The Best & Most Effective Roulette Strategies

Playing roulette can be much more fun and profitable when you use the right strategies. Like every casino game, roulette is based on mathematical foundations, and you can use them to your advantage. However, in order to do this, it is imperative that you use the right strategies and learn the main idea behind them. As a professional roulette team, we've tried all these strategies and personally tested how effective they are. We share our experiences and talk about everything you need to know about the best roulette strategies. If you want to get an edge while spinning the wheel, keep reading!

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Strategy Rating Progressive Strategies Non-progressive Winning tips

Roulette Strategies According to Their Effectiveness

The list below will give you an idea of how effective these strategies are. This is not an actual tier list that ranks the strategies for being “good” or “bad”: It is based on how effective these systems are and how easy it is to use them. The rankings are based on our own opinion and experience.

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Top strategies

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Progressive Roulette Strategies

The common feature of all progressive strategies is that they are actually bankroll management systems. These strategies aren't concerned with increasing your chances of winning: what they're trying to do is determine how you should place your bets. They ask you to start the game with a certain bet amount and increase or decrease this amount according to the win/lose situation. The main purpose of all of them is to ensure that when you make a win, the winning amount is big enough to cover all your losses.

Martingale Roulette Strategy

Martingale is one of the first strategies invented for roulette and has been used for over 200 years. The reason for its popularity is that it is very easy to use. In this strategy, you only place bets that pay 1:1 and double the bet after each loss. You have to keep doing this until you get a win. After that win, you go back to the beginning (i.e., the initial bet amount) and start the cycle once again. Let's explain step by step:

Let's say you start playing with 1 unit and place a red/black bet.
If you win, keep playing with 1 unit (do not increase the stake).
If you lose, increase the bet to 2 units in the next game.
If you lose this one too, your bet must be 4 units in the next game.
And so on… As long as you keep losing, keep doubling the stake (8, 16, 32, 64, etc.). When you get a win, go back to betting 1 unit again.

Pros

It is the easiest strategy for beginners to use due to its simplicity
Can be used in all roulette variant
It can be used in both land based and online casinos
It guarantees that you will make a profit in the long run

Cons

There is a risk of reaching the table limit before making a profit
Requires a larger bankroll to use efficiently
Increases the total bet amount very quickly

For the Martingale strategy, you must choose one of the red/black, odd/even, and low/high bets. These are bets that pay 1:1 and their chances of winning in certain variants of roulette are over 48%. Sooner or later, you will score a win in roulette, and with the Martingale system, you can be sure that the payout will be big enough to both cover your losses and make a profit.

Reverse Martingale Roulette Strategy

There are many variants of the Martingale strategy based on how to increase the stake, and Reverse Martingale is the most popular. In this variant of the strategy, the stake is increased not after losses, but after wins. Other than that, all other rules are the same as the original Martingale. So:

If you bet 1 unit red/black and lose, you will play 1 unit again in the next game.
If you win while playing with 1 unit, your bet should be 2 units in the next game.
If you win this game too, you increase the bet to 4 units and so on (8, 12, 24, 36, etc.). This continues as long as you win, if you lose you will return to the initial bet amount (1 unit).

It is possible to say that it is a slightly more aggressive strategy and can cause your total stake (i.e., your total investment) to increase faster.

D’Alembert Roulette Strategy

This strategy was invented by a French mathematician and requires both increasing and decreasing the stake according to certain conditions. So, it takes more than just increasing the bet based on the win/loss situation.

In order to use this strategy, a base unit must be determined first. The base unit corresponds to a certain percentage of your bankroll (for example, 5%) and represents the amount of bet you will start the game with. You also need to decide in advance the total profit you want to make. You start the game with the base unit and increase your bet by 1 unit after each loss. After winning, you must reduce the bet amount by 1 unit. For example:

Let's say you start playing by choosing 10 as the base unit.
If you win, the stake should be 9 in the next game (10 – 1)
If you lose in this game, you will increase the bet amount again to 10 units in the next game (9 + 1)
By making these calculations according to the win/loss situation, you determine what the bet amount will be in each game. You need to continue this until you reach your target total profit.

