Choosing a Winning Roulette System
No matter what roulette systems claim, only luck determines the winners in roulette.
Roulette systems have been around since the first roulette wheel spun into action, and most of them focus on betting strategies. Some focus on learning previous bets. Neither system is fool-proof for a variety of reasons.
Betting Systems – The Martingale
The Martingale system is perhaps the best known roulette system. The Martingale system is very simple. All bets are made on even money bets like black or red. After each losing bet, the player doubles the bet, and after each winning bet, the player returns to one unit. There are two major issues which work against the Martingale system. The first is that players cannot double their bets an unlimited number of times. Either the table will have a limit or the player’s bankroll will run out. This roulette system will work only as long as the player doesn’t hit a losing streak. Unfortunately, losing streaks happen in gambling.
The other major flaw in the Martingale system is that wins, no matter how big, only give a player one unit more than they started with. If a player wanted to employ a roulette system like this and weren’t bound by a bank roll or table-limits, they would do better to play a bet that pays 2:1, such as columns or thirds. Then the winnings would increase significantly. Unfortunately, the risk would increase as well.
Betting Systems – Doubling Up After a Win
Another betting system that players often play has a certain advantage over the Martingale system in that the potential for wins is much higher. In the doubling up roulette system, players begin with a small bet, and double their bet after each win, but drop the bet to the original small bet after each loss. The idea behind this system is that you can achieve a high win with a relatively modest budget. The most important thing to remember in this system is the cap. Players who continue to chase higher and higher wins will eventually lose everything. If, for example, a player starts the betting at a dollar, wins once, increases to two dollars, wins again, increases to four dollars, and then pockets the 7 dollars he’s ahead, this system can work well. However, if the player decides to continue doubling, he will inevitably hit a loss. No streak lasts forever. This roulette system, however, doesn’t have a cap built-in, so it actually guarantees that the player will lose his entire bankroll. Adding in a fairly low cap provides a chance of coming out ahead.
Prediction Systems and the Gambler’s Fallacy
The Gambler’s Fallacy is the primary reason why prediction systems do not work. Prediction systems say that if a wheel hits (for example) black five times in a row, then it will almost certainly hit red within the next spin or two. The problem is that the wheel doesn’t remember where it was. In fact, if the wheel spun black a hundred times in a row, it would still be just as likely to spin black the next time. If you assume that the wheel spins fairly, then no roulette system that depends on previous spins can possibly work.
The Best Roulette System
The best roulette system to keep your losses low and enjoyment high is simply not to bet more than you can afford to lose, to place small bets, and to enjoy the game rather than chasing the money.