How to Beat Roulette by Improving Your Odds The house edge on an American roulette wheel is 5.26%, so having a good grasp of the odds involved is key if you want to improve your odds of winning. Remember that, when you play roulette, the odds are in the house’s favor. They aren’t 50-50 (black and red). You see, the roulette wheel has 37 or 38 pockets, depending on where you’re. Roulette is a casino game named after the French word meaning little wheel.In the game, players may choose to place bets on either a single number, various groupings of numbers, the colors red or black, whether the number is odd or even, or if the numbers are high (19–36) or low (1–18).

Roulette is one of the most exciting games in the casino because it’s a game people can play (and win!) together. No system works all the time, but knowing a few basic strategies can help minimize losses and maximize gains.

Roulette is a pure game of luck. There is absolutely no 100% successful strategy for winning at roulette, despite numerous advertisements to the contrary in some newspapers and on the internet. Even Albert Einstein weighed in on the subject, reputedly saying “You cannot beat a roulette table unless you steal money from it.” Since stealing money off a roulette table is a very bad idea in the modern casino, I decided to look at some popular strategies that have developed since the game began back in the late 18th century. Allegedly derived from efforts by Blaise Pascal to create a perpetual motion machine in the 17th century, the French novel La Roulette, ou le Jour by Jaques Lablee describes a modern roulette wheel being played in 1796 inside the Palais Royal in Paris.

People have been devising strategies on how to win ever since.

Roulette has a relatively high house advantage, especially on the double zero tables that populate most Vegas casinos. It’s a fun game to play, but it’s a RNG (Random Number Generator) game where the odds stay exactly the same on every spin. In other words, if Red numbers have hit five times in a row, the chance of a Red number hitting on the next spin remains 47.37%, the exact same chance that a Black number will hit. Roulette is not an even money game because the 0 and 00 each have a 2.63% chance of hitting, thus reducing all the “even money” bets (red/black, odd/even, high/low) to 47.37%.

Since the odds remain exactly the same on every spin, most popular strategies for winning at roulette focus on manipulating the amount of units you wager. I’ve experimented with several of the following systems and can say that the one thing they all do (if you adhere to them) is limit your losses. There’s something to be said for following your gut feeling when you walk passed a roulette table. Either keep on walking or look at the results board and try to double your money with one bet.

Tip #1 – Roulette is a Short-Term Game. Set a limit for your losses and set a goal for your winnings before you start to play.

Las Vegas Roulette Videos

Tip #2 – Avoid the Martingale System. This is the system very popular with people who have had too much to drink. Like the game of roulette itself, the Martingale System began in France in the 18th century. The strategy requires that the gambler double his even money bet after every loss so that the first win recovers all previous bets plus a profit equal to the first amount wagered. The problems with the system are threefold. First, it requires an unlimited bankroll. Second, most casinos have table maximum limits to curtail this system. Third, a $10 initial bet turns into a $160 bet if you lose just four times in a row. Mathematicians sometimes like to tweak the Martingale System and use the Fibonocci sequence (1,1,2,3,5,8,13…) where the sum of the two previous bets equals the next bet. Elegant, yes, but it’s just a slower road to ruin with less winnings on a hot streak.

Tip #3 – If you’re good with numbers, try the Labouchère system. This may require a piece of paper and a pen, two things the pit boss might not allow you to use. It’s an involved mathematical progression, but you might be able to keep track of by using your chip stack. Basically you decide how much you want to win and then write down a list of numbers that equal that amount. A player stakes an amount equal to the sum of the first and last numbers on the list with every bet. If the bet is successful, the two amounts are removed from the list. If the bet is unsuccessful, the amount lost is appended to the end of the list and the player stakes an amount equal to the sum of the first and (new) last number on the list. As with any system, a bad losing streak can bust you. But, even a moderate hot streak can help you hit your target win amount.

Tip #4 – Start Small and Wait for an Overdue 2-1 Bet. Sit down with your loss limit and target win clearly in mind. Place small even money bets (red/black. odd/even, high/low) bets until you get a feel for the table. Watch for trends, either recurring ones or overdue, in the “1st 12”, “2nd 12” and “3rd 12” groupings. When you feel ready, make you move. Double your average units wagered and pick a group (either 1-12, 13-24, or 25-36). Unlike regular outside bets, these groups of a dozen pay 2-1. This is a variant of the “Double Dozens” strategy. Play it until it hits or you bust. If it hits, take some of your winnings and cover some of the overdue numbers in that group. For example, I like to wait until there’s been a dry spell in high numbers, then bet the “3rd 12” group until it hits and then when it does hit use some of my 2-1 win to cover the inside numbers 30-36, letting the rest ride on “3rd 12”. A lucky back-to-back win can be very profitable when upping your bet with the house’s money!

Although there’s the same probability (2.63%) of any single number hitting on any single spin, trends do occur in roulette and waiting for them is part of the fun and excitement, as well as part of playing to win (or at least limit losses).

Next week I’ll look at some legendary roulette wins, along with some other Vegas myths and legends.

Some people are born gamblers while others don't want to risk a penny of their hard-earned cash. It's pretty clear which category Brazilian businessman Pedro Grendene Bartelle falls into - he bet $100,000 on one spin of roulette. Bartelle, who is the president of a shoe company and whose uncle is a billionaire thanks to a successful sandal manufacturing company, placed a huge stack of chips on the number 32 at Uruguay's Hotel Conrad, and then 32 hit, winning him $3.5 million. The exciting moment was all caught on a somewhat poorly-shot video.

Dude Bet $100,000 on a single number, won $3.5 million. pic.twitter.com/umQ6S7htoA

Vegas Roulette Odds

— DRIP (@DRlPTER) August 15, 2019

Not surprisingly, Twitter has some amazing reactions to the remarkable win.

Me after wining my money ... pic.twitter.com/9K4sJXb89p

— maya.🌼 (@_haayaaam) August 16, 2019

Im so happy for him 😊 pic.twitter.com/CBYbIpr4ZB

— Kidz 'R EViL (@kidzrevil) August 17, 2019

Vegas Roulette Free

The owner of that casino 5mins later pic.twitter.com/NkW2DT6c49

Beating Vegas Roulette

— Ryan (@ryanmcl94) August 16, 2019

Taxes: pic.twitter.com/hAAneTws6I

— ChrisLMDG (@ChrisLMDG) August 17, 2019

If he can afford to lose $100k at what 35-1 odds then winning $3.5 mill probably isn’t a big deal for him.

— Smerjipoo (@smerjipoo) August 16, 2019

Wow, that’s a great shot of the ceiling #Killthecameraman

— Danica (@d_izzzle) August 17, 2019

If you're looking to try your luck at the roulette table, Las Vegas has hundreds of them and that's just where the iHeartRadio Music Festival is this year. Featuring performances by Alicia Keys, Camila Cabello, Chance the Rapper, Def Leppard, French Montana, Halsey, Heart, Miley Cyrus, Mumford & Sons, Tim McGraw and more, it all goes down on September 20th and 21st in Sin City.

Photo: Twitter