Author: T

Lack of education
Many players learn how to play the game from other players. They pick up bad habits and get misinfomred about the chances of winning.

Playing the slow death
One of the most common mistakes made by players is to play what casinos call the "slow death". These players do not understand the concept of the house advantage.

This tends to happen a lot with bets on the dozens. A player will typically bet on all three dozens on one spin. Because they get paid out they think they are winning. They don’t understand that they are only breaking even. Then zero comes up and they loose all their chips. Even then they still don’t understand that they can’t possibly win. Such players continue playing until they eventually run out of chips. 

Other players opt for a faster form of the slow death. They put a chip on each number and are delighted when they win and get paid. They fail to notice that they are actually losing until they run out of chips.

Relying on the law of averages
Many players rely on the law of averages – that in the long run all numbers will be spun an equal amount of times. However, the law of averages is a fallacy. Consider the tossing of a coin. If a coin lands on heads on the first toss does this mean the second toss will be tails? The answer is possibly since there is a 50 per cent chance that it could land on either side. Suppose you tossed the coin 100 times. What result would you expect? According to the law of averages, it would be 50 times heads and 50 times tails because in the long run it would even out. But just because there is a 50 per cent chance of something happening, it doesn’t mean it will happen 50 per cent of the time. The coin does not know what the previous result was. Each subsequent toss is totally unrelated to the previous toss. There is actually no reason why you couldn’t throw 100 heads or 100 tails in a row.

With roulette some players bet on numbers that have failed to appear because the law of averages says that they should eventually be spun. However, it has been known for some numbers not to appear at certain tables for weeks. The roulette wheel has no memory. By waiting for one particular number that has not appeared for a while, you can easily lose a lot of money.

Belief in systems
Many players want to win but are prepared to put very little effort into ensuring that they do win. Many are looking for a quick easy system that is not complicated. This is why they get seduced into playing one of the common systems like the martingale. With these types of system, it is also easy to lose. A system may appear to work over a short time span but this often has more to due with luck.

The martingale
One of the most popular systems is the martingale. This involves doubling the stakes on losing bets and continuing to play until you have a winner. It is commonly used to play on the outside bets (red, black, even, odd, high or low). The way that it works is that the player makes a bet on, for example, red. If this bet loses the stake is then doubled on the next spin. If this wins then the player has won one chip and has recouped his losses on the previous bet. The problem with this system is that the table limit is soon reached, making it impossible to continue to double up. It also requires players to have a large bankroll to make large bets. The reason that so many players think it works is that they try it out and win. However, their win is not due to the system, it is simply due to luck.

How so?
Suppose a table has a minimum bet of £10 and a maximum of £1000. The first bet is £10 on red. If this loses, the next bet is £20. If the player continues to lose, the bets need to be increased to £40, £80, £160, £320, £640. Now the system will fail as the table maximum is £1000 and the player needs to bet £1280 to recoup his losses. This means that a succession of seven black numbers has caused the system to fail. The player has now spent £1270 with no prospect of recouping losses.

Not knowing when to quit
Not knowing when to quit is a huge problem. It is extremely common for players to have big wins but to end up losing all their winnings. It is often due to the player trying to recoup losses by making bigger bets.

House advantage
With single-zero roulette the odds paid for a bet on en plein (one number) are 35/1. However, the true odds are 36/1. So, for each spin the casino has one number working in its favour. The house advantage is 2.7 per cent of the stakes, that is, for every £37 that you bet, the casino is raking off £1.
The casino comes off even better if the player bets on a roulette wheel with two zeros. Now there are 38 numbers but the odds paid are the same for a winning number (35/1). If a player bets a chip on every number, the casino wins two chips on every spin. By adding an extra zero, the casino effectively doubles its profits.

Straight up (en plein)
A bet on anyone of the numbers from 0 to 36, including zero and double zero. The chip should be placed directly on top of the desired number on the layout. It wins only if that number is spun. Odds paid are 35/1.

Split (cheval)
A bet on two adjacent numbers on the layout. The bet is placed on the centre of the line between the two numbers. It wins if either of the two numbers is spun. Odds paid are 17/1.

Street (transversa le plein)
A bet on three adjacent numbers across the layout. It wins if any of the three numbers is spun. Odds paid are 11/1. The bet is placed on the double line between the numbers and the dozens.

