Roulette Ball Is Called
- Also known as Double Zero Roulette. A variant with 2 zero pockets, a “0” and a “00”. The house edge in American Roulette is higher than in European roulette. Click here to find out why. The rim on the wheel where the ball is spun.
- What I've explained above is a very simple method of beating roulette, or more like the science behind a method called 'visual ballistics'. The key component of any visual ballistics method is how you determine when the ball is at the targeted speed.
Roulette is one of the most popular table games in modern casinos. Although variations on the game have been around for several hundred years, there are now only 3 variations in American casinos.
The zero is often seen as an unlucky number (well it is called the zero)- especially in roulette, as many bets will not pay out if the ball lands in this pocket, such as the outside even money bets, the column bets and the dozens bet and so on.
You’re likely already familiar with American roulette and European roulette. The most recent addition to the table game inventory is Sands Roulette.
Which of these games should you play?
How should you bet on them?
What’s the smartest strategy for roulette betting?
I’ll explain all that in this post:
What Are the Differences between American, European, and Sands Roulette?
Although these games have a few other differences, the most significant distinction between the 3 versions of roulette are the number of green slots the wheels contain.
Every roulette wheel has at least 37 slots.
36 of those slots are always numbered 1 to 36, and they’re alternately colored RED or BLACK.
The additional slots are green.
In European roulette there is only one green slot, the “0”.
In American roulette there are two green slots: “0” and “00”.
In Sands roulette a third green slot, “S”, has been added to the wheel.
The green slots are there for one reason:
They make the game’s statistical probabilities uneven.
This is because of the way roulette bets are paid off. You can win anywhere from 35-to-1 (for betting on a single number) down to 1-to-1 (for betting on 18 slots at a time).
The payoffs, called “odds”, are not as fair to you as the actual estimated probabilities of the roulette ball landing on any given slot. This is how the casino makes its money.
In a game of roulette the house should keep at least 2.70% of all the bets players make over time. The casino has no need to cheat the players. In fact, the players often make really bad bets that improve the “house edge”, as that casino profit is called.
One of the other differences between European roulette and both American and Sands roulette is that the European roulette table has an additional betting area. This secondary betting area is used to place specially designed bets. They are more complicated than the normal bets made in American and Sands roulette. I’m going to ignore this section of the table, because I’m going to show you how to place bets that have the best chances of paying off.
Is There a Winning System for Roulette?
Everyone who gets into roulette sooner or later starts to think about how they can “beat the system”.
I’m going to be honest here:
There is no way to do that.
The green slots on the wheel make it impossible for anyone, anywhere, to ever design a betting system that is guaranteed to win. If you really want to guarantee yourself a win every time, then put a chip on each of the 2-to-1 outside bets and on each of the green number bets.
That’s the only way you’ll be paid money every time the wheel spins.
You’ll also go broke.
You may have heard about a system called the Martingale System. It’s a popular betting system with new roulette players.
Experienced roulette players just turn their heads and roll their eyes when someone mentions the Martingale System. The only way you can make money with the Martingale System is to write a book about it and get people to buy your book.
Even that’s a gamble, though, because most people now know that the Martingale System promises more than it delivers.
Here’s how this system works:
You start out betting the minimum. If you lose, you double your bet. If you win on your doubled bet, you go back to betting the table minimum. If you lose again, you double the size of your bet again.
This sounds great to inexperienced bettors but the problem is that you’ll either run out of money or hit the table limit before you can recoup your losses as they add up.
The Martingale System is a sucker bet, plain and simple.
Every betting system in every form of gambling tries to leverage probability theory. The Martingale System and other roulette betting strategies also rely on probability estimates.
But there’s a flaw in the thinking behind these systems. If you account for the flaw you’ll be okay. You won’t always win but your expectations will be more reasonable.
The secret to not going broke when you gamble is to set reasonable expectations and maintain your self-discipline. You should never drink or take drugs when you gamble. They lower your inhibitions and impair your judgment.
You might as well just hand your money over to the casino at the cashier window and say “keep it” if you’re going to drink or do drugs when you gamble.
How Do Probabilities Work in Roulette?
Probability theory came out of statistics. It tries to give us rules by which to guess what happens next in any situation. The guesses are seldom accurate predictions. Sometimes the guesses work out, and sometimes they don’t. Gamblers love probability theory because they think it helps them pick the best betting strategies.
