| Average Joe Roulette The Roulette Systems Authority |
| Modern Betting Systems: Section Strategy for the American Wheel |
Section Strategy is a technique of placing inside bets to cover large
areas of the wheel. By having bets in groups of adjacent numbers, if
the ball is in the area covered, you win. There are no gaps or uncovered
numbers. Covering large sections of the American wheel and the Hybrid
wheel is a bit easier than the French wheel. Take a look at the American
wheel below.
areas of the wheel. By having bets in groups of adjacent numbers, if
the ball is in the area covered, you win. There are no gaps or uncovered
numbers. Covering large sections of the American wheel and the Hybrid
wheel is a bit easier than the French wheel. Take a look at the American
wheel below.
If you place bets on 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30, two
sections of six numbers each are covered. To the right of 0, are 28, 9,
26, 30, 11, and 7. These are covered in the two groups above.
Continuing clockwise around the wheel, to the right of 00, are the
complementary 6 numbers to the group of six above. They are 27, 10,
25, 29, 12, and 8.
These 12 numbers can be covered with two line bets (Double Street
bets). The span of the sections may be expanded to cover 7 numbers
each (for a total of 14 numbers) by placing a split bet on the 0/00 line.
Mr. Peter Svoboda in his book, Beating the Casinos at Their Own Game
also gives his techniques for covering 24, 26, 30 and 32 numbers.
Rather than include them here, I invite you to order his excellent book.
Back to the 12 or 14 number sections above, you might ask, could I use
a betting progression and cover the sections above. Yes you can, but,
you are only covering 32 or 37% of the wheel. So, this is not an even
money bet like the outside bets. You will be placing a bet which pays 5
to 1, and loses the other bets. Assume you cover 12 numbers with two
units. When you hit one of your numbers, you net 4 units profit (win 5,
but lose the second bet). This will occur 32% of the spins on average.
The other 68% of the time you lose 2 units. If you do the math you will
find the house advantage holds up. The only way to use a progression
with this system would be to use a negative progression.
Because you win twice as many units as you lose, you would not
increase your bet after one loss. I suggest you increase the bet after
two losses or even three losses. Then, double the bet. Now you are
risking 4 units, but you will win 10 units, and lose 2 units of the second
bet, netting 8 units. If you previously lost 3 spins, or 6 units, you now
have a profit of 2 units. To use a negative progression, you must be
prepared to lose. What if you doubled your bet to 4 units total and lost
again? You will now have lost 10 units. If you keep your bet the same,
you will break even if you win the next bet. This is what you would call a
CYA bet, which means Cover Your Assets. Your hope in this bet is to
simply break even. If you break even, you have not lost anything for 4
losses and 1 win. This isn't bad. But, what if you lose?
Now the question is, how high do I go? At what point do I stop
escalating my bet? You can still lose many more times; that's the
nature of the game. At this point you have only bet 14 units. You
would have bet 10 units anyway if you had simply bet 2 units per spin.
Therefore, you are only out 4 extra units, and you had a chance to
profit or at least break even. It just simply didn't hit one of your 12
numbers in 5 spins. You have two choices here. You could drop down
to one unit per bet, or stay at 4 units, 2 units per bet. The choice is
yours. Once you win, drop back to one unit per bet and begin again.
There will be times when you win two in a row and this will add to the
win column and offset the losses.
Whatever you decide to do, unless you have an excess of money to
throw around, I recommend you not progress to a higher level. You
could, but you may accumulate a large loss and I don't think you should
risk this. A negative progression must be limited in scope, or you
risk a Martingale-like escalation and possible ruin.
More Sections
There are two approaches to section betting. One may attempt to
cover one large section with only a few "outliers." Since the wheel is
designed with adjacent numbers on the layout opposite each other on
the wheel, it is easy to cover two spans using street and line bets. For
example, place four line bets at 1-4, 13-16, 19-22, 31-34. You are
covering 24 numbers with 4 bets, or 63% of the wheel. The numbers
covered on the wheel are, clockwise, 20 to 1 and 19 to 2. With one
more chip added, you could also cover 0-00, making two spans of 13
numbers. Covering them is the easy part. You have to figure out how
to bet them.
My opinion, for what it is worth, is one should use a positive
progression when playing more than half of the wheel. Why? Because
you are going to have more wins in a row by a two to one margin in this
case. When you win one of the line bets, you net one unit. If you use
a positive progression of some form, you can capitalize on the longer
winning streaks. You don't want to press up ad infinitum, but perhaps
three times in a row, drop back, then press again. If you are placing the
0-00 split bet, it doesn't have to be pressed since it pays at a higher
rate. A progression might look like the following:
First bet: 1 unit on the four lines and 1 unit on the 0-00 split bet.
Second bet: If you lose, always place the same bet.
If you win, place 1.5 units on the four lines, and leave the split at 1 unit.
