Roulette Tips
Roulette is one of the classic casino games, requiring a special board for bets and a special wheel and ball for determining a winner. Most people consider roulette one of the worse bets in the casino because any wager you place on roulette is based purely on luck. Still, there are hundreds of different strategies and roulette wagering tips you can use to make sure you are placing bets that give you the best chance of winning and keeping your hard-earned bankroll.
Here are twelve roulette tips designed to increase your chances of leaving the roulette table with a little money in your pocket. Follow these tips to avoid sucker bets, know what to do with your winnings, and manage your casino gaming dollars.
1. The first step in playing roulette responsibly and profitably is to work out your roulette budget before you walk in the casino’s front door. Your roulette budget should be worked out ahead of time so that you don’t make a decision in the casino based on your feelings . . . which is usually a good way to end up handing over all your money to the house. Making a budget for a casino game means establishing ahead of time how much money you plan on spending on each game you want to play.
2. Look for casinos that offer a single zero roulette wheel. Almost all online casinos have a single zero roulette wheel, but a lot of land-based casinos don’t have one. You can cut the house edge in half by just finding a casino with a single zero wheel and playing it exclusively.
3. Check to see if the casino offers a European style roulette table with an “In Prison” or “la Partage” rule. Any time you see this rule, play that game. In Prison rules decrease the already-low European house edge even further.
4. Make sure you’re familiar with the rules and terminology surrounding roulette before you play. It isn’t unheard of for new players to be so unfamiliar with a game term that they get frustrated and quit, spend way too much, lose way too much, or just end up playing totally blind. A quick refresher before you hit the casino is all you need.
5. Once you’re inside the casino, play roulette games that offer betting limits within your gaming budget. Yes, any casino game’s high roller tables will try to draw you in with their big winnings, but remember that your total gaming budget is at stake. Playing more games on lower limit tables is best for people new to roulette or unsure of their roulette wagering skills.
6. Avoid using the “previous results” chart when it comes time to bet. The casino posts a list of the last 10 winning numbers. Gamblers seem to think that this list has something to do with the next outcome: it doesn’t. A common mistake is to assume that if the last 10 numbers have been red, the likelihood of the next number being black is higher. The fact is, each spin of the wheel is an independent result, having nothing to do with the previous results.
7. Ignore betting tricks you find online or in chain e-mails. Some roulette players think that if they increase their winning bets and decrease their losing bets, they’ll do better over time. The truth is that casinos have betting limits to prevent this sort of thing, and since each result is independent of the one before it, there’s no way to increase your edge simply by increasing or decreasing your wagers.
8. Try to avoid immediately playing your winnings back at the roulette table. This is what the casino wants you to do. It’s a type of greed that some gamblers experience when they hit a winning streak. Your best shot at taking money home is to pocket some of your profits every now and then.
9. Once you have developed a roulette strategy, don’t alter it. There is no such thing as a roulette wagering “system,” but once you’ve developed your own comfortable betting style, don’t let anything influence you away from it.
10. It’s also important to establish win goals and loss limits. These are amounts that you can either win or lose that result in you ending your gambling session and leaving the casino. The trick is to know when you’ve won enough cash and be able to walk away. On the other side of the coin, you need a loss limit that helps you figure out when it is time to walk away. Why do you think the casino hands out free drinks and even free rooms to people who are losing? They want them to stay and lose some more.
11. And speaking of free drinks, don’t let the casino numb your senses. Avoid drinking alcohol while you gamble. If you must have a drink in your hand in the casino, stick to low-alcohol drinks and limit your intake. Being drunk will cost you in the long run.
12. Don’t buy into crackpot systems like the Martingale or the Labouchere system. They seem like they make sense, at first glance, anyway, but in reality, they have no effect on your mathematical chances of winning or losing. If someone tries to sell you a roulette system, run like the wind, because whatever you pay for that system is a guaranteed loss.