So, even though I continue to write that roulette doesn’t have a surefire strategy for winning (nothing even comes close in my book), people continue to try to figure one out. Imagine that? All right, all joking aside, I continue to cover the different theories and approaches just to remain open-minded that roulette is a game where strategy can find a place, if not break the game wide open. So here’s another one for you: progressive betting.

And by progressive betting, I mean increasing your bet when you’re a winner, and dropping it back to a predetermined “starting” level as a loser. I know and have seen players be successful with this approach in blackjack, but it’s the first time I’ve really heard about it being applied to the roulette table. And the discussions for roulette have it being used in combination with another system of betting. But for the purposes here, I’m keeping the bet increases independent of any other player activity.

It might surprise you to read I’m not 100% against this, and might give it a test run next time the mood strikes me to hit the wheel. What I like about it is you’re going into the game with a plan, and while I never expect to win as often in roulette as I do in blackjack (we’re talking hands or spins here, not total amount), it adds a structure that roulette players must have. With it, though, should be a ceiling of winnings or losses where you cap yourself off and walk away. That can be a dollar amount or a number of spins, but you have to see that structure through all avenues of a goal-oriented betting system.

For me, something like winning money on 6 spins in a row (obviously with more than a single-number bet being placed at once) to walk away. Or if my overall losses exceeded $150, I must have the self-control to get up and leave the table. The strength of a betting system is only as good as the self-control of the player using it, anyway.

Finally, you have to determine before hand what your starting bet will be, and what your incremental increases will be, and then you have to stick to those numbers. If you win 3 hands in a row, you can’t decide to triple the amount in which you increase your chip stack, because if you lose, you’ve hurt your entire structure and nullified what you were working to set up in the first place.