Red or Black: Selecting the Right Bet in Roulette
One of the most popular betting systems is the roulette red or black strategy, which can be used in any roulette game. Our guide will explore the different roulette variants, expel any myths, look at the probabilities of betting red or black in roulette, and discuss the various betting strategies you could employ with roulette red or black wagers.
What Is the Red and Black Bet in Roulette?
Roulette betting on red and black is a simple strategy that gives you an almost 50/50 chance of winning. However, this changes slightly depending on which roulette variant you play. On the American roulette wheel, your probability is 47.37% or either red or black. European roulette offers 48.65% on either a red or black bet.
Red and black are classed as even-money bets or outside bets with odds of 1:1. With the exception of the green zeros, the numbers in roulette are divided into two types: red or black. So, when making this type of bet, you only need to predict whether the ball will stop on a red or black number.
Red or Black: the Probabilities
As previously mentioned, roulette betting on red and black gives you approximately a 50/50 chance of winning. This is due to the roulette wheel having a green zero in the European variant or a double zero in the American version. If the ball lands on either the single or double zero, you lose regardless of what colour you chose.
As the American version has two zeros, the house edge is greater than that of the European roulette variant. Taking into consideration the zero (single or double), the red and black roulette odds drop slightly to 48.65% in European roulette, where the probability of landing black or red is 18/37; whereas in American roulette, the odds for winning on black or red are 47.37%, which is an 18/38 probability.
These are still relatively good odds, but in the long term, the house will always have a slight advantage due to the green zeros. As a side note, if you were to play the French roulette variant, the red and black roulette odds are slightly better due to the La Partage and En Prison rules, which return part of your stake should the ball land on zero.
Streaks Are a Myth for Red or Black Bets
A common myth known as the gambler’s fallacy is where players look for a pattern in the history of consecutive wins that have occurred for either red or black and then wager on the opposite, believing that on this spin, the colour is most likely to change.
However, the outcome of every spin is entirely random, and the odds reset after every spin. There are no red or black ‘winning streaks’ to look out for. Red and black roulette odds are even-money bets of 1:1 because red or black numbers are just as likely to land on the next spin as each other.
Strategies to Use for Red or Black Bets
Many players might choose to stick with a specific betting strategy that helps them manage their bankroll more effectively and maintain a certain consistency. For example, depending on your preferred approach, you might choose to go for the Martingale strategy, which is based on using even money bets. There are also less aggressive roulette strategies that work with the red or black betting options, including the Paroli.
Martingale System
One of the most commonly used strategies for roulette betting on red and black is the Martingale system. The essence of the Martingale is to double your bets in case of a loss and return to your base unit bet on a win.
Known amongst roulette players as an aggressive betting strategy, this strategy is a good fit when betting on red or black as it relies upon selecting an even-money betting option.
3/2 System
The 3/2 system uses a combination of red and black bets with column bets. There are two ways of betting using the 3/2 strategy, as follows:
- Place a three-unit bet on red and a two-unit bet on the second column.
- Place a three-unit bet on black and a two-unit bet on the third column.
Either option covers 26 pockets of the roulette wheel, betting a 3/2 ratio on colour and column, with the biggest wager falling on colour with even-money odds of 1:1.
Fibonacci System
The Fibonacci betting system is used exclusively on even-money bets such as red or black. The concept is based on a sequence of numbers whereby each one represents the unit value of your wager and is the sum of the previous two numbers, as below:
- 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55…
For every loss, you just move one number to the right of the sequence. For every win, you move two steps back.
D’Alembert System
The D’Alembert strategy follows a simple concept that works best with even-money bets, which is a good fit for red or black bets. The system is much less aggressive than the Martingale strategy but similar in principle. Instead of doubling your wager when you lose, you just increase it by one, and if you win the bet, you decrease the next wager by one.