Best Roulette strategy

On this page we'll tell you what a roulette strategy is, and what the best roulette tactics are to achieve this. Playing by a roulette strategy should be your number one roulette rule!

What is a roulette strategy?

A roulette strategy is a well thought plan to reach a certain goal. Of course, you can play solely for fun and place bets randomly, or stick to a few lucky numbers. However, the profit you gain from this will be at least questionable. If you want to stop losing money and start winning more, and want to know how - then this is your roulette strategy from now on:

“By using tactics I increase my chances of winning”

There are different roulette tactics to follow, and all tactics will in the long run increase your chances and decrease the advantage of the casino. We have studied and tried a lot of roulette tactics, and we will introduce you to the best ones on this page. We will show you how to use these tactics, using videos and images. If you’re new to the roulette game, or when you're a bit confused by all the terms and slang, we advise you to study the Roulette game rules, or take a look at our roulette tips.

Roulette tips

Before explaining roulette tactics, we'll give you a couple of roulette tips, to increase your winning chances even further:

• Choose a tactic that fits your bankrol
  Some tactics demand a big bankroll. If your bankroll is not big enough, you’re better off choosing a tactic that does not require a lot of money, like the Red Black tactic. Always play responsibly, and only with money that can be missed. Stop playing when you've reached your limit. You don't want to ruin yourself!
• Be aware of table limits
  Roulette tables have different limits. To minimalize your chance of losing too much, always choose a table with a low table limit. Want to make the most out of your tactics and is money no object? Choose a table with a higher table limit.
• Set your starting budget
  You can start playing with $1 or $ 5, it's you choice. But it determines the way your strategy works: you will reach your limit sooner if you bet with higher amounts.
• Set your goal and do not stray from this figure
  The chosen strategy is to reach a certain profit. Make sure that you have decided what your goal is beforehand. Winning $ 50,- for example. Reached your goal? Stop playing!
• Stick to your tactics
  Sometimes it’s tempting to stray from your tactic, because of the way the game is being played out. This is not a smart thing to do, tactics only work if you hold on to them.
• Play European roulette
  The winning odds in American roulette are lower than in European roulette, because of the extra ‘00’ box. This will also decrease the chance of success of your roulette strategy.
• Play roulette live
  By having a little bit of social interaction, we found that it's more fun to play live casino. Try it yourself!

So, want to win more? Use tactics!

Many of us have lucky numbers we like to play with. Trying to win by betting only on your lucky numbers, might not be the most profitable roulette strategy though! You need tactics to reach your goal. The first roulette wheel was founded in the 17th century by Blaise Pascal, and since then, players have tried to find all sorts of tactics to win roulette. Meanwhile, mathematics have come up with systems to decrease the advantages of the casinos. Before we explain these tactics, first some important things about roulette.

Roulette tactics, strategy, or system?

The terms strategy, tactics and system are often used simultaneously. But there is an essential difference between a strategy and tactics. Take a look at this quote by Chesstrainer Rudolf Padolfini:

“Strategy is a plan, tactics are used to make this plan succeed”

So, your roulette strategy is clear: you want to beat the casino by making use of certain betting patterns. How to do this? By using one of the roulette tactics listed below.

A roulette system is an established series of bets, independent of former outcomes. For example, if you bet alternately (red - black - red – black), that’s a roulette system. Systems will not increase your winning odds, after many rounds of playing you will at best have played even. Although the term roulette system is often used as a tactics, we will neither explore nor explain roulette systems. 

Every spin is a new opportunity

On this page, we'll explain to you the best roulette tactics. But never forget that every new round offers new opportunities! It doesn’t matter how many times the ball has ended up in a red box, for every new round it’s a 50% chance for red, and a 50% chance for black! The strategies explained below, are based on the expected value. After all: if you have decided in advance what you're going to do, you can calculate the expected value. However, the expected value is not always the same as the actuel value!

And let's be honest: the casino always has the advantage, whatever roulette tactics are used. In American roulette the advantage per throw is 5,25%, in European roulette the advantage is 2,75%. This advantage is caused by the fact that you get paid 35:1, even while there are 37 boxes in European roulette, and 38 boxes in American roulette.

Watch out! Limiting factors

All roulette tactics listed below are profitable. However, there are two very important limiting factors, that will cost you profit, even when the tactics are used right. We will explain them to you:

1. Your bankroll
   When playing roulette, always keep in mind the budget you have set for yourself. After you’ve lost a couple of times in a row, the following bet will increase. You may have reached you daily limit. Furthermore, after a big loss you could make unwise decisions and stray away from your tactics. Reached your limit? Stop playing and try again another day.
2. The table limit
   Just like you, the casino doesn’t like to lose a lot of money. Furthermore, casinos know about strategies. Instead of banning these tactics, casinos have come up with table limits. The table limits differ in each casino, so it's important to be aware of the limit a casino has put on a roulette table. If you’re not lucky and lose a couple of times in a row, it is possible you’re not allowed to play a higher bet as a result of the table limit.