Corner (carre)
A bet on four adjacent numbers on the layout. The chip is placed on the cross section of the line where the four numbers meet. It wins if any of the four numbers is spun. Odds paid are 8/1.

First four
This is also a bet on four numbers. The first four is a bet on the numbers 0, 1, 2, and 3. It can cause some confusion because of its name. Despite its name it loses if number four is spun. It is placed on the corner of the layout where numbers one and zero and the first dozen meet. It wins if any of the four numbers 0, 1, 2 or 3 wins. Odds of 8/1 are paid.

First five
This bet can only be played on roulette with two zeros and is a bet the five numbers 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3. Despite its name, again, it loses if the numbers four or five are spun. It is placed on the lines where zero, double zero and two meet. Odds paid are 6/1. This bet is best avoided as it is the least profitable from a player’s point of view. It gives it the casino a house advantage of 7.89 per cent – much higher than the other bets on double-zero roulette, which give a house advantage of 5.26 per cent.

Quatro
Some betting layouts incorporate bets on a quarter of the numbers. The first quarter is the numbers 1-9 inclusive, the second is the numbers 10-18 inclusive, the third is the numbers 19-27 and the fourth is the numbers 28-36. Bets are placed in the appropriate box. Odds paid are 3 to 1. Bets lose if zero is spun.

Dozen
A bet on a group of 12 consecutive numbers. There are three dozens. Numbers 1-12, 13-24 and 25-36 inclusive. Bets are placed in the appropriate box. The bet wins if any of the 12 numbers is spun. Odds paid are 2/1. All bets on the dozens lose if zero is spun.

Column
A bet on a group of 12 numbers running in a column along the table. There are three columns. Bets are placed in the box at the base of the column. The bet wins if any number in the column is spun. Odds paid are 2/1. All bets on the columns lose if zero is spun.

Low
This is a bet on the low numbers on the wheel. It will win if any of the numbers 1 to 18 inclusive is spun.

High
This is a bet on the high numbers on the wheel. It will win if any of the numbers 19 to 36 inclusive is spun.
 
Red
Thisis a bet on the numbers coloured red on the wheel It will win if any of the red numbers is spun.

Black
This is a bet on the numbers coloured black on the wheel. It will win is any of the black numbers is spun.

Even
This is a bet on the even numbers on the wheel. It will win if any of the even numbers is spun.

Odd
This is a bet on the odd numbers on the wheel. It will win if any of the odd numbers is spun.

European Roulette

European roulette uses a single-zero wheel. The numbers 0 to 36 are arranged around the wheel on numbered compartments. Each number is coloured. Zero is green and the other numbers are either red or black. American roulette uses a wheel with two zeros – zero and double zero. The ball is spun in the opposite direction to that of the wheel. As the ball loses momentum it slows down and eventually drops into one of the numbered slots.

American roulette

American roulette uses a wheel with two zeros. The numbers are arranged so that consecutive numbers are on opposite sides of the wheel. For example, number 1 is opposite number 2. On one side of the layout, there is a double line between the outside bets and the numbers. This double line denotes where street and double street bets should be placed.

Looking through the small ads of publications will often turn up a number of advertisements for betting systems. There are lots of different systems and they often guarantee excellent returns.

Do they work? The sellers of such systems will tell you they do. Friends will boast that they have invented the ultimate system that never fails. Throughout the years many systems have been invented, some more successful than others.

Ignore all claims that are made about a system. To test how effective it is try it out yourself on a dummy run. Don’t bet any money. Make a note of results over a period of time and apply the system to those results. If it gives good returns, try it  out with small stakes. Continue to monitor results. If it starts failing, give
up on it and try something else.
 

Developing your own systems for selecting horses
Try to develop your own systems for selecting horses to bet on. You will need to take account of all the influencing factors mentioned. Some are more important than others but all play a part. One method is to award points for each factor. Most importance should be placed on the speed of a horse, with points added for factors that have a positive influence and points deducted for those that have a negative influence.

Doubling up on the favourite
Some systems involve no assessment of the runners. A popular system is doubling up on the favourite. Here, a bet is placed on the favourite in the first race. If that loses, the stake is doubled and placed on the favourite in the second race. This continues until there is a winner and the gambler stops betting.

