Many people think there is little to discuss when it comes to roulette strategy. This may be a bit of truth and a bit of untruth; the fact of the matter is, roulette strategy is simple but subtle. Overall the math behind roulette is simple, but not very friendly. American roulette boasts a house edge of 5.26% for every bet except one. What’s worse is the other bet (five-number bet, see roulette rules page) give an even worse house edge of 7.29%. What it comes down to if you want to utilize a roulette strategy that’s effective, is looking for extended rules.
Atlantic city casinos for the most part entertain a beneficial rule called ‘surrender’. If this rule is in place (ask at the table before you play) you're as close as you're going to get to using a roulette strategy.
The surrender rule applies only to outside bets that pay even money. Those are: red/black, even/odd, and high/low. If the ball lands on 0 or 00 (double zero) you only lose half of your bet instead of all of it. The casinos edge then drops to about 2.63%, still not in your favor, but a heck of a lot better.
The numbers looks like this:
Advantage
= [18/38 x 1] + [18/38 x (-1)] + [2/38 x (-0.5)]
= -1/38
= -0.0263
or a house edge of 2.63%
Another roulette strategy to employ is keeping an eye peeled for wheels that don’t have a double zero. European roulette wheels come this way standard, but American tables rarely use it, as it decreases the house edge. Over 12 bets the house edge drops to 2.7% so keeping an eye out for this is a smart roulette strategy.
UPDATE: I have found an online casino which offers single zero roulette. It can be found at the Go Casino - just download the software which is free and give it a spin!
