What’s the Smartest Roulette Bet?
The smartest roulette bet you can place needs two things: a European roulette table and the en prison rule. Using this rule to your advantage means putting your bet “in prison” when the ball lands on zero. So, if you bet on black and the ball lands on zero, you hold the wager, and it either pays or loses on the next spin.
If you can’t find a European roulette wheel, we recommend these top three bets and strategies.
Smartest Roulette Bet: Recommended Wagers
So, when you can’t play European roulette with the en prison rule, what should you do? According to expert roulette players, you should avoid betting on a single number and aim for a group.
Since your chance of winning a single bet is lower, it’s better to place your wager on four numbers. Or, on the outside slots of the table, to avoid losing too much money on 36 to 1 odds. With that said, here are a few bets you might want to try instead:
- Even-Money Bets: these are the wagers with the same odds as a coin toss (50/50). These might not pay out a lot, but you can still win your money back more often on red/black or even/odd.
- Dozen Bets: wagering on a column of numbers might seem counterintuitive, but the wagers pay two to one. Since you’re betting on a set of numbers, you technically have a 30% chance of winning.
- Double Numbers: picking two numbers instead of one is another tactic that most experts swear by. Plus, you could earn a payout of 17 to one with odds of 5.4% against the casino’s 94.6%.
Using Popular Roulette Strategies
There are plenty of betting systems around that claim to make you more money with less effort. But those strategies are typically ineffectual in the long-run. While there’s nothing wrong with trying one for free, we don’t recommend banking on a system where you have to increase your bet constantly.
Since many roulette strategies require you to multiply or double your bet on wins/losses, your real money balance takes a hit.
Unless you have large amounts of money to throw on the table, we recommend capping your wagers when trying these systems:
- Martingale Systems
- Fibonacci System
- James Bond Strategy
- Oscar Grind’s Strategy
- d’Alembert System
- Paroli System
- Parlay Roulette System
