Five Essential Tips (Plus One Golden Rule) for First-Time Roulette Players

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The unique allure and appeal of roulette is easy to understand.  Firstly, it’s one of the most entertaining and downright enjoyable games in any casino.  Secondly, it’s one of the easiest casino games to learn, and therefore isn’t nearly as intimidating as many other casino classics.

Topped off with the option of playing with fairly modest sums of cash to keep things safe, you have yourself a winner – the ultimate casino game for newcomers. 

Even so, diving headfirst into a roulette session without at least covering the basics is inadvisable.  At least, if you want to give yourself the best possible chance of walking away with something in your pocket.

Roulette may be the simplest game in the casino, but it’s still sensible to learn how it works beforehand. Far from making the whole thing boring and laborious, a little homework can go a long way in supporting (or even stretching) your bankroll.

With this in mind, here are five essential tips (plus one golden rule) for roulette newcomers:

Tip #1 – Learn the Odds and the Payouts

First up, getting to grips with basic roulette odds and payout structures is pretty easy. With even money bets – Red vs Black, Odds vs Evens etc – you have an almost 50/50 chance of pocketing a prize.  Consequently, the prizes attached to these bets are the lowest – double your stake. 

Elsewhere, a straight bet on a specific number could see you walking away with 35x your stake. But as there’s a minimum 95% likelihood you’ll lose, you probably will. By factoring in the most basic numbers, you’ll be in a much better position to know where, when and how to place your bets strategically.

Or at least, not blow your entire bankroll in 5 minutes on a handful of budget decisions.

Tip #2- Combine Bets Carefully

A common mistake made by roulette newcomers is throwing a whole bunch of equally random wagers onto the table at the same time. True, each outcome you bet on technically give you a better chance of winning. But when you’re dealing with a loss probability of 95% or more, even a dozen straight bets won’t bring you much luck…statistically speaking. 

The temptation can be to spread your bets across a bunch of potential outcomes, in hope of striking it lucky by tipping the odds in your favour.  This can work, but only if you’re sensible with every bet you place. 

Take your time, play the odds and aim to gradually supplement your bankroll with modest payouts. 

Tip #3 – Don’t Waste Time (or Money) on Betting Systems 

Technically speaking, there are some betting systems that can work. One example of which is the Martingale System, which from a mathematical/statistical perspective can pave the way for profits. But unless you’re starting out with a (literally) infinite bankroll, it’s not going to work. And even if you did have bottomless pockets, attempts to cheat the system will usually earn you a one-way ticket to the exit. 

The simple fact of the matter is that betting systems and strategies don’t work…period. If there was a viable way of guaranteeing wins with any casino game, it would have been exploited by millions and publicized by now. It would also render the game in question completely unviable, potentially having bankrupted countless casinos.

Long story short, don’t waste any time or money on betting systems that don’t work. 

Tip #4 – Expect Some Losses

Having realistic expectations is essential when playing any casino game – online or in the real world. Of course, nobody approaches the roulette wheel with the goal of walking away with empty pockets. Nor would anyone play roulette if they knew outright they were going to leave worse off the experience.

Truth is, everybody plays casino games in hope of winning money.  All well and good, but you also need to be prepared for the fact that you might (and probably will) lose more often.  If you can accept this as an inevitability, you’ll have a much more enjoyable experience.

If not, you may want to reconsider your decision to gamble in the first place.

Tip #5 – Manage Your Bankroll 

Last up, bankroll management with any casino game essentially means three things:

  1. Setting a strict budget and making it last as long as possible
  2. Knowing when to walk away when things don’t go to plan
  3. Being able to walk away after winning and not blow the lot 

All of this sounds fairly straightforward on paper, but can be surprisingly difficult when caught up in the emotion of the whole thing. Walking away from losses without attempting to recoup them can be particularly challenging. But it’s something you need to do, as chasing losses is the single worst thing you can do in a casino. 

Before playing, decide how much you can comfortably afford to lose, and don’t spend a penny more than this.

The Golden Rule – Remember Roulette is Random 

One final point of importance to emphasise, which can be surprisingly easy to forget when things get heated at the roulette table.  Contrary to popular belief, there is absolutely nothing anyone can do to predict the outcome of any spin of the wheel. 

In theory, the odds of the ball landing on a red number 50 times in a row are the same as those of a 50/50 split between red and black. Each and every spin is a 100% unique event, which is in no way influenced by any of the spins that came before. The odds of any particular outcome are therefore the same with every spin, however likely or unlikely an outcome may seem.

This is important to remember, as there’s a tendency among roulette plays, in general, to base their decisions on past events. The ball landed on red the last five times, so it’s surely going to land on black this time…right?

Wrong, and now you know why! 

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