Over the years, there have been number of methods being used by roulette players to beat the odds in the game. Some of them may be deemed illegal, while others may pass as somewhat legitimate; they just have to make sure not to catch the attention of the casino. If it does happen, these establishments would be too happy to kick them off the table or ban them for good.
In this article, we look at some of the strategies used in the past to increase their odds of winning roulette.
The first one would be tampering the frets. What players do here is loosen up the fret or a pocket separator. If they succeed to do so, it will influence the ball to bounce and settle into an adjacent number pocket.
You might be wondering how they were able to do this in a land-based casino, well, things are different back then. In the past, gambling houses aren’t that strict on players crowding around a table or leaning on it. Some even lay their hands outside the rim of the wheel. Still, establishments will just leave the roulette wheel exposed during the off hours or after a game. This makes it possible for patrons to tinker on this very important roulette game instrument.
Now, pocket separators can be loosened using a pair of pliers. However, bringing around this odd tool in a place like this would obviously rouse some attention. Which is why, professionals would devise a tool that has a slot on it, and is as thick as the fret itself. With it, he can just simply slip the tool over a particular fret and twist or bend it slightly.
What happens next is that the now defective separator will absorb the energy of the roulette ball, and instead of bouncing frantically, like it normally does, the bounce would become muted and more predictable.
People would usually tamper two to three number pockets only to maintain the overall normal effect of the wheel.
The second strategy would involve the sleight of hand. In the game of roulette, any bets placed after the croupier announced “no more bets, please,” are deemed invalid and will not be honoured if it wins. However, there are people who manage to take advantage of the fact that a roulette table, especially during peak hours, can get crowded. The dealer, on the other hand, is all by himself and there’s only so much that his two eyes can watch over. The technique being used here is called Past-Posting.
What happens here is that normally, after dropping the ball, the dealer will focus his attention on the wheelhead to verify the winning number and announce it to everyone playing. Eagle-eyed players will also keep notice of the upcoming result. With a quick manipulation of the chips and the dealer not looking at the betting layout, he should be able to take the chance to slip in a bet on the winning number. Other players, meanwhile, will hardly notice what the post-poster has been doing as they themselves are preoccupied of stacking their chips or placing their bets for the next round.
While this feat can be done alone, there are instances when a player has to employ the assistance of a spotter. The latter will position in close proximity to the roulette wheel. Any information he gets, he quickly relays to his bettor accomplice.
Most common scenario would be, that the bettor will be standing at the far end of the betting layout and is already positioning a stack of chips on the center column (which is a column bet). Once he gets the cue, he will push his bets either on the left or right, depending on what’s winning.
With expert precision, timing, and incredible speed, this stunt would be too hard to notice.
With the advancement of technology coupled with an ever tightening security measures, all the practices mentioned above have now come close to non-existence.