Roulette Strategy Explained

You won’t find a casino game with more betting systems than Roulette. Although using them does not guarantee success, it does not mean that having a Roulette strategy cannot have a positive effect on your betting. Below I give you two systems from our list of 45+ Betting Systems that are quite successful and low risk. I have played them both at various casinos with some decent results.

Roulette is a game of many options to bet, some of the equal chance bets such as odd and even (these are known as even bets even though it is less than that when the number zero is taken into account), and others with 35 to 1 payouts (betting on individual numbers).

A roulette system is different from a roulette strategy in the way that it is more subjective in regards to how you bet. This is part of a general grand scheme, your strategy. The whole point of a roulette tactic is that you play tactfully in order to win. Free professional tips to win at roulette, including articles, videos and resources. Learn why most roulette systems lose, & see the strategies that work.

Therefore, plenty of people have come up with a system which they believe will be a foolproof way to win money.

If any person came up with one of these, it could potentially take down a casino as they will be losing all the time over the long run. There is no such thing as a Sure win Roulette strategy or a sure winning system for any other casino game for that matter.

There are plenty of sites that promise you loads of fame and fortune if you pay them for their magical, guaranteed formula. If they really had one, though, why would they want to sell it to make money as opposed to using it themselves to win at online or land-based casinos around the world?

It follows that the first point to make is never pay anything to anyone who professes to have a guaranteed winning system or Roulette strategy as you will lose your money.

We have heard so many times over the years that if a number hasn’t come up for a while, it must be ‘due’ to come in. This is nonsense as any number has the same chance of coming in each spin irrespective of whether it came in the last spin, 10 spins ago or 100 spins ago.

This has become known as ‘the Gamblers Fallacy’. This seems to be the basis for the vast majority of betting systems and as such, means the system is flawed from the start. An example would be if 3 even numbers come in a row, it is, therefore, more likely that the next number will be odd.

This is simply not the case as in a casino website a Random Number Generator (RNG) is used to determine the outcome of a given hand and it doesn’t ever take into account previous results; in the same way, a land-based casino uses a wheel in which the speed of the spin and speed of the roll are not constant and so again, the outcome of the next spin is in no way related to the past spins.

That being said, I have provided below two popular betting systems that I’ve been very successful with when playing Roulette.

The Martingale System

This system gets you to gamble on even money bets such as odd/even, high/low, black/red etc.
Every time you lose a bet you need to double your bet every time you lose.

The thinking behind this is simple enough. If you start with €1 and lose 4 bets in a row, you will lose €1 the first bet, double this to €2, double this to €4 and then double this to €8. Therefore you are €15 down. The next bet would be for €16 and if this wins, it returns €32, so a total profit over the 5 hands of €1.

There is an obvious flaw to this system, however, in that if you were to lose the 5th bet, you are suddenly €31, the next bet is €32 which would result in a loss of €63. Although the chances of losing 6 even bets in a row are slim, there is a possibility and if you find yourself at the end of your bankroll, you can face a substantial loss.

To overcome this problem I recommend that you place a cap on the 3rd bet in the round. Therefore, if you start with a $10 bet and loose, the next bet doubles to $20, and the 3rd bet doubles to $40. This will limit your losses and you will find that more often than not you will be able to complete a series of rounds without loosing 3 spins in a row. I usually set a goal for winnings that represents a series, so for example, if betting $10 per round I would set the goal at $150 or $200 to complete the series. I then take a break before playing again or finishing for the day. If in a series you do hit 3 losses in a row this is not the end and you can still recover, but this adds more risk and time to that session of play.

You can read a more in-depth article on The Martingale Betting System here.

The 1-3-2-6 Staking Plan

This is actually a reasonable way to bet a small amount and sensibly enjoy yourself without risking too much.
The name is basically a 4 stage betting system with the number shown the number of units for each bet.
Again, it concentrates on even money betting as opposed to the larger odds.

Starting with a bet of 1 unit, we will use €1 as an example. The thinking behind it is that as the chances of guessing correctly are near enough 50/50 – slightly less due to the Zero, as long as you are playing European or French Roulette, which have only one Zero – it is possible that you could win 4 times in a row every so often which will result in the winnings from that 4 bet cycle overcoming any losses.

The first bet, the 1, would be for $1.

