Just the name roulette even has a risque sound to it - and you’d be right in thinking that the origins of roulette are steeped in diabolical intent. It is commonly agreed that the first roulette wheel was invented in 1655 - by Blaise Pascal - a brilliant mathematician.

It is said that it was created during experiments to attempt to create a perpetual motion machine something which we now know to be impossible. It is fairly unlikely that Monsieur Pascal really intended to invent one of the worlds most famous gambling games. Interestingly enough a brilliant mathematician such as him would probably be amused at some of the ludicrous schemes and strategies that have been devised to win at his ‘game’.

The simple fact is that real life roulette is just about as random as you can get, there are stories of biases appearing in certain wheels but nowadays casinos keep their roulette wheels extremely well maintained. The idea of any bias in a croupiers throw or his stance at the wheel is extremely unlikely in my opinion.

But alas there are still strategies that can be found on “how to make a killing in Vegas” type websites all over the internet which are mostly made up - you would fare better looking at probability case studies at universities and colleges. Most of the systems are strategies based on the Martingale system which requires you to keep doubling your bet until you win there are numerous drawbacks with this so-called secret system but the main issue is you are risking lots of very small wins against a huge loss which will inevitably turn up.

Anyway if you want some handy tips on playing roulette

- always play on a European Table the odds are way better
- always have a goal
- if you win or lose ‘x’ amount - walk away
- don’t drink too much when gambling
- winning streaks can turn into losing streaks very quickly
- Have fun don’t let gambling run your life

If you end up playing roulette - remember always try to minimise the house edge - if you have any choice play at a European table - it has one less ‘0′ which makes a significant difference. The American tables have an extra zero which makes it one of the most heavily weighted games (against you) in the casino. Only play American tables for fun don’t expect to win unless you are incredibly lucky.

But mainly playing roulette in real life is there for fun - there is no truth to the rumour that the Blanc brothers sold their souls for the secrets of roulette before opening their first casino. My Christian buddy has also kindly pointed out that if you add up all the numbers on a roulette wheel - you get the number 666 - the number of the beast apparently. Well I’m going to risk it because roulette is great fun !

I play roulette online with an aim to win - the atmosphere is never going to be the same but the advantage is that the wheel is computer controlled and computer programs can be hopeless at generating random numbers.

John Greenhoff has been checking out a computer program designed to predict patterns and winning bets in online roulette. It’s worth checking out but remember it can’t be used playing roulette at real casinos as the spin is completely random there.

Check it out here - I’m pretty impressed so far.

Roulette Killer

All the best

John Greenhoff