Possibly one of the most popular casino games, various forms of roulette have been a fundamental part of gamblers’ lives ever since the early 18th century. The first forms of roulette originated in France. French roulette is still a variation of the game today, and the roulette strategies developed on this version have influenced other roulette strategies. Assuming you already know the basic rules of roulette, let’s dive straight into the comparison of two popular forms of the wheel used today, as well as some useful strategies worth trying.
American vs European Roulette Wheels
Let’s start with the American Roulette wheel. This wheel has a single 0 and a double 0, as opposed the European Roulette wheel’s single 0. Simply put, the only physical and numerical differences between the two wheels are the order of the numbers, along with the additional slot of a double 0 on the American Roulette wheel. Considering the extra pocket on the American, your odds/chances of scoring your desired number are marginally decreased. This changes your roulette strategy, but not the payout.
Roulette Odds and Payouts
Roulette odds and payouts on an American and European wheel can be broken down as:
- European Wheel – Odds are 1 in 37 (37 variants) – Payout is 35 to 1, plus your original bet amount.
- American Wheel – Odds are 1 in 38 (38 variants) – Payout is 35 to 1, plus your original bet amount.
By using simple math and common sense, it is obvious that higher risk is not rewarded in the case of American Roulette, with no change in payout. Your roulette strategy should start from choosing the right kind of wheel, and mathematically you are slightly better off by choosing the European wheel as opposed to the American wheel.
Nevertheless, you may come across an online roulette games based on the American wheel that is so much fun the slight mathematical disadvantage isn’t going to be enough to discard the American wheel straight away. After all, the most important thing of all is to have fun.
Roulette Strategies
Going from your first strategic choice – type of wheel – to the game itself, you should know that there are tens, if not hundreds of roulette strategies. We will focus on a few of them and let you derive your own roulette strategy from the information on this page. No roulette strategy in the world will guarantee a win. Nevertheless, our favorites are fun and easy-to-learn.
Martingale Roulette Strategy
The Martingale roulette strategy involves doubling your previous bet after each loss, as well as returning to your base bet after each win. This is a great roulette strategy to utilize since you have a preview of previous results on the table.
When using the Martingale strategy, ensure your base bet size is proportional to your bankroll – in other words, avoid having a sky-high base bet with a low bankroll.
The Martingale sequence looks like this:
1 – 2 – 4 – 8 – 16 – 32 – 64 – 128 – 256
Fibonacci Roulette Strategy
With a much slower rate of escalation and progression than Martingale’s method, the Fibonacci roulette strategy aims to return your lost funds over multiple rounds, not on a single one. Providing you do not go on a hardcore loss streak, you can still be extremely profitable.
In short, the Fibonacci sequence consists of adding the two previous numbers together when betting. Every win, you get moved back to a number in the sequence, depending on where your funds are now at.
The sequence looks as follows:
1 – 1 – 2 – 3 – 5 – 8 – 13 – 21 – 34 – 55 – 89 – 144 – 233 – 377 – 610
Comparing these two roulette strategies and thinking about which one is best to use, it depends squarely on your bankroll and playing preferences as a player. With Martingale, you might run out of funds early on, unless you have a bottomless wallet. With Fibonacci which progresses slightly slower, you are less likely to deplete funds as quickly. On the flip side, Martingale brings you bigger wins when you are on a roll than Fibonacci.
Other French Wheel Roulette Strategies
There are other roulette strategies you can try. Many of them come from the original French wheel. The French – or European – wheel offers 4 types of roulette strategies. Given that roulette is a French game originally, these strategies have a French name.
Their French names illustrate what they entail quite well, so we will stick to translating as well as explaining them. It is important to notice that these strategies are directly related to the wheel with one zero and the European number arrangement, but if you want, you can adapt them to the American wheel as well.
These roulette strategies entail a distributed bet instead of the concentrated bet that Martingale or Fibonacci suggests. Here are some of those strategies and techniques and what they entail:
Jeu Zero Strategy
The name of this roulette strategy in English is ‘zero game’. This roulette strategy consists of placing 4 chips as follows: on zero, the 4 numbers to the left of zero on the wheel and the two numbers to the right of zero on the wheel. With this roulette strategy you will place a chip between 32 and 35 on the table, a chip on 26, a chip between 12 and 15 and a chip between 0 and 3.
Voisins Du Zero
This roulette strategy translates to ‘neighbors of zero’. This roulette strategy is close to Jeu Zero. It requires players to place bets on numbers neighboring zero. These ‘neighbor of zero’ roulette strategy consists of placing chips between the 0, 3 and 2 on the table, 4 and 7, 12 and 15, 18 and 21, 19 and 22, 25 26 28 and 29, 32 and 35.
Tiers Du Cylindre
A roulette strategy based on ‘thirds of the wheel’, from its name in French. Players place bets on the numbers opposite to the previous roulette strategy, Voisins Du Zero. To play this roulette strategy, you should place at least a chip on: 5 and 8, 11 and 10, 13 and 16, 23 and 24, 27 and 30, and 33 and 36.
Les Orphelins
French for ‘the orphans’. This roulette strategy aims to bet on all the numbers not covered by the previous strategy. That is why it is called the orphans. To play those orphans place chips on: number 1, another between 6 and 9, one between 14 and 17, another between 17 and 20, and the last one between 31 and 34.
Your Own Roulette Strategy
You can combine certain aspects of these strategies with Martingale and Fibonacci as well. For instance, you can place more than one chip on any given place on the table, while keeping the other elements of the strategy at 1 chip, and then double down on those that win. There are literally thousands of combinations for these strategies, and now that you know them all, you can come up with your own. Maybe, if you score huge wins, one day you will have a roulette strategy named after you! So, just go ahead and try your creativity on your favorite roulette table at our recommended bitcoin roulette casinos.