If any bet loses, the next bet would be for 1 unit again as the cycle needs to be restarted. If the bet wins, you then have $2 on the table and you need to add a further €1 to ensure the second bet is for 3 units. The good thing about this System is that this is the only time during the cycle you need to add more funds, the rest are taken from winnings.

If the 2nd bet loses, you end up down $2, the maximum loss for any stage. If the 2nd bet wins, you have €6 on the table.

You would now remove $4 and leave the remaining €2 for the 3rd bet of the cycle. If this bet was to lose, you would end the cycle up $2 as you risked $1 on stage 1, $1 on stage 2 and pocketed $4 after the end of stage 2. Should stage 3 win, you have $4 on the table and would now add a further $2 from your winnings to make $6.

The 4th and final stage would result in you breaking even for that stage, whereas a win would give you the maximum return of a $12 profit over the 4 bets.

As mentioned, this is only a unit, so if you wanted to risk more, you can start with $2 instead of $1 and double each level, if you wanted to reduce and the table allows it, you can start with a $0.50 bet and half the other levels.

To summarise, using the 1-3-2-6 Staking Plan playing $1 per unit, you would:

Lose $1 if you lost on Bet 1.

Lose $2 if you lost on Bet 2.

Win $2 if you lost on Bet 3.

Break Even if you lost on Bet 4.

Win $12 if you win on Bet 4.

Potentially, you could actually lose 6 cycles in a row on Bet 2, resulting in the maximum loss each time of $2, but just one win of the 4 consecutive bets would see you break even.

You can read here a more in-depth article on The 1-3-2-6 Staking Plan.

Roulette Tips

Roulette is a hard game to win on because it has some of the worst odds of all casino games but there are some things you can do to reduce the house edge. Use the following roulette tips as a supplement to a good roulette strategy.

1. Always choose the European or French Roulette wheels over the American Wheel as this wheel will give you a 2.63% edge over the house.
2. Find a table with limits you’re comfortable with. Each roulette table should have its minimum and maximum bets clearly posted.
3. If you have noticed that one number is being spun more often than the others out of around 100 spins then you may have what is called a biased wheel. This is one of the only true advantages a player has against the casino. This is for playing at live casinos
4. Never play the five number bet, 0-00-1-2-3. This bet has the worst odds on the roulette table.
5. Depending on the casino, column bets are often the best roulette bet for the online games. Choose a column and hang in there with it.
6. Because of the luck/chance nature of roulette, players should always bear in mind that with games such as these the number one priority should be to have fun, whilst making a profit.
7. You can place as many bets as you like on a single spin of the wheel up to the table maximum.
8. Some casinos use a rule called en prison. When a zero or double zero hits, the player loses half the bet or can let the bet remain in play, with the results to be determined on the next spin. This rule only applies to even money bets.
9. With the 38-number American wheel, the house has a big 5.26 percent edge. (Whenever 0 or 00 are hit, all bets lose.)
10. With the 37-number European wheel, the house advantage is 2.7 percent. In other words, on every $100 bet the house makes $2.70. With the en prison rule, this edge drops to just 1.35 percent.
11. If you use a betting system, such as the Fast Double Bet or the Flat Bed Counting, try to win more money in fewer spins.
12. Roulette Tip: A Roulette wheel has no memory so every single spin is independent of spins that occurred in the past. Knowing this makes betting systems let effective instantly.
13. Roulette Tip: Do not think you can beat the house edge at Roulette, it’s simply too big. If you win in the short term, cash out because if you keep playing the house edge will more then likely defeat you.
14. Roulette Tip: Increase your bets when you’re winning and not when your losing.

Read on to Part III the final part of this series “Roulette Payouts & Odds” below

Part I – How to Play Roulette
Part II – Roulette Strategy & Tips
Part III – Roulette Payouts & Odds

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Roulette Strategy Systems

Considering it’s been around for hundreds of years, it’s no surprise that many people have attempted to come up with various betting systems and betting strategies for the game of Roulette.

I’ve tried them all and I love them – they always make the game of Roulette that much more exciting. Every time I head out to a casino or load one up in my web browser, I’m always debating what betting system to use next. It’s fun, and if you stick with a betting system you will not make silly mistakes.

Important Note: None of these Strategies Will Help you Win at Roulette. Really there’s no way to actually WIN at Roulette – the casino always wins. You should use these more for fun anyway or to help give the illusion that you’re winning.

