are not, betting strategies are worth exploring. Of course most of us just want to chuck down a few chips on some numbers and hope for the best, but it’s always more fun to win; and the added element of operating system or strategy introduces some extra fun and spice.

With a fun casino there is little to worry about, but if you hit a real casino be warned: there is no way to get round the game’s percentages. Remember that with the zero slot on the wheel there is an in-built advantage for the house that will ultimately catch up with you. Nonetheless, there a bunch of strategies out there used by gamblers around the world, some of which have persisted for decades.

Martingale

Probably the oldest ‘trick’ in the book and the way to lose a lot of money very fast. Betting on evens (red/black usually), you simply double your stake after each loss. When a win comes you will have a profit equal to your original stake. The problem here is that with your stake rising exponentially, you quickly run into very high numbers and the house limit.

Grand Martingale

This is pretty much the same as the standard Martingale, but you add one to each bet. So if you start with a £10 bet and lose your next stake would be £30 (double the £10 and add £10). If you lost that the next stake would be £70 (double £30 plus £10 again), and so on until you run out of money very sharply indeed!

Paroli

This takes advantage of a winning streak. Bet one unit, say one chip, and keep betting one unit at a time until you win. After a win your second bet should double the first bet plus one more unit – three units. If you win that you double and add one again – 7 units this time. If you’re lucky enough to win again you take your profits and start again at one.

There are lots more systems out there, but the problem with all of these that no matter which you try to square it, the odds will eventually favour the house. But that’s not to say you can’t have a fun crack at it while the going is good!