A Quick and Easy Course in Roulette Strategy

Added: June 13, 2014

A whole lot of people pass over roulette because they think that it's an overly simple game. The truth of the matter is that there's a lot of depth to this game, but you just have to learn how it really works on a deeper level if you want to get to it. Pokies players can get something out of roulette because of the ability to manipulate your variance and risk/reward levels, and skill game players will get something out of it because of all of the room for advanced and detailed strategies.

The first thing you need to know about roulette strategy is picking out the right game. Mini roulette has the worse odds of any common type of roulette out there, and it's even worse than American roulette which has a reputation for being worse than European roulette. European roulette and French roulette are generally going to be your best two choices, though French roulette has marginally better odds on some of the even money bets. In online casinos, you're typically going to want to go with European roulette unless a French version is available.

After you have your game picked out, you'll need to choose between the various bets. You can increase your payout by increasing your risk, and vice versa. The key here is that you start with the simple even money bets and work your way up until you find a level of risk that's comfortable for you. If even money bets aren't enough for you, then try 2:1 column bets or move towards row bets and corner bets. What's awesome about roulette is that you can always find a level of risk and reward that's acceptable to you because you have so many choices between the two extremes.

Finally, you need a way of calculating the payout of any individual bet that you make. There are a lot of bets in roulette, and it doesn't make sense to try to memorize them all. An easy way to do it is to divide 36 by the number of spots that will win for your bet. Subtract one from that number, and you have your payout rate for that wager. For example, a row bet has three numbers that win, so divide 36 by 3 and then subtract 1 to get a payout of 11. The payout rate for a row bet is 11:1.