When Blaise Pascal discovered roulette in the late 1600s, he was looking for something completely different. He wanted to discover the real Chalice of the Church – in fact, he wanted to be the scientist who created a perpetual-motion machine.
Pascal was a scientist, inventor, philosopher, theologian, and a man of truly great learning. And that perpetual motion machine was the equivalent of a fire-breathing dragon, a mythical beast that many smart folks over the centuries had desired to create. And they all failed miserably.
Quickly, a perpetual motion machine was thought to be a device that would not need any energy input to run because it created its own perpetual motion – perhaps forever. Unlimited power. Unlimited energy. What a boon to mankind that would be.
Sadly, Blaise Pascal failed in that mission. He joined an amazingly long list in this attempt – a list of some of the smartest people who have ever lived. History has, so far, thwarted us small humans from accomplishing such a big task. In short, we’re failures in this area.
Still, Blaise Pascal discovered something that has entertained and excited people for over three-hundred years; the game of roulette, perhaps the longest-running game in casinos and a true money-maker for casino owners.
[Please note: Roulette means “little wheel” and it has been spinning for centuries in the houses of Lady Luck and Dame Fortune; that is, in casinos designed to offer games that will ultimately perpetually take the players’ money.]
In the sense that roulette has been continually played for all of these centuries, I guess you could say that in some way Blaise Pascal got an “almost” perpetual machine. In fact, it is almost the perfect money-making machine.
Casinos love the game and it has been either the number one game or the number two game or the number three game all of these centuries. Today, blackjack certainly has more players but roulette tends to be tied with craps for second place. It is the true game of James Bond and even a single-number is considered his – the number 17, perhaps the most played number in the game.
The game did devastate some of the unthinking aristocracy of Europe and other points east because many (many, many) players thought it was beatable. It wasn’t. Aristocrats had two things to do in their time periods – go to war and gamble their money; both dangerous pursuits. Peasants did not usually go to war because someone had to work the land.
The Good and the Bad
Casinos want all of their games to favor themselves. Roulette fits that description almost perfectly.
The original roulette wheels had a certain number of numbers (today they are 1-36 and one or two zeroes 0, 00). The true payout on a single-number wager should be 36 to one or 37 to one, depending on the wheel you are playing.
The casino makes its money in a very simple way by shortchanging the payouts for winning bets. Hit a single-number and the casino pays out 35-to-1. The house edge goes up to 2.7 percent on the single-zero wheel (0) and 5.26 percent on the double-zero wheel (0, 00). Those are good edges for the casino to make a decent profit from the game.
[Please note: A new three-zero wheel (0, 00, 000) has started to become a favored game offered by the casinos and it still pays out that 35-to-1 when a single-number hits. The house edge on this game is 7.69 percent. Yikes!]
There are many other bets at roulette but all of them come in with the same house edges. Roulette is a numbers game and those numbers favor the casinos by quite a lot.
But in the olden days, the wheels had a small weakness that could be exploited by brilliant players. That’s right, certain sharp players had figured out ways to beat the games.
Before you get too excited, realize the fact that these brilliant players were few and far (very far) between.
Most players way back when and right now, play the game trying to beat it with good luck. On occasion they do, but those occasions are not very frequent and even with massive good luck here or there, these players’ destination will be in the losers’ column. Sad but true.
The original wheels and wheels right up until the 1980s, were basically mechanical devices that could go “off” at times, meaning that the basic odds of certain numbers appearing could change because the wheel was not functioning properly. If you knew what numbers were being favored by an “off” wheel, you could bet that or those numbers and make a good profit.
Players who studied the wheels over a somewhat long period of time might discover some that were not functioning properly – certain numbers were hitting out of all proportion to their design.
Sometimes these wheels were called biased wheels or uneven wheels or wheels with big numbers that were showing because the wheel was “off.” Find an “off” wheel and your winnings would be “on.”
[Please note: My wife, the Beautiful AP, and I once stumbled on an “off” wheel in a non-strip casino in Las Vegas. This was in the early 1990s. The wheel was taken out of play when the house realized that we had found a golden key to the treasury.]
When a wheel is simply a mechanical device, the management has to be constantly checking it to make sure nothing is wrong with how the numbers are hitting. Some casinos in the past might have not done such a good job at this. If management was lazy or just not watching, the wheel could go “off.” By the “past,” I am talking about all wheels that are not computerized as are today’s wheels.