The best thing you can do to increase your chances of winning at roulette – and the only thing – is rely on things such as casino bonuses and casino comp points etc to help give you a better return.

For that, and also if you just want to practise Roulette for free, we recommend:

That’s the good thing about a system – the casinos make most of their money from impulsive bets. How often have you heard that bets will be closing and watch people go mental splashing chips around? That’s why you should stick with a betting system; to keep you restrained and from making those silly impulsive mistakes.

Read through these articles and pick a betting system that will work for you:

Aggressive d’Alembert Betting System: Like the d’Alembert Betting System, except has an aggressive approach to the progressive betting side to it. Go big or go home.

Anti-Martingale Betting System: The complete opposite of the martingale, although using the same fundamentals. Rather than doubling your bet on a loss, you double it on a win. A fun progressive betting system that is simple to use.

Base Two Betting System: This is a famous progressive betting system which also doesn’t have the risk of the Martingale if things go wrong. It uses two separate wager sizes and betting on 1:1 payouts such as red/black, odd/even or columns.

Best High Risk Roulette Strategies: Looking for some high risk/reward roulette strategies? I outline the best ones here.

Bet On Black Betting System: Wesley Snipes, is that you? This is an interesting betting system which is progressive but has a gradual incline to the wagering amount.

Black Snake Roulette Betting System: Get your minds out of the gutter – the black snake is a betting system for roulette involving betting 24 numbers.

Charting The Wheel Betting System: One of the first roulette systems, made famous back in the 19th century. Not the type of thing that will work these days, but still worth reading about.

Column Betting System: As you can imagine, this system is based on the columns within roulette. It is a relatively simple betting strategy used purely for betting on the columns. I recommend playing this one on European Roulette tables.

Contra D’Alembert Betting System: This is a variation of the very popular D’Alembert Betting System. It’s the complete opposite of it, and quite the interesting betting system to use.

Covering The Table Betting System: Based on European roulette, it’s a fun strategy involving covering 35 numbers on the table. I also cover variations you can make with the system based on American Roulette and less unit betting.

D’Alembert Betting System: Created by French mathematician Jean-Baptise le Rond d’Alembert, this is also known as the Pyramid betting system. This is a fun betting system, although is based purely on Gambler’s Fallacy.

Dopey Betting System: This system was made famous due to the book by Andres Martinez, where he provided detail about the Dopey Betting System, an experimental roulette betting system.

Double Street Quad Strategy: This is a very interesting strategy which involves a betting pattern on two double streets, along with a quad or corner.

Don’t Bet The Top Line: This strategy in roulette involves not betting the top line and dives into that.

Dozen Based Triple Martingale Betting System: Like many betting systems for Roulette, it’s the Martingale with a twist. It focuses on the “dozen” bets that you can make, and the progressions in betting you make are higher. Triple your initial stake.

Fibonacci Betting System: Taken from the Fibonacci Sequence from back in the 13th century, the Fibonacci Betting System is a very simple progressive betting to use, based on increments of the 2 prior numbers you bet with.

Fibonacci vs Reverse Fibonacci: In this article I compare the fibonacci and reverse fibonacci systems and break down the difference between them.

Five Quad Strategy: The Five Quad Strategy is similar to the Double Street Quad System but requires you to bet five quads while playing roulette.

Flat Betting System: The most commonly used betting system out there and the easiest for people to do. It’s a low risk strategy, and I cover a lot of different ways you can use this betting system.

Grand Martingale Betting System: The Grand Martingale Betting System is essentially the Martingale Betting System, except with a different amount of bet increments you should make. There are a couple of variations to it that I cover in this article.

Guetting Betting System: Thanks to Charlies Guetting, the French Mathematician, comes this rather complicated 4 level progressive betting system.

Hollandish Betting System: The Hollandish system is an interesting negative progressive system much like the Labouchere and the Martingale.

Identifying A Roulette Dealer Signature: I first thought about this topic when a dealer actually explained it to me – how she can generally control the area the ball goes to by when she throws it in and how shes throws it in. There’s a lot of interesting stuff about that and this is one article I highly recommend reading.

In Red We Trust Betting System: This is one of my favourite betting systems. It can be rather complex and is PERFECT for the action junkie. Only thing better than action? Well at least when it comes to Roulette – controlled action.

