11 Quick Tips for Amateur Roulette Players

Roulette is popular and easy to play. But it’s almost impossible to beat. And it’s even harder to beat if you end up playing on the wrong wheel.

On the other hand, if you learn a few simple tricks and strategies, you can improve your odds a great deal. And it doesn’t even require any complicated strategies or systems.

Here’s a list of 11 quick tips that amateur and experienced roulette players alike can use. Even if you can’t beat the roulette wheel, you can limit your losses every time you play.

1 – American Roulette Sucks

The biggest con in the casino industry was when the casinos decided to introduce a roulette wheel that had a double 0 space. This expanded the traditional wheel layout by one number, bringing the total to 38.

This didn’t look like a big deal to many gamblers, proven by the fact that some gamblers still play on these wheels, but it lowered the return to player percentage by over 2%. This means the casinos started keeping over 2% more of every dollar bet on the wheel.

A roulette wheel with 38 spaces is often called an American wheel. The best tip I can give you about roulette is to never play on an American Roulette wheel.

2 – European Roulette Isn’t Much Better

The traditional roulette wheel only had one 0 space, for a total of 37 spaces. This is now usually called a European Roulette wheel. It has a return to player percentage of 97.3%, which is much better than the American version.

But this is still not even close to the best version of roulette that you can play. The best roulette version cuts the casino edge in half compared to a European wheel.

If the only choice is between an American and European Roulette wheel, you have to use the European wheel. But you should really hold out until you can play on a wheel like the one in the next section.

3 – French Roulette Is the Best Option

The best option for roulette players has a return to player number at 98.65%. This roulette wheel looks just like a European wheel, but a special rule that’s only available at a French table cuts the edge in half against a European wheel.

When you make even money wagers on a French Roulette wheel and would lose, the bet is effectively put off until the next spin. This is why the return to player is half on these even money wagers.

All roulette players should play French Roulette and avoid all other versions. The problem is that there aren’t many casinos that offer French Roulette; and the few that do usually reserve the table for high rollers.

But you can find some online and mobile casinos that offer it.

4 – A Bonus Can Help

You may have noticed that the return to player never reaches 100%. This is how all casino games are designed, and this is why casinos are profitable.

This also means that if you play roulette long enough, then the casino is going to win. You can get lucky in short streaks, but the edge the casino has always wins.

When you play mobile or online roulette for real money, you can get a bonus from some casinos. This doesn’t eliminate the casino edge, but it does extend your playing time. A bigger bankroll means you can play longer before the casino edge eliminates your bankroll.

5 – Smaller Bets Equal Smaller Losses

If you only get back a percentage of every dollar you risk over the long run, it’s easy to see that the more money you risk, the more money you’re going to lose.

When you follow the logic, it also shows that if you make smaller wagers, you risk less. This is a simple formula—risk less, lose less. Anything that you can do to risk less when you play roulette is what you need to be implementing into your roulette strategy.

Find a French Roulette wheel with the smallest wager minimum that you can, and never risk more than the minimum amount. The smallest wager amounts are available at online and mobile casinos.

6 – How Roulette Math Works

Roulette math is simple. On a roulette wheel with 37 spaces, the even money wagers have 18 spaces that win your wager. This is 18 out of 37, or 18 good and 19 bad. But the bet only pays 1 to 1, which is the same as 18 to 18.

The odds of winning an even money wager are slightly worse than the payout. This is how the casino creates a profit. You can run the odds and payouts for all of the available wagers at the roulette table, and you’re going to find that the casino edge and return to player percentage are the same on all of the wagers on a European wheel.

The only difference on the French wheel is the en prison rule on the even money wagers.

7 – Play Online Roulette to Control Game Speed

You’ve already learned that risking less when you play roulette is the only way to reduce your losses. But there are many different ways to reduce the amount you risk.

A good way to reduce your risk that I haven’t covered is to bet on fewer spins per hour that you play. When you play in a live casino, the only way to reduce your spins per hour is to not bet on each spin.

This is much easier if you play online and mobile roulette. Nobody is watching you play or running the roulette table, so you can play as few hands as you want per hour. But there’s also a danger to playing online roulette, which is the same as the danger of electronic roulette machines in casinos. Learn more about this danger in the next section.

8 – Video Roulette Machine Dangers

Some casinos have started offering electronic versions of roulette. These are like playing online, but on a machine in a casino like a slot machine or video poker machine.

The danger when you play roulette on an electronic machine or online is you can actually play far more spins every hour than when you play live roulette.

When you take more spins, you’re risking more money. And you know that this leads to higher losses. This is why you need to be careful about how fast you play roulette. On the other hand, you can play electronic roulette slow if you have self control.

9 – More Than Two 0’s

A few roulette wheels have more than 0 and 00 spaces on them. Here’s the rule you need to remember. The more 0 spaces there are on the wheel, the worse the game is.

The same advice still stands. Play on a French Roulette wheel or choose another game entirely.

10 – Roulette Systems Are Really for Losers

I know that some gamblers have to try things out for themselves, but you can save a lot of money and time if you take my word for one fact about roulette systems.

I’ve tried many of them, and I understand the math behind the game and systems. You can’t beat roulette with a system, no matter what the claims are.

If you have to try a few systems, try them out playing free roulette so you don’t lose any real money. And use a large enough sample so you’re not misleading yourself into believing short-term variance constitutes a successful system.

11 – What’s Better Than Roulette?

Truthfully, there aren’t a ton of casino games better than French Roulette, but there are a few. Here’s a quick overview of better options in the casino.

• Baccarat – The return to player on the banker wager on the baccarat table is 98.94%, which makes it slightly better than French Roulette.
• Blackjack – Many blackjack games have a higher return to player when you use proper strategy and advanced gambling techniques. The rules influence the percentage, so you need to study blackjack rules.
• Video poker – A few video poker games have a higher return to player percentage than French Roulette. You have to use the correct strategy and find a machine with the correct pay table.

Conclusion

The wheel and the rules are the most important things when it comes to picking a place to play roulette online for real money. If you stick with the right wagers on a French Roulette wheel, you’re making the odds as good as they can get.

But if you get stuck playing on a roulette wheel with two or more 0 spaces, you’re just throwing your money away.

Online, mobile, and electronic roulette games can be dangerous, but they also can be your best friend if you’re able to control your rate of play. Finally, run away from roulette systems as fast as you can. They always end up costing you money in the long run.