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Common Roulette Strategies

Roulette is the casino game that everyone knows how to play. A wheel, a ball and whether you win or lose it all down to luck. A beginner is as likely to win at roulette as a seasoned player, which is why playing the game is so popular with the newcomers at Refuel Casino. But even when the outcome is down to chance, you can still adopt a roulette strategy that will improve your experience and make your bankroll last longer.

Online casinos typically want to maximise their edge, so they don’t usually offer players many tips. But at Refuel, we do things a little differently. What’s important to us is helping our guests have a great gaming experience. So here, we lift the lid on some of the most popular roulette systems that have been developed throughout the years.

Choose the optimum wheel

If you have read our page on roulette rules, you will know that each bet you can place on a particular wheel has the same house edge. So there is no mathematical difference in betting on 22 at 35/1 or betting on red at even money. Where the variation lies is in the choice of wheel. The American roulette wheel has two zeros and that means a higher house edge of a little over five percent, compared with 2.7 percent for European roulette. While there are plenty of players who prefer American roulette, the strategists will always advise you to choose a single zero European wheel.

Another piece of advice about your choice of table at Refuel Casino is to choose live dealer roulette over a fully automated game. As well as being more fun, it tends to take a little longer for each spin. From a roulette strategy point of view, that is never a bad thing.

Double it up with a Martingale

The Martingale is the most famous roulette strategy around. In fact, at first glance, it looks foolproof. Like most things associated with online roulette, it is very easy to understand. The method works best with the even money bets, for example, red or black, odd or even. Let’s assume you bet €10 on red. When you win, you go again at €10. When you lose, you double your bet, and keep doing so until you win.

This roulette system means that for every win, you get another €10 in your pocket. For every sequence of losses, you still end up with €10 in your pocket, provided you continue doubling till red finally appears. Suppose you have four blacks in a row and then a red. You will bet €10, then €20, then €40, then €80 then €160 on the winning red spin.

Add those together, and you get €310 wagered. But with the winning spin, you are rewarded €160, and you get your €160 wager returned, meaning you come out €10 on top. Try it with any combination and it always works.

The problem with the Martingale is that occasionally, you will encounter a long run that goes against you. Every roulette table has a maximum bet, even in Monte Carlo, and if you bump up against that limit, you can end up with a heavy loss. Suppose the limit on the table in our example was €250. If that fifth spin had resulted in a black, it would have been impossible to double up the €160 wager and the whole strategy would collapse.

This is why the Martingale is not the “guaranteed way to beat the house” that some people claim. But if you like to play for fun and you start low, the risk of that catastrophic loss is slim.