The Computer Is Not a Friend
Just as computers have taken over slot machines, today’s roulette games are actually run, in a way, by computers. Yes, the dealer spins the ball around the wheel but those wheels are constantly being checked to make sure they are not faulty in any way.
The computer has made the game strictly random; any wheel that is even slightly not perfect, is checked and fixed.
Unless the gods and goddesses of luck are in your corner rooting for you, you aren’t going to be able to beat the game in any long-run period unless you quit once you are ahead – and few players (or no players) really do that. Casino players rarely quit the games they love to play and certainly roulette has countless players worldwide who never think of leaving the fun.
Stress Free Roulette All the Way!
Okay, finding an “off” wheel today would be almost impossible, certainly in the more successful casinos and probably in any casino. That’s bad news for those of you who are looking to put your personal seal on the game as have the greats of the past.
Now, if you are the type of player who is rolling in money and you do not care how much you spend when you play, then you actually don’t need to worry about stress-free roulette play. Why should you? You can bet it up with the best of them and never have to worry about coming home kicking yourself for playing so stupidly. There won’t be less food this month and your private plane will never run out of fuel.
You want to make a lot of single-number bets, that’s just fine. You want to make bets of every type? That’s fine too. A lot of numbers, few numbers, large-sized bets? Have at it. But you are the total exception to most of us.
(Check out 888casino's complete roulette strategy guide.)
Now What About You?
Sadly, all of us aren’t rolling in dough. Most casino players are just regular guys and girls, with a budget and a gaming consciousness. They want to have fun with as few negatives as possible.
The negatives of roulette playing (and the negatives of all playing) are losing more money than they can afford; mostly by playing too much or too long or losing their perspective on the games they play.
With roulette that is easy to do because there are so many betting opportunities on which to gamble. After all, the next spin of that wheel can bring me some big bucks, right? Yes, right, but how often does that happen? Not enough to make you a long-term winner.
- Step One: Reduce your expectations. Do not go into a game thinking you are going to kill the casino and come home owning your own plane. In rare occasions that might happen to some ecstatic player but it is so rare there is a good chance you have never been in a casino where someone rules the roost during your visit. That is the stuff of news stories, yes, but it is also the stuff of winning the lotteries.
- Step Two: Think about what you really want to do when you are in the house of Lady Luck (also occasionally known as Nemesis!). Do you want to have long sessions where you get lost in the game? Do you want to savor hours of competition against the casino but doing so often causes you to arrive home having kicked yourself in the butt many multiple times on your coming home trip?
- Step Three: Do you want to be able to sit down and relax as you play instead of rubbing shoulders and chips with other players?
- Step Four: Do you want to only lose “X” amount of money on a bad session or trip? In short, can you reign in the playing you with the level-headed you? That would be a great accomplishment.
What To Do
Playing too long is one of the key ingredients to having a bad finish. I am sure you have probably had such sessions. You just can’t stop playing. If you are really nutty in that session you might try to play faster and faster or make more bets per spin of the wheel than you really should.
Look at how much money you bring to the casino. Now look at how long that money can last if the worst happens and you lose an overwhelming percentage of your wagers.
What can you do to slow the horror of the pulsating casino blob swallowing your money?
Here is a concept to consider: Let's say that the roulette game you wish to play has a $10 minimum bet and that is your bet. You can do the following:
- Figure you are only going to make 50 bets. This will guarantee that you will not lose every dollar you brought to play with.
- Even better. Only play half the spins of the wheel. That can double your time playing – almost all the time! If you normally play for three hours, now you can play for six hours.
- You should always be looking to extend time without betting more money to do so.
- Look to bet proposition bets instead of straight-up inside numbers. Playing the even-money bets of red/black, odd/even, or high/low can really stretch your time at the table because those bets usually assure you that there will be plenty of wins in 50 spins of the wheel. Think of playing every other spin using these bets and your lasting potential is terrific.
- If the casino where you play allows surrender (or en prison) then always play the even-money wagers because a hit on a green number will only cost you half your bet. Now, you have brought the game closer and closer to you never having to worry about being blasted out after a few hours.
The Bottom Line: I think following the above suggestions can make even losing sessions less taxing on your emotions. The less stress you experience when you play, and especially after you play, can make the casino-going experience totally worth your while even if you can’t buy a private jet after your trip.
All the best in and out of the casinos!