Roulette Tactics

So, let's talk tactics! Here's a list of some of the most used and profitable roulette strategy tactics:

Martingale Roulette tactic

Possibly the most well known roulette tactic. Every time you lose, double your bet. If you win, you will start from the beginning. With an unlimited bag of money and no table limits, it’s virtually impossible to lose. But there are table limits, and no one has unlimited amounts of money. So there's always the possibility of bettting ten times and losing ten times in a row. Your money is gone and the casino doesn’t allow you to double your bet anymore. But you did have fun:)

Some roulette players only bet on a table where the same color has been selected for five times in a row. They will bet on the opposite color. This is a questionable roulette strategy, after all, every bet is independent of former events. Look at the odds of selecting black seven times in a row beforehand. The odds would be really small, about 0.5⁷. From the moment you place your bet, statistics start over again, with a chance of 0.5. Betting after the ball has hit black for five times in a row, doesn’t affect the outcome, whatsoever. 

Fibonacci Roulette Tactic

This Italian mathematic from 1170 named Leonardo Pisan, also known as Fibonacci, is famous for his Fibonacci Series, a mathematical series of numbers: 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34, 55,89,144,233,377,… Every number in line is the sum of the two former numbers. These series can be used in roulette. We start at the beginning of the series, and bet one credit.

If we lose, we bet on the next number in line. If we win, we take two steps back in the list and bet on that number. By taking one step forward when losing, and two steps backward when winning, we'll only have to win one of three attempts to make a profit - if we bet on 50/50: on black/red or even/uneven for example.

In the video example we only win 3/8 times, but still play even. The risk in these tactics lies in the fact that if we lose a series, we need a very large bankroll in order to keep playing. That is why it’s recommended to always set a personal limit.

La Bouchere Roulette Tactic

The Bouchere strategy is considered very enjoyable, because it allows you to play with your own numbers. It's also known as ‘Split Martingale’, ‘Cross-Out’, or ‘Cancellation’. You start by making your own series of numbers, for example 2,3,1,1,3,4. After that, you’ll bet on the total of the first and last number of the series, which is 2 + 4 = 6 in our example. If you lose, you add this number (6) to the end of your list, so the list becomes 2,3,1,1,3,4,6 and the new bet will be 2 + 6 = 8. If you win, you can cross the two outer numbers off your list. You continue until your list is empty. This way, you can gain a profit with at least 33% winning odds.

In the example, you can see that we only had to win 5/14 (35%) of the time to make a profit. Even while the chance to win at the table is nearly 50%. The disadvantage of these tactics, is once again the limit of your bankroll. In the 13th turn we had a loss of 27 and had to bet 15. So you would need a budget of 42 credits for a small profit. So this poses a considerable risk, considering that if your bankroll was too small, you couldn’t have bet.

Pivot Roulette Tactic

This strategy is based on the law of the third. This law claims that, mathematically speaking, when you spin the wheel 36 times, only 24 different numbers are selected. Hold your bet until somewhere at a roulette table, a number is selected twice. It doesn’t have to be consecutive, but wait until the number is selected two times. This number is now the Pivot number. The strategy is to bet on this number, 36 times in a row. If the number is selected again, you win. If it doesn’t… you lose.

The Pivot tactic is also used by players who suspect a table is not ‘fair’. If the number is selected twice, it will probably be selected again. Maybe the pocket is bigger? Maybe the croupier spins the wheel in such a manner that the ball always end up close to that number? Suspicions of this kind are meaningless. All roulette tables must meet strict requirements, before they can be used. In online casinos it’s even more nonsense, considering the fact that there is no real table. Even with Live roulette Casinos on the rise (with a real table and croupier), it's good to realize that these casinos must meet fair play requirements. At least, the casinos we select. But for sure, they are still out there: dubious casinos with shadowy reputations ....

Red-Black Tactic

This simple roulette strategy bets, as you can probably tell by its name, only on black or red. If you lose twice in a row, you increase your bet with your original bet. If you lose twice in a row again, again increase with your initial bet. If you win twice in a row, decrease your bet with your original bet.

For example, if you start with $5 and lose twice, you bet $5+$5 = $10, until you win or lose twice again. If you win twice, just bet $5 again. If you lose twice again, the next bets will be $10+$5 = $15.

The great advantage of this strategy is that you don’t need a large bankroll, because it's not a doubling strategy, unlike e.g. the Martingale strategy. It is also possible to bet on other 50/50 odds, like even/uneven.

Paroli Tactic

The Paroli tactic is also known as the reversed Martingale strategy. It is a more positive approach than the Martingale, because instead of doubling when you lose, you double when you win. This way, your losses are always limited, because in case of some bad luck, you’ll always double your profit. If you keep losing, you’ll only lose small starting bets.

The most important part of this strategy, is to stop when your pleased with your profit. All your profit will be lost if you lose the next turn, due to the doubling of your bet. Make a deal with yourself to stop af five wins, for example. You can even start over with a new bet.

Need to know more on roulette strategy?

So, you have mastered the rules and now learned about roulette strategy and tactics. What more can you do to increase your chances? Take a look at our page on roulette tips and see what you can do to get the most out of your roulette game!