n this third part of the series we start to look at actual roulette ’systems’ or ’strategies’. For those that don’t know, a roulette system is basically a formula or set of rules that when applied with a set staking plan will provide a set profit.
It is important to say that without cheating, there is no roulette system in the world that can guarantee to make you rich; if there was do you think the big casinos would still be in business? Of course they wouldn’t. However, what you will find are some blatantly bad systems, some okay systems and some systems that I have found to be very good. The actual preferred method of play in my opinion is a combination of several different strategies, rotating them throughout any playing session; more on this as the course progresses.
Progression Systems and The Law of Probability
The first and most popular kinds of systems that you will come across are what are termed ‘progression systems’. These are, as the name suggests, progressive because they incorporate some kind of loss recovery into the staking, with your staking progressing up and up until a win is had. The most famous of all progressive systems is one that is named after the author, the ‘Martingale’. We will begin with these types shortly.
We must briefly discuss the ‘The Law of Probability’ as this is the inspiration for all progression systems. The basic idea is that when the table throws out a black for example it is more likely to throw out a red on the following spin. The longer the table goes without hitting a red, the more likely it is that a red will be hit. It is of course fact that the table has no memory and every spin is independent of all others but on the other hand it is also fact that the randomness of the table’s numbers will even out with time and for the most part this is actually done so over short periods. Thankfully for punters these periods are generally short enough so that progression systems can take advantage.
I will issue a warning at this point. The law must be respected; this is for 2 reasons actually. Firstly, over-confidence or lack of self-control can cause you to go in too early with a progressive system and this can be disastrous; respect the law and the staking charts. You don’t want to lose the lot in a few spins. Secondly and this is a more positive message for the doubters, you must believe in probability, it is a real force and it is there to be seen by everyone. If you are a doubter simply record the numbers next time you go to the casino or next time you log on to an internet casino. Run a few of our progression systems on the sequences and I can guarantee you there will be times when your potential earnings would have been great.
When the tables give you nice random number sequences this is what I will refer to as the table ‘behaving’ itself. In other words it is behaving as the law states it should. It is when tables misbehave that troubles can occur i.e. unusal number sequences. Thankfully this doen not happen too often.
So where were we? We were about to start with a very basic ‘Martingale’ idea. This is a very simple idea that targets the outside boxes, red/black, odd/even, or high/low. The idea is to bet on any one of these evens chances with the minimum bet, normally £5 and if the bet loses, repeat the bet but with a doubled stake. By doubling your stake each time you are making sure that when you eventually win you don’t lose overall but instead make a guaranteed profit. Look at the following chart for an example:
Spin Stake Profit If Loses
1****(£5)**(£5)**(-£5)
2****(£10)*(£5)**(-£15)
3****(£20)*(£5)**(-£35)
4****(£40)*(£5)**(-£75)
5****(£80)*(£5)**(-£155)
6****(£160)(£5)**(-£315)
Generally when using this system it is recommended that you wait for 1 of the evens chances to have come in several times before starting to bet opposite. For example, say the wheel had thrown up 4 reds; you might want to start betting black from this point onwards. Using the system as above you stand to make £5 profit if black comes in at anytime within the next 6 spins. In fact the only way you can lose is if red comes up 10 times in a row!
You should also be able to see from the final column that a bank of £315 is required to operate this system as per the chart. That’s a £315 risk to win just £5 each separate cycle. This can sound a bit scary but when you look at the odds you should feel a little more confident. The odds on any of the outside sections coming in 10 times are roughly 0.1%!! Basically it should happen only once every 1000 spins or so. In theory you should be safe then? Well, in the short term, yes. The thing is, you never know exactly when a super nasty sequence is likely to emerge and yes they can and do emerge. We would recommend using a system like this one only in the short term i.e. for 4 or 5 hits then moving onto something else.
Winning just £5 regardless of what round you get your win in doesn’t really fill us with great motivation, especially when you consider your total liability is £315. We like to use a variance of the ‘Martingale’, check out our own chart below:
Spin Stake Profit If Loses
1****(£5)**(£5)**(-£5)
2****(£15)*(£10)*(-£20)
3****(£35)*(£15)*(-£55)
4****(£75)*(£20)*(-£130)
5****(£155)(£25)*(-£285)
This variation allows for just 5 spins of the wheel at a total risk of £285. The actual liability is less than the first chart but is offset by the one less chance to hit the winner (Just 5 Spins).
The thing we really like about this sequence is that you are rewarded for staying longer in the sequence i.e. the braver you are the more profit you make. This is great for incentive. Also this method is much quicker to show a decent profit. We would recommend that you wait for 1 of the evens chances to have come in 5 times rather than 4 before betting opposite (for example, 5 low numbers then bet high numbers). This way the odds are kept consistent with the first chart and once again it is only a sequence of 10 consecutive (low numbers) that will make you lose. The only downside is that you might see fewer sequences of 5 as opposed to 4 but if watching several tables at once you will still see many opportunities over an hour or so. Again we like to use this method in little bursts and not throughout a whole session.
You could of course follow the bet onto spin 6 but you would need a further £315 to do so! For what you gain we feel this is 1 spin too far and were it to lose would mean a total loss of £600! However, everyone has their own personal preference with progressions, so ultimately it is up to you.
Using a Progression on the Dozens/Columns
If you want greater odds, longer sessions and more betting opportunities per betting cycle then why not apply the above formulas to groups of 12 numbers rather than 18 (18 numbers of course is what is in each of the evens chances sections).