You’re actually more likely to double your money during a roulette session if you put all your money on a single bet. The more bets you place, the less likely it becomes to double your money.
That’s because every bet brings you close to the long term expectations. The closer you are to the short term, the more likely you are to get better than expected results.
In roulette, the probabilities are simple. The dealer spins the wheel and releases a ball that whirls around the outside of the wheel and finally settles in a slot. With only 37 slots on a European roulette wheel you have a 1-in-37 probability of the ball landing on a specific slot.
This probability never changes.
This probability is calculated on the basis of all the known possibilities.
What probability theory cannot do, however, is predict where the ball will stop.
Nor can it predict whether the ball will land on red, black, or green any number of times over the next 100 spins.
Nonetheless, a lot of gambling guides tell you that you have the best chances of winning if you do this because of such-and-such probabilities. And many of these guides warn you that there is no way to predict the future, but by setting the expectation that the ball will land on red about 47% of the time, these guides are making predictions and promises they cannot keep.
They’ll even back up their claims by talking about how to run computer simulations for 1 million spins of the wheel so that you see how often the ball lands on red, black, or green.
In the real world the Probability Fairy is always on vacation. She’ll never be there to wave her magic wand to make things happen the way experts say they should. The ball could land on red over the next 20 spins. Or it could land on black or green or some random mix of color combinations.
You have no way of knowing how many of the next [X] spins will turn out a certain way. Talking about probabilities in this way is just dishonest.
What you can do is look at the wheel and ask yourself how much it costs to bet on the largest possible set of numbers. The idea here is to get as much coverage as you can without losing money too fast.
But even if you cover every number on the wheel you’ll lose money.
So the only way to win in roulette–and this is completely random, never guaranteed–is to bet on less than all the numbers on the wheel.
You also want to play bets that pay better than even money. You can place a variety of bets, but most of them aren’t worthwhile.
Betting on single numbers is a bad idea. You can place bets on the lines between the numbers (these are called “street bets”) and on lines at the corners of numbers (these are called “corner bets”).
But even though you get pretty good odds (payoff) you’re still covering too few numbers.
How Bets Work in Roulette
Divide the bets into two groups:
- Inside bets
- Outside bets
Inside bets are based on individual numbers or small groups of numbers. When you see players betting on the lines, corners, and individual numbers on the table they are making inside bets.
Outside bets are based on pre-selected groups of numbers on the wheel. The “2-to-1” bets cover 12 numbers each: 1 to 12, 13 to 24, and 25 to 36. The “1-to-1” or “even money” bets cover 18 numbers each:
- Odd
- Even
- Black
- Red
- 1 to 18
- 19 to 36
The bets more likely to pay are the even money bets.
But unless you can win 5 times out of 9 on even money bets you’ll lose your stake. That’s the problem with roulette. You always have to win at least 1 more time than you lose no matter how you place your bets.
The “2 to 1” bets pay better than the “1 to 1” bets because they cover fewer numbers. You have less of a chance of winning.
There are 6 types of “2 to 1” bets:
- 3 kinds of dozens bets: (1 to 12, 13 to 24, and 25 to 36)
- 3 kinds of columns bets: ([1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 25, 28, 31, 34], [2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 26, 29, 32, 35], [3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36]).
You can make a bet by betting on any two of the “2 to 1” groups. That means that instead of covering only 18 numbers you’ll be covering 24 numbers.
This type of bet is often called the “double dozen” bet. It’s popular among gamblers who like to hedge their bets. They have a better chance (all other things considered) of scoring a win with a “double dozen” than with one of the standard even money bets. If you’re playing it safe and going for even money odds, you should always play a double dozen bet.
If you want to bet more aggressively, then instead of betting more money on your double dozen, you can cover all 36 of the red and black numbers. Leave the green numbers alone. Yes, they’ll come in every now and then, and you’ll lose money.
But there’s a way to keep your losses low.
How to Bet on Columns or Dozens Aggressively
Take 6 chips and distribute them across EITHER the three dozen bets or the three column bets.
Place 3 chips on 1, 2 chips on the 2nd, and 1 chip on the 3rd. If the ball lands on a green number you’ll lose your entire bet, so always play the table minimum with this aggressive style.
