Live Roulette Strategy

Roulette is a pure game of chance, in which the chances of any particular result are exactly the same every time that the wheel is spun. Nevertheless, this has not prevented the evolution of a number of strategies intended to counteract the house edge. While none of them are guaranteed to work, some of them may help you to win more money when you are on a hot streak, or help to counteract losses when your luck isn't in. Also, employing a strategy in what is essentially a game of pure chance can help to make the games more diverting and interesting.

Martingale Strategy

Perhaps the most famous roulette strategy is the Martingale strategy, in which the player doubles their bet after every loss. The idea behind this is that the first time that you win after a series of losses would cancel out all the previous losses, and give you a profit equal to the original bet. If lady luck is smiling down on you, this can be a highly effective strategy. In fact, it is the strategy used by legendary gambler Charles Wells, immortalised in the song 'The Man Who Broke The Bank at Monte Carlo'.

However, if you lose a certain number of times in a row, you will either run out of money or hit the table limit, making this a very high risk strategy.

Labouchere System

Perhaps the second most famous roulette betting strategy is the Labouchere System. Like the Martingale System, it is a progressive strategy, but unlike that system it does not require the player to risk their stake as quickly by doubling up their bets after every loss. Instead, it uses a series of numbers to determine the betting amounts after each round of play. Usually, the player will add the numbers at either end of the line to determine the size of the next bet.

After a win, the numbers on either end are crossed out and the player continues to work with the newly shortened line. In the event of a loss, the player adds their previous bet to the end of the line and works with this longer line. This is a much more flexible system than the Martingale, in that it allows players to tailor the initial line to their own preferences.

D'Alembert System

Another popular system is the D'Alembert System, which like the Martingale, is mainly applied to even-money outside bets. After each win, one unit is deducted from the next bet, and after each loss, one unit is added to the next bet. Although this offers no more of a guarantee than any other roulette system, it does at least have the effect of keeping losses to a minimum.