Roulette Playing Strategies

There are three general categories of gaming strategy: money or math, betting, and physical. The latter does not apply to online situations. A fourth category is the use of promotions, bonuses, and lottery draws specifically in context with the game. Of these, the roulette strategy is one of the most prevalent techniques that the players use in their effort to increase their chances.

Roulette systems are mostly for fun. They can't guarantee the win but retard the pace of loss. The main benefit of systems is emotional control. Care is taken to keep within the system, making it harder to get crazy and lose everything.

The Martingale System

The most widely recognized Martingale betting system bears names based on French dialects. Neither the name nor the origins of the system are known. It is not given based on individual inventors.

Martingale entails doubling the bet after losing a spin. The hope is to have at least winning equal to the initial bet. The system hopes to be used solely for even-chance bets.

After a loss, you bet again on the same event. For example, if the chips were put on red but black came out, you continue to bet on red.

You can use a Martingale with less than doubling, e.g., increasing the stake by 1.5 times. That is safer for the bankroll.

In the normal system, 10 straight losses are very possible. This event happens on average every 784 tries. On the 11th attempt, you would have to bet 1024 chips expecting to win one chip. Even after 5 consecutive losses, the bet is increased 32 times.

Anti-Martingale

Also known as the "Reverse Martingale," this strategy involves doubling not when one loses but when one wins on a spin. The Anti-Martingale is also used with even odds. This system is safer because the player risks just one chip in an infinite series. It is the best for small bankroll novices.

Doubling usually stops on the third win. There is a win of 14 chips in a system 1-2-4. For the fourth wager, it is reasonable to bet 12 chips. In the event of success, the next wager increases with an even lesser ratio.

Five consecutive wins on even odds occur approximately every 37 series. There is no use playing the sixth time.

With the Anti-Martingale, players usually bet on the opposite event. That is, after an approximation of red, they bet on black. However, it is allowed to do something else, e.g., catch a run of five equal even odds.

The D'Alembert System

The most well-known roulette strategy is also called after Thomas Donald D'Alembert. It incorporates a constant progression when losing and for even odds.

Here, the increase is not by a step but by a specific amount—usually the amount of the initial bet. When there is a success spin, the wager decreases by the same step.

How it works:

Consider an example where a player starts betting on red and loses 1 chip.
Now, they should bet 2 chips on black.
If they lose once more, they wager 3 chips on black (not 4). Doubling does not happen here.
They put 5 chips on the same even chance after losing the fourth spin.
10 initial bets are lost now.
If the fifth attempt is a success — black shows — the player gains +5 chips in the round. They reduce the bet by one chip now. In round next, 4 chips bet on red, the opposite even chance.
Since there are more successes, reduce bets by the same smallest amount until back to 1 chip per bet.
Here the session ends. It always results in a 5 to 15 chip profit going back to the starting bet.

Still another method of ending the session is after having won a very small amount, especially after emerging from a big loss. Here the bets may be 10 chips or higher on even odds.

What to do if have won? It is better to rest a little and play later. As usual, players play 10-15 series in one sitting. You can also refrain from playing roulette the whole day.

Maximum win per series is 10 initial bets.

When to stop with a loss? When the bet is 20 times more than the initial stake. It's generally possible to restore the loss, as per the experience, but it might take some time, which is three or four hours. The optimal solution is to repair the loss at 80-120 bets and begin the next day with the normal single chip on even odds. There are 90% chances that the loss will be restored within 10-12 series with a +10 profit.

And what about the bankroll? The minimum bankroll to bet for the D'Alembert system is 200 chips. Ideally, you want to have about 1000 chips on your account. This bankroll is almost unbreakable if you follow the rules of recovering the loss as explained above.

And what about cumulative winnings? Above the initial bet by 20 times, i.e., tying a deep loss, happens on average in every 30th session. It can happen in early series or after 100-120 sessions. It means winning +10 bets per series, you can realistically win 1000 bets (your bankroll doubles).

The D'Alembert system does not guarantee monster winnings. With the passage of time, you will receive no more than +5-10 bets per day due to inevitable deep drawdowns.

Without experience in bankroll management, even with D'Alembert, a novice player will play at 97.3% return equivalent to roulette's intrinsic mathematics.

Using this system, it is feasible to be modestly profitable throughout your lifetime under three conditions:

• A consistent bankroll in excess of 1000 original bets.
• The ability to spot increasing losses, mend, and contain them.
• The want to spend a couple of hours every day on the game.

If the aim is not merely enjoyment but long-term winning, the only realistically feasible method is D'Alembert.

The Counter D'Alembert

A mathematical strategy by which a portion of the gain is invested. Its mantra is minimal growth after a winning spin. The strategy targets uneven frequency of even chances.

The Fibonacci Method

The Fibonacci sequence is a geometric progression with a multiplier of 1.62. The numbers in the series are approximated to integers: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, etc. The majority of natural phenomena are modeled around this progression.

The sequence is effectively a betting table for increasing and decreasing stakes after losses and wins. The Fibonacci system of roulette is thus a type of Martingale, though less than a multiplier of x2.