For our convenience the roulette table already has several different groups of 12 numbers marked out; you have the 1st, 2nd and 3rd dozens shown down the side of the table (low, middle and high numbers) and you also have the three columns at the end of the table, these normally have the odds ‘2 to 1′ written in each box.
When you play just 12 numbers, you do of course have less chance of success when compared to covering 18 numbers. However, this is nicely offset with the fact that you won’t need to lay out as much money per betting round. This also has the advantage of allowing you to go further than just the 5/6 spins from which to get a win and it also gives you the opportunity to make a greater profit in relation to your betting liability. With the evens chances you might lay out £10 to win £10 (100% profit) but with the dozens/columns you would lay out £5 to win £10 (200% profit or half the liability).
The general idea for this system is to observe the table for several spins. We will be looking at the dozens sections, the 1st dozen (1-12) 2nd dozen (13-24) and the 3rd dozen (25-36). You are waiting for a time when 1 of these sections has not been hit for at least 7 spins. Why not 4 or 5 as before? Well, it is simple mathematics that the smaller the group of numbers the less likely it is that they will hit and the smaller the group the longer you can go without them being hit. You could of course wait longer than 7 times if you wanted to play it extra safe but you have to find the balance between what is safest and what will provide you with enough betting opportunities.
For example, you might want to wait for a section to not show for 14 spins before betting but this could see you not having any bets for hours. You would just waste your time. Remember, time is money also.
Okay, so we observe the table and note that the 1st dozen has not been hit within the last 7 spins, here are the numbers; 22, 19, 35, 13, 17, 28, 30. Once you spot a moment like this, when a section has not been hit for the required amount of spins, then you can begin to target that particular section. Of course you need to use some kind of staking plan, that will generate a profit for you for several consecutive spins to come.
We can start to implement our system using the following chart:
Spin Stake Profit If Loses
1****(£3)**(£6)*(-£3)
2****(£4)**(£5)*(-£7)
3****(£6)**(£5)*(-£13)
4****(£9)**(£5)*(-£22)
5****(£14)*(£6)*(-£36)
6****(£21)*(£5)*(-£57)
7****(£31)*(£5)*(-£88)
8****(£47)*(£6)*(-£135)
9****(£70)*(£5)*(-£205)
10***(£105)(£5)*(-£310)
The total required for this plan is £310 but as you can see you get 10 bets from which to make your win. If you include the previous 8 spins that means the only way you lose is if your dozen does not come in for 18 spins consecutively. To see this happen would be very, very rare but as with virtually any sequence, it is not impossible. With this plan you are guaranteed to make at least £5 no matter what spin your win comes in on. This is another system that should only be used in small bursts. You can of course apply the exact same system to any of the columns, which themselves are 12 numbers each; the exact same rules regarding number of spins without a hit and the same staking would apply.
If the above staking chart appears a little tame as regards profits you can always take a bolder approach as we did to the second chart for the evens chances earlier in this article. Following is a more rewarding chart for the 12 number sequences:
Spin Stake Profit If Loses
1****(£5)**(£10)*(-£5)
2****(£8)**(£11)*(-£13)
3****(£14)*(£15)*(-£27)
4****(£22)*(£17)*(-£49)
5****(£35)*(£21)*(-£84)
6****(£55)*(£26)*(-£139)
7****(£85)*(£31)*(-£224)
8****(£130)(£36)*(-£354)
As you can see, we have designed the staking so that the further you go down the chart the more you are rewarded. A little extra bank is required, £354 in total this time. Having it so that the profits go up rather than remaining the same actually allows you to relax more when playing, as you don’t mind losing a round so much because you know you will make more profit on the next spin. The other obvious advantage is that you will make much more profit in relation to your time spent at the table. The previous chart will only make you a guaranteed £5/£6 every winning spin, whereas using the second plan you will be making the same amount on virtually every spin (dividing the profit by the amount of spins). This is a huge difference. Similarly as with the rewarding plan from earlier, there are less spins from which to get your win; 2 less in this case. My recommendation is therefore to wait 2 spins longer for a section not to show, 10 spins in this case. If you do this then your chances of success are exactly the same compared to the first chart and once again only a sequence of 18 consecutive spins without the ball falling into your chosen section will lose you your bank.
You can easily observe all 3 dozens and all 3 columns to spot 1 not showing for 10 spins. This might sound like a lot but it is not. Once you are involved in a wheel you will soon have 10 spins behind you and you will find that opportunities will arise all the time. This rewarding progression system is our preferred method.
I will keep repeating this message but it is most important that you never be greedy with any progression system because you can easily be caught out by going in too early. This is more than annoying if it does happen. Imagine this scenario:
You see that the 1st dozen has not shown for 5 spins and you are in front well over £100; because of your position you feel confident and decide to jump in early and start backing the 1st dozen using the 8-bet chart above. You know that your last chance to hit the dozen will be on spin 13 and soon enough it comes along without the first dozen being hit. You have just lost £354, which is all your profit plus a lot of your own money. The best bit is now to come, spin 14 produces a hit in the first dozen, number 9. You had given up on the bet because you did not have the resources to continue betting. The funny part is that had you been patient and waited until 10 spins for a no-show then spin 14 would only have been bet 5 on the above chart. Instead of losing £354 you could be sitting with all your losses back plus an extra £21.
This is where a lot of punters let themselves down. Fair enough if you follow the rules and you lose but if you lose because of your own impatience….
Just remember the golden rules from Part 1 and you will be 1 step closer to success.
In Part 4 we will be looking at smaller groups of numbers to use for progressions.
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