Pros

No big bankroll is required to use
The total bet amount does not increase very quickly
Easy to understand and can be used in any roulette variant

Cons

Takes longer to make a profit compared to other progressive strategies
The total profit will be less than the profit you can make with other progressive strategies

Labouchere Roulette Strategy

This strategy is a bit more complicated than the others, but there is no requirement to use it with bets that only pay 1:1. This is still recommended but not mandatory for the strategy to work effectively. First, you need to decide how much you want to earn. After that, you have to create a sequence of numbers whose sum comes to this target profit. Ultimately, you have to decide the bet amount on each game using the first and last digits of this sequence. It will be easier to understand if we explain it with an example:

Let's say you want to earn 10 units in total.
Start by creating a sequence of numbers that add up to 10. For example, “1 – 2 – 1 – 4 – 1 – 1” is such a sequence.
Add the first and last digits of this sequence (1 + 1 = 2) to find the bet amount to start the game with.
If you win, delete the first and last digits of this sequence (the new sequence will be 2 - 1 - 4 - 1) to find out what your stake will be on the next game. After that, add the first and last digits again to determine the stake (2 + 1 = 3). Keep doing this as long as you win.
If you lose, add your previous stake to the end of the sequence to find out what your stake will be on the next game (the new sequence will be 1 – 2 – 1 – 4 – 1 – 1 – 2). After that, add the first and last digits again to determine the stake (1 + 2 =3). Keep doing this as long as you win.
Your goal here is to finish all digits in the sequence: You keep deleting as long as you win, and you keep adding as long as you lose. When there is no digit left in the sequence, you will reach your target profit.

Pros

Unlike other progressive strategies, it does not cause the total bet to increase too quickly even if you lose
Applicable even in games where losses and wins are equal
Can be used with all bet types
Allows you to control your bankroll more efficiently

Cons

More difficult to learn than other strategies and may require pen/paper note-taking
Takes longer to recover when many losses occur in a row

Labouchere is actually not a very complex strategy, and you can easily learn it with a few practices. The biggest advantage is that if you get a winning streak, it allows you to reach your target profit faster (for example, faster than D'Alembert). However, if you also experience a losing streak, it may take longer for you to recover.

Fibonacci Roulette Strategy

Fibonacci is a mathematical sequence of numbers discovered by the mathematician of the same name in the 13th century, and each digit in this sequence is the sum of the previous two numbers (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, and so on). It is believed that this sequence represents the “Golden Ratio” and is at the root of everything in nature. This strategy uses the Fibonacci sequence to determine the stake amounts.

To use the strategy, you have to bet 1 unit in the first two games because at least two numbers are needed for the Fibonacci sequence.
If you lose the second game, you have to set the bet amount in the third game based on the sum of the first two numbers in the sequence (i.e., 1 + 1 = 2 units)
If you win the third game, you have to set the bet amount in the fourth game based on the previous number in the sequence (i.e., 1 unit)
If you lose the third game, you have to set the bet amount in the fourth game based on the sum of the previous two numbers in the sequence (i.e., 2 + 1 = 3 units)
Depending on the loss/win situation, you either add the previous two digits in the sequence or return to the previous digit to determine the stakes. You can continue this as long as you want.

Pros

Provides a quicker profit in short games
Very easy to use and understand

Cons

If the game goes on for too long, its efficiency will drop and may cause the total bet to increase too much
The Fibonacci sequence has not been proven to work in casino games as well

The main idea here is the belief that a sequence of numbers that can be seen in everything in nature will work in roulette too, but there is no mathematical evidence to support this belief. However, the Fibonacci strategy is easy to use, gives results even with low bankrolls, and is a system that can be preferred by low-budget players as long as the game is short.

