Roulette Strategies: What Are They, Why You Shouldn’t Use Them

The Martingale System

Known by many, the Martingale strategy is the most popular strategy to use. It isn’t a strategy that is specific to roulette, either. Many gamblers make use of it for games like blackjack and slots, for example. It has become popular with players due to its simplicity. The strategy doesn’t take much brainwork to learn and put into action. More or less, anyone can utilise it as their betting system.

The Martingale System originated in 18th-century France. Bettors were utilising it to play a simple coin toss game. It saw the gambler double their bet if they lost. Then, when a victory in the game came, they would recover their losses. This still makes up the basis of the betting strategy today. Of course, roulette has many more options than a coin toss outcome. Yet the strategy is still used by some people to proceed with betting on the game. To use this strategy, the following process is undertaken:

1. The player decides upon an initial bet amount. This serves as the base.
2. Then, the player uses the base bet in the opening round.
3. If the bet on that round is successful, then the base bet comes into play again.
4. If at any time the player experiences a loss, then a different betting tact occurs. This results in the wager doubling for the next round.
5. Another loss sees that wager doubling again. To put things in a simple way, every time a losing outcome occurs, the player doubles up.
6. Once the player attains a successful round, they return to the base bet.

It is key to remember to use this strategy on bets of equal odds. This means red or black, odd or even, small or large. As you can see from the process, the Martingale strategy is a sort of cycle. The length of each cycle differs depending upon when the player is successful in a round. The theory behind this system working is that in the end, a player must get a victory at some point. Thus, by doubling up, they reclaim everything lost.

The issue with this strategy is that nobody has a finite amount of time and money. Further to this, table games often come with betting limitations, which doesn’t suit. There is only so far a player can reach.

Using the Martingale strategy can see your bets increase at a speedy rate. The primary problem is that a player gambling in a responsible way has a set bankroll. If they suffer several consecutive losses, the wager in play can reach great heights. That’s bad news for a bankroll. And if a successful round doesn’t arrive, then all their money has gone. Starting with a base of £1 and then doubling up with 7 losses in a row would be –

1. Bet 1 – £1
2. Bet 2 – £2
3. Bet 3 – £4
4. Bet 4 – £8
5. Bet 5 – £16
6. Bet 6 – £32
7. Bet 7 – £64

The first couple of losing rounds isn’t so much of an issue. But after three or four, things get serious in a very swift way. The theory behind the Martingale is great. Yet in practice, it can prove to be a costly business, especially when you consider the stake and table limits most casinos have.  They can also ask you to leave at any time, which isn’t very good if you are on the 10th spin without a win.

The Fibonacci System

While the Martingale strategy is simple, the Fibonacci increases the skill level. It requires you to place bets of an increasing amount in a similar way. Yet you follow a specific set of numbers for this – the Fibonacci scale. And what some people use for betting, others have used for insomnia! That’s right, in 2017, The Guardian received a letter from a reader. Other than counting backwards in sevens, the reader had another method for sleeping. He spoke of learning the Fibonacci sequence to send him off into dreamland!

You’ll need to stay wide awake if you’re going to use it for roulette, though. The Fibonacci sequence is a famous counting system using addition. The two former numbers combine to form the next number in the sequence. These numbers were first used in Indian mathematics. That dates back as early as 200 BC. Yet it was Leonardo of Pisa who gives the sequence its name. The mathematician, in later life, went by the name Fibonacci. He introduced the sequence to Western European mathematics.

The sequence is as follows:

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233…

As you can see, the previous two numbers in the sequence make up the next one if you add them together. In the betting system, the 0 is not required. So, a player would start with the 1, and if they lose, then they move on to the next in the sequence. That is also a 1, so they would use the same bet. Another loss moves them on to the 2, and then another moves them on to the 3. This is how the sequence goes and correlates to the next bet a player should place. But only in the event of a loss.

Should a successful round of roulette occur, the player moves two numbers backwards. Only once a player gets back to the beginning of the sequence is the betting cycle complete. This differs to the Martingale in a significant way. After all, this Fibonacci cycle has the potential to be much longer. Once again is not enough to reverse a series of losses, to put it in a blunt way. It does mean that it is a less risky betting strategy, though compared to Martingale.

The Labouchère System

This strategy is also known as the cancellation system or the split Martingale. It is very specific to playing roulette more so than anything else. It’s quite the complicated system to utilise, so only seasoned gamblers tend to do so.

Beforehand, the user decides upon how much money they want to get from roulette. A list of positive numbers is then written down. The sum of these numbers equates to the amount they want to receive above their stake. Each bet sees the player wager an amount equal to the first and last numbers combined. If only a single number remains, then that is the amount staked.

Whenever a bet is successful, the two numbers involved in bet creation no longer matter. They disappear from the sequence decided upon. Any time an unsuccessful round occurs, the amount wagered moves to the end of the sequence. The process continues in this way until all numbers are no longer in play. By this point, the player has attained the amount decided upon. Another outcome is that the player has run out of money before this moment. It is from the British politician Henry Du Pré Labouchère that this strategy gets its name.

Of course, there are various things that can affect the success rate of such a strategy. And most people engaging in roulette are not seeking a simple £10 profit. Instead, they tend to choose amounts in the hundreds. This is what leads the Labouchère system to be quite a costly one for anyone using it.

Roulette, like most casino games, is very unpredictable. You could end up adding numbers to the end of the sequence too often. That results in your wagers increasing and, in the end, losing all your money.

The D’Alembert System

You can look back to the Martingale and Fibonacci systems for a basis with this one. Like those, the D’Alembert strategy requires you to increase or decrease your bet. And this depends upon the result of the previous round. Yet the difference is that the D’Alembert doesn’t need such huge jumps. It is thus a much safer strategy to utilise for many people. It also requires you to wager on one of the options of equal odds, such as red or black.

It was French mathematician Jean-Baptiste le Rond d’Alembert who came up with the system. He lived in the 18th century and put an argument forth in Croix ou Pile. This suggested that the probability of a coin landing heads increased for every time it landed tails. He then came up with the strategy of decreasing bets the more successful a player is. Here’s how the D’Alembert betting system works:

1. The player decides on an initial bet and uses this in the first round.
2. Every time a loss occurs, the bet amount increases by 1 for the next round.
3. Every time a successful round occurs, the bet amount reduces by 1 for the proceeding round.

That serves as the simple basis behind the D’Alembert system. It’s easy to learn and put into action. The disadvantage to it is once again if you suffer from many losses in a row. This can see you losing large amounts of money at the roulette table.

Granted, it is not quite as threatening as the other systems noted here. And that’s because of the minimal change to your bet amount each time. Yet it can still do enough damage to your bankroll.