It’s pretty hard to sit down at a roulette table and not feel like James Bond. We’ve all done it after a win – a cocktail in one hand, a casual toss of high value chips onto the table and a witty quip to the croupier with a smug, superior smile on your face.
The thing is, you’re not James Bond. You don’t have a pen that turns into a laser, you don’t own an Aston Martin and you’re probably going to look like an idiot in approximately 10 seconds, when you lose.
it’s a much better idea to approach a roulette table or online roulette game with a betting strategy
Rather than getting carried away with fantasies, it’s a much better idea to approach a roulette table or online roulette game with a betting strategy. With one, you could be as lucky as the group of roulette gamblers who went viral this week for winning $3.6m on one spin.
Roulette betting strategies won’t guarantee you’ll win but they will keep you focused, give you rules to operate within and stop you making snap decisions. Let’s take a look at the four most popular roulette betting strategies you can try out.
The Martingale System
The Martingale system is the simplest roulette betting strategy out there. All you have to do is double your bet after a loss. The idea here is that you’ll recoup any money you’ve lost on previous spins.
Here’s how it works:
Start off with a small bet and only bet on red/black, odd/even or 1-18 or 19 – 36. These bets pay 2-1.
If you lose, double your bet. If you win, keep your bet the same.
For example, if you bet $2 on red/black and lose, you should bet $4 on red/black on the next spin. If you lose on that second spin, wager $8 on the same bet. If you win, you’ll collect $16, which pays you back for your third bet and the $2 and $4 you spent on the first two spins and leaves you with an extra $2.
the amounts your betting can grow really quickly with this system
The downside of this betting strategy is that because roulette is a game of luck, it’s possible that you’ll have ten or more losing bets in a row. That means the amounts your betting can grow really quickly with this system.
If you started off with a small $2 bet and get six losses in a row, you’ll already find yourself having to bet $128 on the seventh spin.
The D’Alembert
If the idea of doubling your bets in the Martingale system fills you with a sense of dread, the D’Alambert system might be your new best friend.
Instead of doubling your bet every time you lose, the D’Alambert system says you should step up your wager by one when you lose and reduce it by one if you win. Like, the Martingale strategy, you should only place wagers on the even money roulette bets.
This roulette betting strategy means that you’ll always leave the casino either breaking even or with a small profit at the end of the night. It’s a lot less risky than the Martingale system too.
For example, if you bet $5 and lose, you increase your bet to $6. You lose again and increase your bet to $7. You lose a third time and increase your bet to $8 on the fourth spin. You win and pocket $16, covering the $5, $6 and $7 bets you made before.
The Fibonacci System
The Fibonacci number sequence is a famous mathematical theory. The Golden Ratio is based on the number series and it shows up in nature, art and even other galaxies.
The Fibonacci sequence is as set of numbers that follow one rule. Each number after the second in the series is the sum total of the previous two. The Fibonacci numbers are: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, etc.
One other place the Fibonacci system turns up is at casinos. Using the Fibonacci sequence as a roulette betting strategy means that even if you place more losing bets than winning ones during a gambling session, you’ll still come out with winnings at the end.
The Paroli System
The Paroli roulette betting system relies on you doubling your bets when you win but, unlike other popular betting strategies, you only do this for a set amount of spins of the wheel. Like the other betting systems, you should place your money on the bets that pay 2-1.
double your bet after a win three times in a row, then return to your original bet
In the Paroli roulette strategy, you double your bet after a win three times in a row, then return to your original bet. So, if you bet $2 and win, you bet $4 on the next spin. When you win on the second spin, you bet $8 on the third spin but you always bet $2 on the fourth spin regardless of whether you won or lost on that third spin.
What this means in cash terms is that you’re reinvesting your winnings until you build up your profit slightly. By the fourth spin in the example above, you’ll have bet a total of $14 and have a profit of $2.
The Paroli system is probably the most widely used roulette betting strategy for two reasons. One is because it’s easy to remember and even beginners won’t get flustered at the tables when they’re trying to calculate how much to bet on their next spin.
The other reason the Paroli system is popular is because there’s a limit to the amount of times you’re meant to double your bet, meaning there’s also a limit to how much money you could potentially waste.