This system falls down in several ways. The capital required to make it work can be huge. It may be some time before a favourite wins (they lose around 60 per cent of their races). If the favourite is a very low price (below 6/5) you will not recoup your outlay. There is always the danger that a horse could be withdrawn. This could bring the price of the favourite below the level that you need to break even. The potential rewards are also low.

Example
•    First race £10 bet stake = £10.90. Total loss £10.90.
•    Second race £20 bet stake = £21.80. Total loss £32.70,
•    Third race £40 bet stake = £43.60. Total loss £76.30.
•    Fourth race £80 bet stake = £87.20. Total outlay £163.50.

In the fourth race the favourite wins at 1/2. Returns = £120. Total loss = £43.50.
If the favourite had won at 2/1, returns = £240. Total winnings = £76.50.

However, there is no guarantee that the favourite would win by the fourth race. If your stake becomes too high, a bookmaker may refuse your bet. You may also run out of capital before a favourite wins.

During the last few minutes before a race, prices can change drastically. Instead of there being just one favourite, a situation can arise where there are joint or even co-favourites. Where you just back the favourite without specifying the name of the horse, your winnings will be greatly reduced if the race is won by a joint or co-favourite. In a situation where there are co-favourites of four, your winnings would only amount to one-quarter of what you had expected. Since the prices of the favourites are low, you are unlikely to recoup your outlay.

Some people apply the system to second favourites because their prices are higher. The problem here is that second favourites win even fewer races than favourites, so the capital needed is greater.

With this system, you are also making no assessment of the runners. By properly considering the chances of each horse, you may discover that another horse is more likely to win the race.

Betting on horses that have travelled a long distance to race
The logic of this is that a trainer wouldn’t travel several hundred miles if the horse didn’t stand a good chance of winning. The problem with this system is that there may be an equally good horse in the race that has only travelled a short distance. Horses do travel all over the world. British horses are taken to America and France. However, this doesn’t mean that they are guaranteed to win.

Betting on horses that have an advantage on the draw
With a lot of British racecourses, the draw can have an effect on the race. Horses starting in certain positions in the stalls have an advantage over others. By combining your assessment of horses with this knowledge, it is possible to select several horses that have a good chance of winning. Instead of backing the horses to win, bets of combination tricasts are placed.

A tricast is predicting which horses will finish first, second and third in the correct order. For a small outlay, the returns are potentially huge.

A particularly good time of the year to play this bet is in the summer months when the ground has dried out and the form is starting to show through. At this time of year it is much easier  to assess the horses. You do not have to worry quite so much about the going and you have lots of previous races on which to make your Judgement.

In the 1980’s bookmakers started to lose a lot of money through this system. Many were also offering huge bonuses of around 20 per cent on correct tricasts, which increased their losses. They are now extremely cautious about accepting bets on combination tricasts, particularly where the stakes are large. In order to get your bet accepted, you may need to spread it around several bookmakers.

Effect of the draw at British and Irish racecourses

 

Price
Look for horses that offer good value prices. Finding 10/1 winners will give you bigger profits than odds-on horses.

A lot of information is given by the race cards printed in newspapers or programmes. The format varies depending on the publication. To save space many abbreviations are used.

Example race card

Learn about horse racing
Become knowledgeable about horse racing. Read as many publications as possible. Ensure that you have a thorough understanding of the subject. Keep up to date with the latest news by reading a good-quality racing newspaper. The more information you have, the better able you are to assess a horse’s chance of winning.
Keep your own records on the horses you are interested in. Use a diary to record events as they happen. You may notice something that others have missed.

Tipsters
Studying all these factors takes an enormous amount of time. If you lack the time to do it yourself there are other people who have already done all the hard work. They are the tipsters employed by the newspapers. They select the likely prospects that they think will win. There are also telephone and internet tipping services that charge for information.

However you don’t always know what system they’re using to assess the horses and how good that system is. They may have missed an important factor that you may have noticed. The newspapers boast when their tipsters get it right but keep quiet when they don’t – after all, they are in the business of selling newspapers. Over the course of the year tipsters are bound to get it wrong too.

Record predictors
The record for predicting the most winners in one day is held by Charles Lamb, racing correspondent for the Balttmoroe News American. In 1974 he picked out 10 winners at a meeting held at Delaware Park. Bob Butcher of the Daily Mirror correctly forecast seven winners for a meeting at Wolverhampton. So, too, did Fred Shawcross at a York meeting in 1988.