Third bet: If you lose, drop back to the first bet.
If you win, Press the line bets to 2 units each.
Fourth bet: Drop back to the first bet and repeat the process.
You will win almost 7 out of 10 spins, but when you lose, you will lose all
bets. When you win, you will win either one line bet, or the split bet
which yields 17 units minus your line bets.
The problem with using a negative progression here is the multiple you
must apply to the four line bets to recover your losses. Because you
only win 1 unit per line bet win, but lose 5 units when you have a loss,
to recover 5 units in one bet, the four line bets have to be increased to
5 units each. This means you have quintuple risk to recover your 5
units. What if you do this but lose again? Now you are down 26 units.
To recover 26 units, You have to bet 100 units, collectively, on the line
bets and 6 units on the split bet. You have placed yourself in a
martingale spiral, with two losses in a row. You are in a position of
losing greater than 5.26% to the casino, much greater. This is exactly
where they want you to be.
You now see the problem with trying to cover large areas of the wheel.
You are put in a situation of winning a little when you win, but losing a
lot when you lose. I generally stay away from this type of betting,
preferring even money bets and my betting progressions.
For completeness, I am going to give you three more section strategies.
They cover smaller areas of the wheel, so the payoff is higher. In a
way, these are more conducive to negative progressions, because you
can use a slow progression. You might bet the same bet two or three
times in a row because the payoff is higher.
19 to 4 Span
Place two street bets: 4-5-6, and 31-32-33
Also place 2 split bets: 16-19, and 18-21
This covers 8 contiguous numbers with two outliers. The 8 represent
21% of the wheel. Payoffs will be 11 units on the two street bets,
minus 3 units for a net of 8 units. The two split bets pay 17 to one,
minus three for a net of 14 units. You might devise your own
progression for these bets depending on which one wins. For example,
you might double the street bets if you lose three in a row. This would
put your bet up to 6 units total. Lose a fourth and you might place two
units on all four bets. You could leave the bet there until a win occurs,
then drop back to the original bets. Sit down with a calculator and
devise your own system which has acceptable risk for you. It doesn't
take calculus to figure out the risk and rewards.
23 to 5 Span
Bet the center column with 4 chips
Also place 1 unit on two street bets: 7-8-9, and 28-29-30.
This leaves 0 as the only uncovered number in a 15 number span. Also,
8 and 29 are doubly covered numbers.
22 to 1 Span
Place four street bets: 1-2-3, 13-14-15, 22-23-24, and 34-35-36.
This covers an eight number group and opposite, a four number group,
2, 14, 35, and 23. You could add 0-00, and cover a nine number span
and a 5 number span.
This completes this topic. Some authors and many players feel this is a
good way to play because the numbers you play are grouped. Keep in
mind that the numbers you don't play are also grouped. Good luck
and be careful with using negative progressions.
sections of six numbers each are covered. To the right of 0, are 28, 9,
26, 30, 11, and 7. These are covered in the two groups above.
Continuing clockwise around the wheel, to the right of 00, are the
complementary 6 numbers to the group of six above. They are 27, 10,
25, 29, 12, and 8.
These 12 numbers can be covered with two line bets (Double Street
bets). The span of the sections may be expanded to cover 7 numbers
each (for a total of 14 numbers) by placing a split bet on the 0/00 line.
Mr. Peter Svoboda in his book, Beating the Casinos at Their Own Game
also gives his techniques for covering 24, 26, 30 and 32 numbers.
Rather than include them here, I invite you to order his excellent book.
Back to the 12 or 14 number sections above, you might ask, could I use
a betting progression and cover the sections above. Yes you can, but,
you are only covering 32 or 37% of the wheel. So, this is not an even
money bet like the outside bets. You will be placing a bet which pays 5
to 1, and loses the other bets. Assume you cover 12 numbers with two
units. When you hit one of your numbers, you net 4 units profit (win 5,
but lose the second bet). This will occur 32% of the spins on average.
The other 68% of the time you lose 2 units. If you do the math you will
find the house advantage holds up. The only way to use a progression
with this system would be to use a negative progression.
Because you win twice as many units as you lose, you would not
increase your bet after one loss. I suggest you increase the bet after
two losses or even three losses. Then, double the bet. Now you are
risking 4 units, but you will win 10 units, and lose 2 units of the second
bet, netting 8 units. If you previously lost 3 spins, or 6 units, you now
have a profit of 2 units. To use a negative progression, you must be
prepared to lose. What if you doubled your bet to 4 units total and lost
again? You will now have lost 10 units. If you keep your bet the same,
you will break even if you win the next bet. This is what you would call a
CYA bet, which means Cover Your Assets. Your hope in this bet is to
simply break even. If you break even, you have not lost anything for 4
losses and 1 win. This isn't bad. But, what if you lose?
