Since its invention way back in the 17th century when Blaise Pascal was in search of a perpetual motion machine players have been searching for a foolproof method for winning. Of course no such thing exists. Having said that I am going to outline my some of my tips for winning roulette and I hope you learn something. Some of my tips will be in opposition to other tips, but roulette is so complex it is worth trying a couple of things to see what works for you.
Tip 1: Pick the winning number 🙂
The best tip you will ever hear is ‘pick the winning number‘, there, I said it and it should have been obvious all along.
Truth be told, all roulette players are at the mercy of the ‘Gods of Randomness‘ and once you accept that you can work on improving your odds of winning.
Are you annoyed with me yet?
Roulette is either luck or increasing your chances!
Everyone dreams of putting $500 on a single number and seeing it come up, but in reality the odds are against you. On single zero table your chances of winning are 1:37 but the casino is betting against you and their odds are 36:1.
People do win with straight up bets, it has happened to me, but in the real world most players lose. To minimise losses you must diversify to increase your odds. Only then can your quest to clean-out the casino a few dollars at a time begin.
By increasing you chances you effectively reduce the casinos odds and is as easy as betting on multiple numbers. More numbers equates to more chances of winning.
Roulette tables make selecting multiple numbers easy with choices such as Red / Black, 1-18 / 19-36, and Dozens etc. You’re not limited by those choices and are free to choose random straight up bets, corners or splits, with each your chances increase slightly.
Putting $5 on 15 different numbers improves your chances dramatically and your payout produces a reasonable profit. For a $5 bet you get back $180 (35 x 5 + original 5) giving you a profit of $100.
Tip 2: Use a Roulette System
Roulette systems are great when you are reasonably new to roulette because you are increasing your odds of winning but at the same time reducing the amount of money you spend. The downside is that most system offer for small returns, and they all eventually lose.
If you have read anything else on this site you will know that my motto is “bet a smart gambler, not a greedy one” and we should be happy with small wins. A win is a win, right?
Be a smart gambler, not a greedy one!
My own motto
With all systems you will eventually lose and you may need a lot of wins to get back to where you started. The popular 24/10 system is a good example. When playing the 24/10 strategy you place 10 units on 1-12, 10 units on 25-36, and 1 unit on 10 different numbers in the 13-24 range.
If your chosen base unit is $1 it will cost you $30. When the result falls within the 13-24 range you win $36 which is 35 x $1 plus original $1 bet. If the ball lands in the 1-12 or 25-36 area you get $30 back which is a Push or Hedge Bet.
However, if you lose because 0, 00, 16 or 19 come up you are $30 down and it takes 6 wins to get back to your starting point. Of course you may have had enough wins along the way to absorb that loss, but it is worth considering.
The same strategy with $10 units will cost you $300 per spin with a $60 return for a win. But three losses in a row will cost you $900! I’ve personally played this strategy, and have had great success, but I have had results like 16, 16, 19, 0 come up in a row giving me four losses. I was betting a total of $60 which was a $180 hit to my pocket. My total budget on that day was only $300 and a $180 hit requires some serious recovery time.
Tip 3: Spread the load – choose 12 random numbers
If strategy payouts are a bit small for you and you want larger returns, assuming luck is on your side, try choosing 12 random numbers.
Putting $5 on a dozen straight up bets will cost you $60 and returns a total of $180 for a winner, and eventually you will likely have a winner.
Whereas a system can take quite a few wins to recover, with a spread-the-load style strategy a single win recovers from three losses. You must expect losses too, probably more losses than other strategies because there are 25 losing numbers. A $60 loss hurts more than $20 or $30.
Tip 4: Group your bets around a single number, corners, splits, etc.
By looking at previous results you may see a pattern such as more numbers in the 25-36 range. Breaking down $60 into streets, corners and a straight up number can create excellent returns if you take one big win and walk away. For example;
In the example above there is a total of $50 on the table using $5 chips. $10 on 29, 4 x corner bets and 4 x split bets. The results for each possible outcome are below;
| Number | Bet Type | Return |
|---|---|---|
| 25, 27, 31, 33 | Corner | $45 |
| 26, 28, 30, 32 | Split + Corners | $180 |
| 29 | 4 Corners, 4 Splits, 1 Straight up | $850 |
Assuming you can afford a budget of $1,000 you have 20 shots at hitting a couple of corners, splits, and hopefully one or two balls landing on 29. Mix this up as you like anywhere on the table.
Tip 4: To win big you need to bet big
While I am usually happy with lots of small wins, my younger brother was at the other end of the scale and firmly believed in putting down larger bets. As a result he has won $45,000 in one sitting and $5,000 to $6,000 wins were not uncommon for him. Of course he could afford to burn through $10,000 whereas I don’t like taking more than $500 to the casino.
If you want big wins you need to absorb big losses but the potential gains are great. The thrill of winning $45,000 isn’t one I’m likely to experience, but perhaps you can if you throw enough money into it.
Happy Roulette Adventures everyone!
