Let’s cut straight to the chase – in the long run you CANNOT win at roulette. However, when it comes to playing roulette online there are only handful of things to know to give yourself the best chance of winning. Firstly, you should only stake what you can afford to play with, as many of the best Roulette strategies require you to have a pool of cash large enough to continuously increase your bets in the case of a losing spin. Secondly, when it comes to working out the best way to win at roulette, it is those who have taken the time to study the different roulette strategies that tend to gain the upper hand. At the end of the day, Roulette is statistically a game of luck, but that doesn’t mean that a strong understand of Mathematics and the different systems you can employ (Martingale, Laboucher and D’Alembert) or Zonal systems can’t help you in your chances of how to win at Roulette in the short term.
Zonal Betting
Zonal betting is one of the simplest roulette strategies you can deploy, but it certainly does not guarantee a big win of any kind. Zonal betting involves betting on a section of the wheel, or a series of numbers so that you can increase your chances of landing in a favourable pocket.
Martingale System
The Martingale System is based on even money bets (red or black, odd or even). You will place a minimum bet on a colour (for instance), and if you win, you keep wagering the same amount on that colour. If you lose, you will double that original stake, and if you lose again you will double that one, and so on and so forth. The basic idea is that by doubling your losses each time you place a new bet, you will eventually win back what you have wagered, plus a little extra. When a win breaks the chain, you go back to a basic minimum bet. It is imperative that you don’t alter your bet (stay on the same colour) when using the Martingale System. You also need to a sizeable stack of chips to see you through long losing spells.
For Example: A player bets on the colour black and bets 1 chip and loses. The player then bet 2 chips and loses again. The player then bets 4 chips and loses again. The player then bets 8 chips and wins. The player then goes back down to the original stake of 1 chip and starts the betting sequence again. The player may at this point change the colour if so desired.
The Martingale System cannot guarantee big wins, but it can guarantee that you won’t lose very much at the end of the day, provided you have a good stack of chips. The Grand Martingale is a similar strategy, except that you double your original losing bet, plus add one more unit to your total. You can win considerably more than with the standard Martingale System when you do break a losing streak, but naturally, you will need to wager a lot more before that happens.
Laboucher System
Laboucher is a cancellation system that is deignjed to be used on even money bets (red/black, odd/even, high/low). With it, players can create a sequence of numbers.
For Example: 1-2-2-1-1-2-1
Players stake a bet based on the first and last numbers in the sequence. Looking at the sequence above the first and last numbers are both 1, so £1 + £1 = a £2 bet.
When a bet is won, the player will cross of the first and last numbers of sequence, so the new sequence will consist of:
2-2-1-1-2
A bet is now placed with the new left and right numbers, so 2+2 = a £4 bet.
You keep following this process until all bets are won.
However, should the bet be lost, the bet is added to the end of the sequence. For example if the above mentioned £4 was to lose, then 4 would be added to the end of the sequence which then becomes:
2-2-1-1-2-4
The basic idea of cancellation systems such as Laboucher, is that once all numbers are crossed off the sequence, you will win the combination of the sequence. However, the more you lose, the bigger the sequence becomes, and the bigger that sequence becomes the harder it is to clear.
D’Alembert System
There is nothing overly complicated about the D’Alembert System. This is a simple roulette system which assumes that if Bet A appears more frequently than Bet B, Bet A is less likely to win on the roulette wheel again, so Bet B is more likely to. Following a win, players decrease their bet by $1 and increase their bet by $1 following a loss. This system isn’t too different from the Martingale betting strategy we have already looked at, except there is less risk involved because bets are not doubled after a loss.
For Example:
| Bet | Result | Profit |
| 1 | Win | +1 |
| 1 | Win | +2 |
| 1 | Win | +3 |
| 1 | Lose | +2 |
| 2 | Lose | 0 |
| 3 | Lose | -3 |
| 4 | Win | +1 |
| 3 | Win | +4 |
| 3 | Win | +7 |
| 3 | Lose | +4 |
| 4 | Win | +8 |
Other Betting Strategies
If you are interested in learning more about roulette strategies and betting systems, there are others you may wish to take a look at. Players can and may wish to do their homework on the Paroli (designed to work on winning streaks), the Red System (betting on the third column, since it contains more reds than blacks) and the Shotwell System (based on specific numbers dispersed across the wheel).
Other strategies include making your bets based on how the croupier spins the wheel, where the ball has entered play (known as orbital decay) and many more observational skills. This requires a lot of money being spent whilst you get to know your table, croupier and dealers.
Our advice is to use the Martingale System if you are a newbie. This is a more than useful, simple to grasp betting system which can see you avoid big losses when you are just starting out in the roulette gaming world. However, in the long run this is still a losing system.
Remember, despite all you’ve just read, the only true answer as to how to win at roulette is to take your time and watch what has already happened. While the game is, strictly speaking, a game of chance – the history of the wheel spins, the numbers that have already come up in the most recent revolutions and all the roulette betting strategies in the world cannot influence what happens with the next spin. However, if you believe in fate and can be persuaded that a string of ‘Red’ outcomes or ‘lower-18’ calls mean that the odds will soon swing in a different direction – this conviction may help you to justify the bets you make and hopefully the winning streaks you may earn.
Unfortunately not, whatever roulette strategy you employ and however much you want to believe you can influence the outcome, roulette is a game of chance.
While all the strategies have proven to give players an additional edge, the Martingale system is the preferred for the majority of roulette players.
Since Roulette is a game of chance it is impossible to change the outcome of any spin of the wheel. While different strategies may help you stake your bets and influence your chances – the game is a game of luck at the end of the day.
