Roulette is one of my favorite casino games to play. But if you like to play online roulette with any regularity, you will find out that simply playing your favourite numbers and birth dates isn’t going to make you a really big winner very often.
That’s why most online gamblers that win have some sort of strategy before they start to play. The really good gamblers are the ones that stick to these plans and not let their emotions get the best of them when they run into some bad luck. This is not only true for roulette but when playing just about any real money gambling game.
Betting systems are a good guideline to keep yourself mentally in the game that your are playing against the casino. The people who lose are the ones that don’t recognize a good streak vs a cold streak and makes poor bets because of this. Chasing the losing bets with an ever increasing wager is a good way to lose a lot of money. Ironically enough, this is the topic of the first roulette betting system called the Martingale System.
The Martingale System
This is one of the oldest and most basic betting systems; the Martingale System is a negative progression betting system that is based of the probability of losing a large number of bets in a row.
If you were to bet $1 and lose, you would then bet $2. If you lose that bet, you would bet $4. Then $8, $16, $32 and so on until you have reached the table limit for betting. The theory is that if you lose 4 straight bets and bet $16 on the 5th hand that you win, you will have won $1 overall.
I would tend to stay away from this style of betting. It only works to your advantage if you aggressively betting when you are up overall. Otherwise, this has the potential to win you little while risking a lot. The main drawback of this system is that once you reach the table limit on betting, you have already guaranteed that you will be losing a lot of money.
The Paroli System
This is the opposite of the Martingale system. The Paroli System is a positive progression betting tactic. The idea is that you set a limit to how many times in a row that you will win.
If you bet $2 and win $2, then your next bet will be $4. Win again and you will bet $8 and so on until you decide to start over or lose. Usually doing this more then 4 times is not the wisest decision.
There is also a way to augment this so that you aren’t simply betting to double up each time. This progressive ladder allows you to bet aggressively and double on your first two wagers and still bet high without risking it all afterwards.
The Thirds System
One of the best rules of thumb that I like to use when all else is failing is the rule of betting in thirds. This means that if you are up, bet 1/3 of the amount of money that you are up each time. When you are down, bet 1/3 of the amount of money that you are down each time.
This is of course within reason. If you are only up $9, you don’t need to bet $3 in order to follow the pattern. The idea is that once you are up or down $50 or so, start thinking about betting a third of the difference. This will allow you to keep close without losing all your money quickly, unless you have a really bad run.
A good rule of thumb is to set levels with your bankroll. Once you are up or down X amount of money, alter your wagers to better reflect the amount of chips you are playing with. That means lowering your bets when you are doing poorly.
Too often, gamblers throw good money after bad. They try to make up the losses with higher wagers and will often bust out because they are frustrated or not patient enough to try to bounce back.
Hedging Your Bets
Lets say that you have a number in mind on the roulette wheel. There are several ways to hedge this bet in order to try to maximize your winning potential while trying mitigating your losses.
Here is the scenario: You have $300 and you are planning on betting $5 on a single number, in this case 21 Red. You can hedge this bet by also placing a $5 bet on Red and Odd or any combination of 2 to 1 and 1 to 1 bets that correlate to 21 Red.
The thinking here is that if the ball lands in 21 Red and you do hit your number exactly, you will be getting a large win. If not, you still may have a chance to win on your bet if another number comes up.
There is a chance of a larger than usual lose if you are unlucky. This usually surfaces when the ball falls on the 0 (or 00 in American Roulette). Some people will place a bet on the zero that will cover their overall wager in case the zero comes up.
Other ways of hedging your bet is by betting on the lines between your number and the numbers that it borders on the roulette table. If you were to bet on 15 Black, then you can also bet on the line consisting of 13, 14 and 15 or you can bet on a block of 4 or 6 numbers.
In many places that offer European Roulette, you will also be able to bet on “thirds” of the wheel. This means that you would not bet on a single number or group of numbers on the table, but on a section of the roulette wheel.
The Parlay System
To anyone familiar with sports betting, Parlay is a term that is used quite often. It is often referred to as “let it ride” because once you have won your first bet, you leave the bet and the winnings in play and try to double up quickly.
This is a good system to use when you are already ahead of the casino. By letting it ride, you are trying to win 4 units overall while only risking 1 unit of your own money.
Let’s say that you had bet $10 on a 2 to 1 bet such as the 1st 12. The roulette wheel is spun and the ball lands on 7 Red. You won $20 on the 1st 12 bet; but instead of collecting the $30, you leave that bet on the table and gamble that a 1st 12 number comes up again.
Want to learn more about online roulette? Take a look at a couple of my prior posts: 5 tips for playing online roulette and common false beliefs about online roulette.
In fact, the only casino that currently offers mobile services to U.S. customers is Slotland. As the name suggests, you will not be able to find any casino games that aren’t related to slots. It is, however, a great place to play if you are a slots fan. 
You will be able to find unique games found no where else like Slotris. This is a unique combination of slots and tetris. You will spin the reels and be given a tetris piece to place. The object is to get three of the same colored squares in a row in order to win on a line.
