How to Play High Roller Roulette
Regardless of whether you are playing in a live casino or an RNG game, the basics of roulette never change. As you are no doubt aware, there are three basic forms of the game, European Roulette, French Roulette and American Roulette. While there are differences in the rules of all three games, each works on the same basic principle. You are betting on where the ball will stop within the spinning wheel. There are several types of bets, offering payouts ranging from 1:1 all the way up to 35:1.
When playing for high stakes, game selection is everything. You want to make sure that you have the most favourable odds possible. This means that you should ideally be playing French Roulette at all times. The reasoning behind this is simple. American Roulette uses a wheel with 38 segments on it, due to the extra 00. This immediately increases the house edge. European Roulette and French Roulette both use wheels with 37 segments; however, French Roulette is usually played with an extra rule known as La Partage. The rule states that if the ball lands on 0, then half of all even money bets are returned. As a result, it has a lower house edge than European Roulette.
You will have no problems finding French Roulette to play online (it is available in the Live Casino here at Regent Play), but you may struggle to find it in American land casinos. If it isn’t available, then European Roulette, sometimes called Single Zero Roulette, is a perfectly good alternative.
A Popular High Roller Roulette Strategy
There are many roulette strategies and betting systems, but one has become particularly popular with high rollers. It is known as the roulette 150 strategy as that is the amount of money that you will need to bet on each spin of the wheel. The strategy requires you to place the following bets on each spin:
- $50 on the first dozen/column (the odds of winning are 1 in 3)
- $50 on the second dozen/column (the odds of winning are 1 in 3)
- $5 on any ten of the remaining 12 numbers (the odds of winning on each is 1 in 35)
By placing these bets, you will have covered all of the numbers on the wheel except for three, the 0 and two numbers from the final dozen. If the round results in a number from the first or second dozen then you will win $150, which means that you break even. If the round results in one of your chosen numbers from the third dozen, then you will win $180, making you a profit of $30.
You can mix this strategy up a bit. You can place the $50 bets on any two of the three dozens and choose your remaining ten numbers from the remaining dozen. Most spins will result in you breaking even and you will lose on some spins. However, some spins will result in a profit, which is never a bad thing. If you really want to bet big, then you can also double or triple the bet amounts, which will result in even more profit on lucky spins.
The Ultimate High Roller Roulette Bet
There are many single chip bets that can be placed in roulette and a number of popular betting patterns that can be constructed from these bets. However, there is one particular betting pattern than can be considered the ultimate bet for high rollers. It is known as the Complete Bet or Maximum Bet and it is a high table max coverage bet that covers all of the inside bets for an individual number. Normally, the Complete Bet only involves inside bets, but it can actually be expanded to include the even money bets and the columns/dozens that contain your chosen number.
As an aside, the complete bet is also known as the Mike Ashely bet. Football fans will know him as the owner of Newcastle United. Ashley famously made a complete bet on his lucky number, 17, in 2008 and won £1.3 million.
If you are in a casino and want to place a complete bet, you would should out “Complete Bet on 17” or something similar. When playing online, you can normally find a shortcut to place a complete bet within the game’s menu.
Before delving into exactly how the bet works, it is worth looking at some of the advantages and disadvantages it offers. The major advantage is that if the ball lands on your number, then you are in for a big payout. Secondly, if you are the kind of player who likes to bet on a favourite number, it spreads your risk across a bigger area of the table. Finally, if you like to attract attention on the casino floor, then it is a guaranteed way of doing so. However, if the bet loses, then it can quickly become a very expensive way of playing.
In a game where there is a $1,000 maximum for straight up bets, a player has the following options:
- $2,000 on split bets (pays 17:1)
- $4,000 on corners (pays 8:1)
- $3,000 on streets (pays 11:1)
- $6,000 on six lines (pays 5:1)
If a player wanted to make a complete bet on 17, it would include every bet with 17 in it. The bet requires 40 maximum bets, so in this case $40,000. The following table shows exactly which bets are placed:
Bet Type | Number(s) Bet On | Chips | Amount Bet |
Straight-Up | 17 | 1 | $1,000 |
Split | 17, 14 | 2 | $2,000 |
Split | 17, 16 | 2 | $2,000 |
Split | 17, 18 | 2 | $2,000 |
Split | 17, 20 | 2 | $2,000 |
Street | 17, 16, 18 | 3 | $3,000 |
Corner | 17, 16, 13, 14 | 4 | $4,000 |
Corner | 17, 18, 14, 15 | 4 | $4,000 |
Corner | 17, 16, 19, 20 | 4 | $4,000 |
Corner | 17, 18, 20, 21 | 4 | $4,000 |
Six Line | 17, 16, 18, 13, 14, 15 | 6 | $6,000 |
Six Line | 17, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21 | 6 | $6,000 |
Total Bets Placed | 40 | $40,000 | |
If the ball then landed on 17, the player would win $392,000. However, the bet does not only pay if the ball lands on 17, in the table above you can see that it also covers 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21. The payout for the other numbers will not be as large, but there will still be a return.
As you can see, this bet is very expensive, and the cost actually varies depending on the number bet on:
- A complete bet on zero costs 17 units and pays 235 units
- A complete bet on 1 or 3 costs 27 units and pays 297 units
- A complete bet on 2 costs 36 units and pays 396 units
- A complete bet on first column numbers 4 to 31 and third column numbers 6 to 33 costs 33 units and pays 294 units
- A complete bet on second column numbers 5 to 32 costs 40 units and pays 392 units
- A complete bet on 34 or 36 costs 18 units and pays 198 units
- A complete bet on 35 costs 24 units and pays 264 units
The complete bet is not simple and it is not cheap; however, if you are a high roller roulette player, then it is something that you will definitely enjoy.
Blackjack Expert Strategy Tips
Understanding Tipping in American Casinos