5 Mistakes Made by Beginner Roulette Players

10:38 Apr 4th, 2023 Roulette

5 Egregious Mistakes for New Casino Roulette Players to Avoid

So you’re new to the world of casino roulette?

That’s fantastic news.

First of all, welcome! This is a game of legends, for legends – it’s among the oldest, most popular, and most stylish (just ask Humphrey Bogart or Sean Connery) options available to gamblers anywhere.

Second of all, watch out! The initial stages of a roulette hobby can be tremendously influential in determining what kind of player you will be for years, or decades, to come. It’s a great time to build good habits…

… and to avoid bad ones!

It shouldn’t be terribly surprising to learn that newcomers to the Temple of the Wheel are prone to making especially costly mistakes. (Our first piece of advice: never use the term ‘the Temple of the Wheel.’) Even if other rookies are making rookie movies, though, that doesn’t mean you have to!

Without further ado, here are five atrocious mistakes made my beginning players. Learn them, know them, so that you can avoid them like the plague!

Playing at Just Any Table

These days, there are practically more roulette tables available than players could fully explore in a lifetime. In addition to brick-and-mortar offerings at casinos worldwide, there is an ever-growing catalogue of options available online – with new, fresh titles appearing on a nearly daily basis.

One possible reaction to this cornucopia is to just dive right in without looking – this is doubly true for a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed novice gambler, whose eagerness likely exceeds their bankroll by an order of magnitude. Know this: not all tables are created equal!

At the very least, freshmen (and -women) should seek out tables offering European roulette. This is the variety of the game that offers the lowest house edge of any mainstream variant, coming in at just 2.7%.

Why so low?

Simple! Because there’s only one 0 on the wheel.

In American Roulette, where both 0 and 00 are present, the house edge is far less friendly at 5.6%. And don’t get us started on the truly abysmal 000 options currently spreading like invasive weeds on Las Vegas gaming floors, and beyond!

There are other rules to learn, too, of course. Some will offer a slight boost or slight reduction to your mathematical chances against the house.

But this is the crucial principle: only ever play where and when you can maximize your advantage. (Or, more practically, minimize your disadvantage.)

Playing at Just Any Casino

Just as not all roulette tables are created equal, some casinos offer players better opportunities than others do.

Why, you might ask?

After all, if two casinos are offering the exact same game, what difference does it make where a gambler chooses to try their luck?

The answer is simple: bonuses, promotions, and loyalty programs.

Today’s casinos exist in a hyper-competitive market, where they have to compete with truly global competition. One way they try to get a leg up on their rivals is by offering superior bonuses to players who choose to frequent their lobbies! These can involve matching initial deposits, free chips, offering special player-friendly tables, and much more…

… and where the house advantage is already quite low (as mentioned above, only 2.7% for the European wheel… which is the only wheel you’ll play, right? RIGHT???), these bonuses can go a long way towards evening the scales.

Always read the terms and conditions, do your research to make sure the lobbies you’re considering aren’t on any warning lists, and be discerning. But if the house is offering you something extra, don’t hesitate to take full advantage!

Poor (If Any) Bankroll Management

It’s only normal that new players arrive with a lot of eagerness and excitement, chomping at the bit to lay their first bets. This can lead to disaster, though, if players haven’t yet taken the time to set aside a budget for their hobby.

It’s one thing for a rank amateur to lose a couple hundred (or thousand) bucks at a bachelor party at an Atlantic City casino. Their goal wasn’t to win money, it was to have a fun night!

If you’re serious about developing your interest in roulette, though, you’ll be taking your fun seriously. More to the point, you won’t be playing once or twice a year – it’s absolutely critical to take the time to create a bankroll management system, because losing a few hundred (or thousand) bucks a few times a week for a few months will but a dent in just about anyone’s finances.

Start small, think long term, and take a breath before you jump into the deep end.

Placing Too Many Bets

Isn’t it just wonderful, how many betting options there are on a roulette table?

It is very common for rookie players, in their drive towards learning the game, to place far too many wagers in a single betting round. It’s as if they think the whole thing is a race!

Slow down, cowboy. Limit the number of bets you make, choose them wisely, and stick to the even money bets to start. If you want to branch out from there, that’s an option, too! But starting out too big and too fast will usually only leave you broker, faster.

Take the time to learn and develop your strategy before you start throwing your money all over the felt.

Trusting in Betting Systems (Without Knowing the Details)

It never ceases to amaze us, the incredible degree of faith that some gamblers place in their betting systems.

From the Hollandish to the Martingale, from the the simplest to the most baroque, a surefire belief in the eventual success of one of these tactics or another seems to overwhelm all other elements of the casino experience. And if they fail, the problem was never the system itself – only its implementation!

To be clear, we aren’t saying that betting systems have no value. Clearly, some very smart people swear by them. And we aren’t here to argue!

What we will say is that, ultimately, all of these are betting systems… not gambling systems. They cannot tell you how to play, nor where, whether, or for how long.

For new players, we can strongly advise you to focus more on the game itself than on any betting system. That’s something for farther down the line.