Roulette

ORIGINS

The game of Roulette as it is known today can be traced back as far as 17th century France. Unsurprisingly the name of the game is French for “little wheel”. Around the 1650’s, the French scientist Blaise Pascal was the first to invent a wheel mechanism similar to the roulette wheel whilst he was studying perpetual motion (movement that never ceases).

A game called ‘roly-poly’ was developed in England in 1720, the game involved a ball spinning around the edge of a bowl which was rotating in the opposite direction. When the bowl slowed down the ball would fall into one of the pockets.

American vs. European version

Over the years the game developed into the game we know today, it appeared in French casinos before 1800. Oddly enough, this early European Roulette featured both the single and double zero pockets, it was later introduced to America and American Roulette was created.

Today it is typical to find the single zero roulette wheels in Europe whilst the Americans tend to play wheels with double zeros. It is probably because of this that Roulette is far more popular in Europe as the betting odds are much better.

Online Roulette

Thanks to the internet and in particular high speed connections, many more players around the world have been able to discover and play the game of online roulette meaning more and more people are enjoying it from the comfort of their own homes.

ROULETTE STRATEGY

As roulette contains an element of luck there can be no guarantees, however, there are a number of proven strategies that can certainly increase the odds in your favour. First make sure you are familiar with all the rules and then read our strategy section below to really improve your playing.

The systems described have simple but outstanding concepts and involve a certain amount of mathematics, they are highly interesting and their success rates speak for themselves.

THE LABOUCHERE SYSTEM

The Labouchere System has been used for years as a betting strategy which attempts to beat the roulette wheel.

1. Decide on an amount of money that you would like to win, for example $20.
2. Write down a series of random positive numbers whose total is the amount of money you want to win. It does not matter how many numbers you use as long as they total your chosen amount and there is an even amount of numbers. For instance using our $20 example our numbers may be:
   4, 2, 1, 6, 1, 3, 1, 2 or 3, 2, 4, 5, 4 or 4, 6, 5, 5 etc…
3. Take the first number and the last number, add them together and then place a bet of that amount on the roulette table on a bet which has the highest odds of winning such as red or black, first or second half, odd or even.
4. If your bet wins then cross these two numbers off the line and move onto the next two. If you lose then take the number which represents the amount you wagered and move it to the end of the line, then continue to bet as before.
   Disadvantage: This system does carry the risk of a large losing streak which could mean you lose a lot. However, it has proven to be very effective in the long run.

MARTINGALE SYSTEM

The Martingale system is very simple, just double up when you lose. This is perfect for a game like Roulette where you can place bets which have a nearly 50-50 chance of winning, for example odd or even and red or black. If you lose a bet just double it in the next round, keep doing this and eventually you will win as can be seen in the following example.

Variation

GRAND MARTINGALE: When you loose double your bet and then add an additional single bet.

ANTI-MARTINGALE: Don’t double your bet when you lose, do it when you win.

GLAND MARTINGALE: Wait until you have seen 5 even bets in a row with the same result, then place a bet on the opposite result.

Disadvantage: As with every strategy there are risks and there can’t be a 100% guarantee. Of course this is the case with the Martingale system which could lead to a massive loss after a long losing streak. Never forget that Roulette will always be a game of luck.

D’ALEMBERT SYSTEM

The D’Alembert system is named after the man who invented it, the French mathematician Jean Le Rond d’Alembert. The system is designed for bets which have an outcome of about fifty-fifty. He based it on the theory of “nature seeking equilibrium”; this means that if one result keeps coming up it is likely that the opposite will do so in the future.

If an even money bet like black seems to be appearing fairly often then you should start betting on red. If you lose then increase your bet, because the next round has higher chances. Do the opposite when you win, i.e. lower your bet.

Example:
If a player is betting $1 units and keeps losing, they should then begin to bet $2. If they lose again the next bet would be $3. If he wins then he should decrease the amount he bets in the next round by one unit, in this example to $2.

Disadvantage:
Despite the fact that this system is based upon the theory that there should be a natural balance between winning and losing, it is definitely possible that after a few small winning sessions you will have a number of lost bets as it requires millions of bets to see a real equilibrium.

TERMINOLOGY

PEEK INTO THE SOFTWARE

The pictures below show you the Roulette wheel as it is in our software when the different kinds of bets are placed. A quick study of the pictures will allow you to place bets with no problems.

POPULAR VARIANTS

Both in live and online casinos Roulette is one of the most popular games. European Roulette is the more popular version, but you should tryout American Roulette as it has its own advantages.