If the ball lands on any number with your single chip bet, you’ll win 2 chips and lose 5–for a net loss of 3 chips (half your bet).
That’s the safest way to bet aggressively on the table.
If the ball lands on any number in your 2 chip bet you’ll win 4 chips and lose 4 for no loss. This keeps you in the game.
If the ball lands on any number in your 3chip bet, you’ll win 6 chips and lose 3 for a net gain of 3 chips. This will offset 1 single chip win.
The way this betting strategy works out, your money can grow substantially and still take some big hits. Where the strategy will fail you is when the ball lands on green or if the ball lands on the single chip bet more often than it lands on the 3 chip bet.
Sorry, but there’s no way to prevent that from happening.
Roulette Ball Called
There Is No Guaranteed Way to Win in Roulette
I can’t say this often enough:
You can’t win at roulette in the long run.
I think roulette is a fun game to play. It’s exciting because you don’t know where the ball will land. You take an active role in making your wagers.
And you’ll find there are a lot of different betting systems to experiment with. The only thing that is guaranteed in roulette is that the casino will make a profit. What you hope for is that they make their profit at someone else’s expense.
Players who try to improve their luck by making big bets do sometimes win, but most often the people who come out ahead are the patient players who use conservative betting strategies and take money off the table. If you only walk away with your beginning stake you’ll be luckier than most gamblers.
And you can take that to the bank.
You may think roulette computers are always sophisticated pieces of hardware. In actual fact, most are very simplistic, although people that sell them want to you believe it is space-age technology. Here I will explain the simplest possible roulette computer algorithm, and it is used by almost every roulette computer.
Understanding What Makes Roulette Beatable
First we'll need to identify various parts of the wheel so you know what I'm talking about:
Ball track: where the ball rolls
Rotor: the spinning part of the wheel where the numbers are
Pockets: where the ball comes to rest
Clocking: simply another word for 'take timings of'. ie if you 'clock' the rotor or ball, you are simply clicking buttons to take timings of revolutions.
Roulette Ball Is Called The Most
What Happens During a Spin
When the ball is released, it gradually slows down, loses momentum and falls from the ball track. Sometimes the ball hits a metal deflector (diamond) and falls without much bounce. Sometimes it bounces everywhere. Sometimes there is still a fair bit of ball bounce. And while you can never predict exactly where the ball will fall, YOU DONT NEED TO. You need only to predict roughly where the ball will fall with enough accuracy to overcome the casino's slight edge against you (house edge). For some wheels, this is very easily done. For other wheels, it is much more difficult.
Here are some of the principles that are typically used to predict where the ball will land with professional roulette prediction techniques:
Dominant Diamonds
On most wheels, the ball will tend to hit a specific diamond more frequently than others. You can check this for yourself at your local casino by creating a chart like the one shown left. At the very least, you will find there are some diamonds that the ball almost never hits, or perhaps some areas where the ball almost never falls from the ball track. This is not random, and inevitably leads to more predictable spin results.
Now that we know WHERE the ball will fall at least an inordinate amount of times, what if we knew what number was under this area WHEN the ball fell? This is easy to determine, and I'll explain how later.
Consistent Ball Timings
You may think that when the ball is released, the timings of each revolution is random. The reality is especially the last few ball revolutions of the ball occur with much the same ball timings. The right chart shows the revolution timings for the last few revolutions of the ball on three different spins. You can see they are all very similar. The very bottom row shows the sum of all timings from these last seven ball revolutions. The greatest deviation in timings is no less than 300ms (0.3 seconds).
This means that if we knew when the ball timing (speed) was about 1350ms per revolution (about 1.3s per revolution), then we'd know the ball has about 12,500ms (12.5s) before it likely hits the dominant diamond and falls. Again of course this wont happen every time. It only needs to happen enough of the time.
Do you need to know the precise ball speed to know when there are 7 ball revolutions remaining? NO, you can virtually guess when there are roughly 7 revolutions remaining. Do you need to know exactly how many milliseconds are remaining? NO, because the ball revolution timings for the last few revolutions are much the same. This means finding which number will be under the diamond when the ball hits it is very easy to determine. This is a critical to understand.
