Roulette systems

From a strictly mathematical perspective, beating an unbiased roulette is impossible over the long-run. The system always hits the player with a house edge, there is no bet one can make to get away from. People have always been intrigued though by the apparently even-odds bets on red and black or odds and even. The Martingale system, through which players double up their wager on the same color every time they lose, is meant to speculate this situation. It would probably work too, were it not for the two green numbers, the numbers of the house, which turn a potential 50-50 situation into a 45-55 one in favor of the house.

For this reason, over the long run, the Martingale system leads to an inevitable financial disaster.

The two numbers of the house (or one if you’re playing European roulette) are also often speculated by beginners. Having heard that the two green numbers are those of ‘the house’ they bet on it hoping for good EV. The problem is things don’t work that way. The two green numbers are indeed the ones which induce the house edge into the game, but they do not do it by turning up more often. As a matter of fact, the likeliness of either of them coming up is the same as that of any other number on the wheel.

The Fibonacci system is about placing bets in accordance to the Fibonacci sequence. This too is a rather ineffective attempt to break the house edge.

Betting only on red is a strategy used by many. Players using this approach will place a bet on red a set number of times (38 for example). The likeliness of hitting red 18 times out of 38 is 50%, however the break-even point is 19 bets, and the likeliness of accomplishing that is only 37%. I’ll let you draw the conclusions.

The Labouchere system is a bit like the Martingale one, but it doesn’t require the player to escalate his bets so fast. The bet amount following a winning or a losing bet is determined in a more complicated way.