ROULETTE STRATEGY

Over the years, dedicated players have come up with various theories, systems and advanced roulette strategies to help them win roulette. Sadly no roulette strategy or system is a guranteed thing because ultimately nothing can be done to control the results of the wheel. Still, there are some things you can do to improve your odds, and this is where a good roulette strategy places the player's focus. Education is the only way to get an edge in roulette, which is why knowing roulette tips like the ones below is so important.

Roulette Strategy #1: European Roulette vs American Roulette

When new players learn roulette for the first time, many don't see the small but significant difference in some wheels. Perhaps the most important piece of roulette strategy comes before you even put your chips on the felt. As we know, casinos get their edge in roulette from the 0 and 00 numbers. In European Roulette, however, there is only one 0 space, effectively cutting the house edge in half (from 5.26% to 2.7%). Thus the wheel roulette is played on can make a major difference in how frequently you win or lose.

Now, you may be asking yourself, “Do I really have to go all the way to Europe just to play roulette?” The answer is no. You can always play roulette at an online casino, and there are many online casinos that offer European roulette. Some live American casinos like the Wynn in Las Vegas have European style wheels (though they may not advertise them as well as we'd like). Snoop around and try to find a European Roulette wheel to play on; it makes such a huge difference in how often you win roulette that it’s worth the effort to find one.

Roulette Strategy #2: Never Give Up, Always Surrender

Another feature you should keep an eye out for is the “Surrender” rule. Not to be confused with blackjack's surrender rule, which should rarely if ever be used, when you play roulette the surrender rule actually improves your odds. Essentially, whenever you make an even money bet (red/black, even/odd or high/low) and the ball lands on 0 or 00, you get half your bet back, no strings attached. While you may not win roulette any more often with this rule, you'll certainly lose less. Surrender is a very good thing, and if you find a table with this option, you have no reason not to play the even money bets. They just pay better.

Roulette Strategy #3: Betting “En Prison”

It's important to learn roulette's many quirks and variations. One alternative to the Surrender rule that is very popular in European casinos is the “En Prison” roulette rule. Similar to the Surrender rule, En Prison only comes into effect when you make an even money bet and the ball lands on 0.

Rather than getting half your bet back, in this situation you can choose to either allow the bet to remain on the board “in prison,” or to forfeit half your bet. If your bet is “en prison” and your next bet wins, you get the whole bet back, sans winnings. If you lose on the next spin, though, you lose the whole thing. Overall, the odds for En Prison are just slightly worse than Surrender, but the fact that En Prison is usually found on European tables makes it one heck of a deal. In fact, it can lower the house odds on a French wheel to roughly what they are for banker bets in baccarat, proving once again how wheel selection is integral to roulette strategy.

If you would rather use a betting system than a roulette strategy, then your best option is to use the Labouchere system at a French table with the En Prison feature. To do this, simply take a notepad and a pen with you to a French wheel with En Prison, and write down the numbers “1 2 1;” let each of your bets be equal in total chips or checks to the sum of the list’s outside numbers. If you win, cross out the two numbers you added together to determine your bet. If you lose, add the total number of chips you lost to the end of the list. For example, if we lost our first bet from the list above, our list would now read “1 2 1 2,” and we would bet three chips next.