Ball Scatter
Ball scatter is basically ball bounce. Sometimes the ball will miss all diamonds. Sometimes it hits a different diamond to usual. But a lot of the time, the ball will hit the dominant diamond, then bounce roughly 9 pockets along before coming to rest. There is a lot more to it in reality, but from a simplistic perspective, this is scatter.
If you check your local casino's wheels and compare where the ball first touches the rotor to its final restring place, you will see the ball bounce is usually still quite predictable over 15-30 or so spins. How we apply this knowledge is explained later.
Visual Ballistics
So far we know that on many wheels, the ball will mostly fall in the same region (dominant diamond), then mostly bounce 9 or so pockets. On many wheels we can actually skip the step where we consider how far the ball bounces after it hits the dominant diamond. This is because there is a more direct approach as explained below:
If you had a method to determine when the ball is about 1300ms (1.3s) per revolution, at that precise moment, you could look at the number under the reference diamond and write it down. Then wait for the ball to fall and come to rest. This will leave you with a first and second number like 'A,B'. For example say you got 0,21. This will tell you that the ball landed 5 pockets clockwise of your initial 'reference' number. See the left image for reference.
This tells us that starting from our REFERENCE NUMBER (A), the ball has about 12.5 seconds left before it hits the dominant diamond and bounces about 9 pockets, and ends up about +5 pockets from the reference number. Where the ball comes to rest is the WINNING NUMBER (B).
You may need to read this a few times, but the concept is very simple. Also see the video below which explains the concept too.
What I've explained above is a very simple method of beating roulette, or more like the science behind a method called 'visual ballistics'. The key component of any visual ballistics method is how you determine when the ball is at the targeted speed. Because when you have identified that target speed, you will know the ball has the same ball revolutions left before it falls and bounces however many pockets.
Can you virtually GUESS when the ball has 1 revolution remaining? How about 2 or 3 revolutions remaining? How about 5 or 6? It really is not at all difficult. If you can be accurate to within 1 ball revolution, then you can achieve exactly the same accuracy as most roulette computers without needing any device. Remember, you don't need to measure accuracy to within 5ms, 20ms or even 100ms because you are only determining how ball ball revolutions are remaining, and this automatically tells you the remaining ball travel time. You can be very sloppy and still be correct most of the time. And that's as accurate as you need to be to equal the accuracy as most roulette computers.
In a follow-up video I'll release soon, I'll teach you a method that can accurately tell you how many ball revolutions are remaining. And you will achieve the same accuracy as almost every roulette computer.
The Basic Roulette Computer Algorithm
This is what most roulette computer sellers don't want you to know. If you understand all of the above, you'd see how incredibly simple it all is. You'd also understand how you can afford to be very sloppy, and can just about guess how many revolutions are remaining and you'll still very accurately determine how many milliseconds are left before the ball falls. It is essential to note that ALL roulette computers use the above principles. You can look at the demonstration videos of basic roulette computers, and use basic visual ballistics to achieve almost exactly the same accuracy - without even using any electronic device. But because sellers want to make their products seem more competitive and exclusive, they'll tell you their devices are highly sophisticated with unparalleled accuracy.
Visual ballistics vs a Basic Roulette Computer
The main difference between typical visual ballistics and a basic roulette computer is that roulette computers are EASIER to use. There is no difference in accuracy between a skilled visual ballistic and computer player. Why? Because they both do exactly the same thing. They both just estimate when there are 7 or so ball revolutions remaining. They both 'tune' by looking at how far the actual winning number is from the reference number, then making a simple adjustment.
How Basic Roulette Computers Work
First the player finds a wheel where the ball mostly hits a particular diamond. Most wheels are like this. There are a few other basic procedures to evaluate a wheel, but this is just a simplified example. The player can create a small diagram l.ike the one shown left.
To use the computer, the player waits for the ball to be released then clicks a hidden button each time the ball passes a particular reference point (such as a diamond / metal deflector). This determines the timing of ball revolutions.
The player keeps clicking the hidden button until the time interval between clicks passes a certain threshold - this is when the ball is at a specific speed. When this threshold is passsed, the computer will vibrate at which time the player notes which number is under the reference diamond. Let's say it was number 32 (number A). This is an un-tuned prediction so we call it the RAW prediction. Then the player waits for the ball to fall and come to rest in a pocket. Let's say the winning number is 6 (number B). If we look at the distance between each number (A and B) in the chart left, we see this is +9 pockets (9 pockets clockwise) from the first to the second number.