Now the question is, how high do I go? At what point do I stop
escalating my bet? You can still lose many more times; that's the
nature of the game. At this point you have only bet 14 units. You
would have bet 10 units anyway if you had simply bet 2 units per spin.
Therefore, you are only out 4 extra units, and you had a chance to
profit or at least break even. It just simply didn't hit one of your 12
numbers in 5 spins. You have two choices here. You could drop down
to one unit per bet, or stay at 4 units, 2 units per bet. The choice is
yours. Once you win, drop back to one unit per bet and begin again.
There will be times when you win two in a row and this will add to the
win column and offset the losses.
Whatever you decide to do, unless you have an excess of money to
throw around, I recommend you not progress to a higher level. You
could, but you may accumulate a large loss and I don't think you should
risk this. A negative progression must be limited in scope, or you
risk a Martingale-like escalation and possible ruin.
More Sections
There are two approaches to section betting. One may attempt to
cover one large section with only a few "outliers." Since the wheel is
designed with adjacent numbers on the layout opposite each other on
the wheel, it is easy to cover two spans using street and line bets. For
example, place four line bets at 1-4, 13-16, 19-22, 31-34. You are
covering 24 numbers with 4 bets, or 63% of the wheel. The numbers
covered on the wheel are, clockwise, 20 to 1 and 19 to 2. With one
more chip added, you could also cover 0-00, making two spans of 13
numbers. Covering them is the easy part. You have to figure out how
to bet them.
My opinion, for what it is worth, is one should use a positive
progression when playing more than half of the wheel. Why? Because
you are going to have more wins in a row by a two to one margin in this
case. When you win one of the line bets, you net one unit. If you use
a positive progression of some form, you can capitalize on the longer
winning streaks. You don't want to press up ad infinitum, but perhaps
three times in a row, drop back, then press again. If you are placing the
0-00 split bet, it doesn't have to be pressed since it pays at a higher
rate. A progression might look like the following:
First bet: 1 unit on the four lines and 1 unit on the 0-00 split bet.
Second bet: If you lose, always place the same bet.
If you win, place 1.5 units on the four lines, and leave the split at 1 unit.
Third bet: If you lose, drop back to the first bet.
If you win, Press the line bets to 2 units each.
Fourth bet: Drop back to the first bet and repeat the process.
You will win almost 7 out of 10 spins, but when you lose, you will lose all
bets. When you win, you will win either one line bet, or the split bet
which yields 17 units minus your line bets.
The problem with using a negative progression here is the multiple you
must apply to the four line bets to recover your losses. Because you
only win 1 unit per line bet win, but lose 5 units when you have a loss,
to recover 5 units in one bet, the four line bets have to be increased to
5 units each. This means you have quintuple risk to recover your 5
units. What if you do this but lose again? Now you are down 26 units.
To recover 26 units, You have to bet 100 units, collectively, on the line
bets and 6 units on the split bet. You have placed yourself in a
martingale spiral, with two losses in a row. You are in a position of
losing greater than 5.26% to the casino, much greater. This is exactly
where they want you to be.
You now see the problem with trying to cover large areas of the wheel.
You are put in a situation of winning a little when you win, but losing a
lot when you lose. I generally stay away from this type of betting,
preferring even money bets and my betting progressions.
For completeness, I am going to give you three more section strategies.
They cover smaller areas of the wheel, so the payoff is higher. In a
way, these are more conducive to negative progressions, because you
can use a slow progression. You might bet the same bet two or three
times in a row because the payoff is higher.
19 to 4 Span
Place two street bets: 4-5-6, and 31-32-33
Also place 2 split bets: 16-19, and 18-21
This covers 8 contiguous numbers with two outliers. The 8 represent
21% of the wheel. Payoffs will be 11 units on the two street bets,
minus 3 units for a net of 8 units. The two split bets pay 17 to one,
minus three for a net of 14 units. You might devise your own
progression for these bets depending on which one wins. For example,
you might double the street bets if you lose three in a row. This would
put your bet up to 6 units total. Lose a fourth and you might place two
units on all four bets. You could leave the bet there until a win occurs,
then drop back to the original bets. Sit down with a calculator and
devise your own system which has acceptable risk for you. It doesn't
take calculus to figure out the risk and rewards.
23 to 5 Span
Bet the center column with 4 chips
Also place 1 unit on two street bets: 7-8-9, and 28-29-30.
This leaves 0 as the only uncovered number in a 15 number span. Also,
8 and 29 are doubly covered numbers.
22 to 1 Span
Place four street bets: 1-2-3, 13-14-15, 22-23-24, and 34-35-36.
This covers an eight number group and opposite, a four number group,
2, 14, 35, and 23. You could add 0-00, and cover a nine number span
and a 5 number span.
This completes this topic. Some authors and many players feel this is a
good way to play because the numbers you play are grouped. Keep in
mind that the numbers you don't play are also grouped. Good luck
and be careful with using negative progressions.