How To Win At Roulette
Roulette, online and in bricks and mortar casinos, is both simple and complex. It can be one of the most straightforward casino games to learn, but at the same time one of the more layered and complex.
Albert Einstein famously said "no one can possibly win at roulette unless he steals money from the table while the croupier isn't looking." However, things aren't quite that cut and dried. There are plenty of ways in which you can increase your chances of winning, or at least get more bang for your buck. Remember that the luck element of the game means players can win at roulette in the short term, but there is no quick fix guaranteeing success.
Split bets versus straight up or even money
The simplest bets in roulette, the ones which it is easiest to get the hang of, are the even money bets like red or black, or odd or even. It is also easy to get the hang of straight up bets on a single number, which pay out 35:1.
However an increasing number of Canadian roulette players incorporate split bets into their arsenal, either in isolation or as part of a broader betting system. These bets, split between two numbers on the roulette table, can increase the chances of getting at least some sort of return from a betting round.
Main betting systems
There are a number of different betting systems which roulette players have tried over time, and some have been more productive than others. These include:
- Martingale
- Grand Martingale
- Double Street Quad
- Five Quad
It is worth remaining aware that roulette is still a gambling game with a huge luck factor, and the house will win in the long run, but this is no reason not to adopt a betting system if it seems to work for you.
Martingale
This is perhaps the best known of all roulette systems, and many players swear by it, but it is one format where you need to be mindful of potential losses as well as potential wins. The basics are simple, only bet on even money shots and double your bet after every loss and halve it after every win (e.g. bet $5, then if you lose bet $10, if you lose again bet $20 and so on).
Based on simple maths, this should be a winning formula, but that doesn't account for some important factors. First, you may run out of money quickly before that first win rolls around. Second, many sites will have betting limits which ultimately ensure that if you lose on the first few bets you won't be able to bet the required amount to return you to profit.
Grand Martingale
This betting system is like the Martingale, but taken to even greater extremes. Instead of simply doubling your bet after a loss, this system requires you to double the bet and then add another betting unit, e.g. $15 after a $5 loss, $35 after a $15 loss, etc.
This runs into the same issues as a standard Martingale, namely that while you will win small frequently, one big loss can wipe out profits in an instant with no way of recovering those losses with the same ease. You can get away with it in the short term, but in the long run there are almost certainly better alternatives.
Double Street Quad
A popular split bet system, combining street bets and corner (or quad) bets, this covers a lot of the board, giving a player more chances to win on any one spin of the roulette wheel.
It involves covering two streets of six numbers (such as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, or 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18) with two chips on each as well as a corner that includes none of the numbers involved in either of the two street bets (one chip). Top it off with a one chip bet on a single number and you're covering 17 numbers in total, risking six chips with a profit of either three chips (if the corner bet hits), six chips (if either of the streets comes in) or 30 chips (if you get lucky and hit that single number).
Five Quad
This covers even more of the table, meaning you will make a profit of some sort if one of 21 different numbers comes in. As the name suggests, it comprises five separate corner or quad bets, plus one number straight up.
If you want to win big and win quickly then this might not be the betting system for you, and the same probably goes for the double street quad. However if you want to get more play for your money and give yourself the chance of notching up plenty of smaller wins, then you could do a lot worse than this betting system.