It is important to understand that when the computer vibrates, this is telling the player that the ball has reached a target speed. And from this point, even on different spins, the ball will complete mostly the same number of revolutions before it likely hits the dominant diamond then falls.
The player repeat this process for 30-60 spins and add each jump value to a chart like the one shown left. After enough spins, we will find that certain areas of this chart have groupings of high bars (called 'peaks').
In the chart shown left, the peak is at about +10 pockets. This means for the player to win, they need to place bets around +10 pockets from the 'raw prediction' (Number 'A').
To Simplify
The player just keeps clicking a button until the interval between clicks is the say greater than 1,000ms (1 second). When this happens, the computer vibrates to inform the player the target ball speed is reached. From that point, the ball will mostly complete 5 or so revolutions before it hits the dominant diamond then bounces much the same distance.
To know where to bet each spin, the player notes the number under the reference diamond when the vibration is felt, then compares how far the ball actually lands from this original number. Then to know where to bet, the player just makes the adjustment on each spin.
Sounds simple enough? Almost every roulette computer you will find for sale will do only the very basics as explained above. It was all you needed 50 years ago, but beating modern wheels in modern casinos is far more complex.
Common Visual Ballistics Deception
Some sellers of visual ballistic methods will charge you thousands of dollars to learn visual ballistics methods you have learned here for free. Before you paid them, they would have told you that the method they teach is the best. But the truth is visual ballistic methods are all very similar. They all use exactly the same principles. Certainly some visual ballistic methods are overall better than others, but the differences are not often significant. One exception is if the method relies on a consistent rotor speed for accuracy to be achieved. For example, one individual claims his visual ballistics method is best because it enables you to obtain a visual ballistics prediction when the ball is at any speed. This may sound great, and he lures in uninformed people. But the reality is the method relies on the player having an unrealistic top-view of the wheel, god-like skill, and a rotor speed that is almost identical on all spins. The reality is such a methods cannot be applied in real casino conditions. Even slight variations in rotor speeds alone eliminate accuracy. On the other hand, one of his competitors who he unjustly attacks teaches a far better method that doesn't require consistent rotor speeds. So you need to be very careful about who you believe, or rather understand the principles for yourself, so you understand what is feasible.
NASA's roulette computer, or snake oil?
Roulette computers that you can buy typically range from $500 - $5000, yet most do exactly the same thing. How is the price difference justified? IT ISN'T. Don't just take my word for it. So you know this for yourself, try using visual ballistics on their demonstration videos, and you'll achieve the same accuracy without even using a roulette computer. Remember that no matter what a vendor tells you, you can easily expose nonsense with careful testing and research of your own. If you prefer to just take other people's word for it, don't expect to know the truth.
Roulette Ball Is Called Better
Of course every merchant is expected to promote their product, and it is common for merchants to stretch the truth about their products. However, the gambling industry has far more deception and false advertising in it than any other area of business I've ever known. It seems every roulette computer seller wants you to believe their device is space-age technology that cannot be obtained anywhere else. But the reality is almost every roulette computer uses the same basic algorithm explained on this page, and the accuracy differences between them are virtually negligible. Don't let technical talk and fancy charts fool you. When you break it all down, you are left with a salesman trying to sell a basic computer that is no better than visual ballistics.
Roulette Ball Is Called Two
The simplest roulette computer I offer is called the 'Basic roulette computer'. No fancy names. It is just a basic roulette computer using the basic design described above. It is FREE to my roulette system players because it realistically can beat only perhaps 5% of wheels, and still the accuracy is nowhere what could be achieved. Other device sellers sell comparable devices with exactly the same accuracy for between $500 - $5,000. Again, the price differences are not justified. I distribute this device for FREE. You can achieve exactly the same accuracy with basic visual ballistics methods. Alternatively you could buy a device for $2000 that does exactly the same thing, except the vendor blatantly lies and claims it does much more, and is the most accurate device available anywhere.
The various roulette computers I offer are compared to devices from other vendors at the roulette computer comparison page. There you can better understand the difference between a simplistic device that can only beat easily beaten wheels, and a device that squeezes every last bit of predictability from a roulette wheel while making application practical, covert and easy.