Inside Bet Betting System: This betting system is focused on the inside bets you can make in roulette, and you will need to have a strong understanding of all of the available inside bets.

James Bond Roulette System: A break down of the famous James Bond Roulette System.

Kavouras Bet: Kavouras Roulette Betting System is a very interesting one that appears chaotic but is a lot of fun. I like to use it a lot when playing.

Labouchere Betting System: This is a progressive betting system that is very popular at the Roulette tables. It’s based on setting aims such as the amount you wish to win or lose, and playing towards that. It uses sequences and is rather complex, but when you have it figured out it is a lot of fun and one I use often at the roulette tables.

Laws of the Third Betting System: This betting system is a betting system you can ONLY use for Roulette. It relies on the “laws of the third” whereas in 36 spins, 12 numbers won’t appear.

Low Risk Betting Strategy: Discussion and thesis about the best low risk betting strategy to play roulette with.

Lucky Numbers Betting System: Yeah you should know what this is – basically betting your lucky numbers. A nice simple betting system but we explain how to use it in more detail.

Martingale Betting System: The most popular betting system of all times, created over 250 years ago in France you’ve probably used this betting system without even knowing it.

Martingale Doubling Betting System: This is essentially the Martingale Betting System, but as I get a lot of requests from people to explain the “Martingale Doubling Betting System” I wrote a separate article with a slightly different take.

Mini Roulette Odds: In this article I go into the math of Mini Roulette and the odds and house edge.

Mini Roulette Strategy: Mini Roulette is a popular varation of roulette which has just 13 spaces with the numbers from 0-12. In this article I discuss the ideal mini roulette strategy.

Roulette Strategy That Works

Numbers Betting System: This is probably one of the more obscure betting systems out there. It’s quite complex and requires a bit of work so be sure to be familiar with Roulette before attempting the Numbers Betting System.

Red Snake Betting System: A comprehensive guide to the Red Snake Roulette Betting System. What it is and how it works.

Oscar’s Grind Betting System: This is, as the name suggests, a “grind”. It’s focused on winning 1 unit at a time and I cover exactly how it works within this article.

Parlay Betting System: North Americans will know what a parlay is – anyone outside of USA or Canada – it’s more a combo, or an accumulator in sports betting terms. You can use this system at Roulette amazingly enough, and it’s quite the fun betting system.

Paroli Betting System: A progressive betting system that is relatively simple – increasing your unit amount when you win.

Pattern Betting System: This is a classic betting system found at roulette, based on betting on three different sectors within the Roulette Wheel.

Pyramid Betting System: Also known as the D’Alembert Betting System, it’s one of the most popular betting system for beginner players next to the Martingale system.

Red Roulette Betting System: Red Roulette is an interesting betting system focused on betting on a specific colour.

Reverse D’Alembert Betting System: Now we get into the “reverse” betting systems – where it is basically the betting system in reverse. This is a neat one.

Reverse Fibonacci Betting System: Using the Fibonacci Sequence, the Reverse Fibonacci Betting System is an intriguing betting system although rather complicated. I explain how to use it here.

Reverse Martingale Betting System: This is the exact same as the Anti-Martingale Betting System. Most people know them by both variations so we have two separate articles with a different perspective covering both.

Reverse Sleeper System: This is a progressive system involving doubling the bet after each win.

The Shotwell System: Introduced in 1978 in Gambling Times Magazine, The Shotwell System is an interesting system which uses one out of seven betting number combinations.

Six Pack Plus System: A relatively new system involving making a single double street bet and then three dozens bets.

Single Repeats Betting System: This is one of my favourite betting systems – you basically follow the numbers one at a time. So you sit out the first spin and then bet the number that just won. Then you bet the next number that just won – and keep on going until you win, and you increase the units based on winning.

Roulette Strategy System

Sleeper System: The roulette sleeper system is based on betting the sleeping numbers – the ones that haven’t came up yet.

Super Martingale Betting System: If you’re a fan of the Martingale Betting System, then you’ll want to check out the Super Martingale Betting System that really is an interesting take on the Martingale.

Youtube Roulette Strategy

Whittaker Betting System: Similar to the Fibonacci, this is a negative progression betting system.

Worst Bets in Roulette: In this article I cover the worst possible bets to make in roulette. A great article for beginners.

Winning Roulette Strategy Systems

Expected Values in Roulette: In this article I look into the expected values within Roulette.