Non-Progressive Roulette Strategies

What these strategies have in common is determining which bets you should place rather than your stake amount. Simply put, there are 37 or 38 numbers on the roulette wheel, and if you place a bet that covers, for example, more than half of these numbers, your chances of winning will increase. Non-progressive strategies focus on increasing your chances without worrying about how you manage your bankroll. That’s why they are called “non-progressive”: They do not tell you how to increase your bet amounts.

James Bond Roulette Strategy

This strategy was used by James Bond in the book Casino Royale, and author Ian Fleming claims that Bond defeated the casino with this system. The strategy is quite easy to use as it consists of using a fixed bet amount on three different bet options. It is predetermined how much you will bet on which outcome.

Place 14 units on a high bet that covers all numbers between 19-36.
Place 5 units on a line bet that covers all numbers between 13 – 18.
Bet 1 unit for the number 0.

By doing this, you have placed a bet on all numbers between 13 – 18, 19 – 36, and 0. This means that you have placed three bets that cover a very large part of the wheel, excluding numbers 1 – 12, and have invested a total of 20 units.

If the result is a number between 19-36, you will receive 28 units of payment and you will make 8 units of profit.
If the result is a number between 13-18, you will receive 25 units of payment and you will make 5 units of profit.
If the result is 0, you will receive 35 units of payment and you will make 15 units of profit.
If the result is a number between 1-12, you will lose 20 units

You will certainly increase your chances of winning statistically, but you will not be able to reach high-profit figures (unless the result is 0) and the statistical increase will not give you a real edge against the casino in the long run. Still, due to its ease of use and fun, James Bond is one of the best roulette strategies for beginners and can be used even with a small bankroll.

Biased Wheels Roulette Strategy

The sections where the ball can land on the roulette wheel are called “pockets” and these pockets are separated from each other by tiny barriers. On wheels that have been used for a long time, these barriers are physically worn, and some will have various defects (e.g., a millimetre shortening of a certain part of the barrier). Such physical imperfections can change where the ball lands. Professional gamblers can spot such flaws and place their bets accordingly. But even if it was possible to do this, the results are still not guaranteed, and casinos now regularly renew all their roulette equipment (including the wheel). Therefore, it is not possible to say that it is a very efficient strategy.

Simple Tips and Tricks for Roulette

Using a strategy isn't the only thing you can do to increase your chances of winning. Sometimes even simple tips can be as effective as a complex strategy. Such tips will be especially useful for beginners and will allow them to increase their win rates in a fun way before switching to advanced systems.

Make sure that there is only one zero on the wheel If the wheel has a single 0, you are playing European or French roulette. If there are two zeros, it is American roulette. We recommend playing only the single zero roulette variants as the house edge is lower.
Simple bets are sometimes best If you don't feel ready to use a particular strategy yet, you can simply choose bets that pay 1:1 (odd/even, red/black, low/high). In single-zero roulette variants, these bets have the highest chance of winning (more than 48%).
Don't rely on winning streaks and know when to stop There is no such thing as a winning streak: believing this is a condition known as “gambler's fallacy” and winning multiple times in a row doesn't mean your luck has “turned”. Know when to stop, even if you're winning.
Avoid being emotional Most players have an emotional reaction to loss and keep playing until they win. Worst, under the influence of their emotions, players may increase the amount of the bet too much. Do not make this mistake: whether you win or lose, do not go beyond the betting limits you have set beforehand.

There is a Roulette Strategy for Everyone

If you are a beginner and interested in using your bankroll much more efficiently, you can start with the Martingale or D’Alembert. If you want to increase your winning chances, the James Bond strategy will be a good pick. In any case, there is a suitable roulette strategy for everyone, and you can have fun and win by choosing the right strategy for yourself. The next time you play roulette, don't forget to use one of the strategies explained here: the results may surprise you!