Negative progression systems in roulette certainly have their reputation. Some see them as a great way to reliably focus your bankroll on beating the casinos. Others see it as a dangerous game that can leave you penniless due to some bad luck. In truth, we believe them to be a useful tool if you’re familiar with their advantages and drawbacks.

The Labouchere system is a relatively complex negative progression system based around adjusting your stake to the context in which you’re using it. In short, your bets adapt to whether you’re currently winning or losing. Let’s take a look at how to use Labouchere for roulette.

How Does the Labouchere System Work in Roulette?

This sort of staking plan is most often associated with sports betting. It can actually be used for any sort of gambling that has a 50/50 bet. From coin tosses to baccarat, the Labouchere is pretty versatile. As far as roulette goes, though, this means that you have to use even money inside bets.

An Even Money bet is any wager that has a roughly 50% chance of success and a 1:1 payout. Of course, we say roughly because the probabilities are a bit worse once you factor in the house edge. Keeping your bets simple this way makes it a lot easier to implement betting systems like the Labouchere. In roulette, this means that you’re betting on Red/Black, Even/Odd, or 1-18/19-36. Any one of these will work.

Labouchere System Guide

The next step is to split your stake into a number of equal units. This is a common part of many roulette strategies, and you should be doing it anyway.

Let’s, for example, say you’re working with a $10 total stake. We need to divide it into several numbers and arrange it in a random sequence, like so:

1-1-1-2-2-2-1

The size of a unit and the sequence arrangement is entirely up to you. They can (and probably should) all be of the same size. However, we decided to group the units to make things clearer for the next step.

Now, when you’re using Labouchere to win roulette, you’ll want to take the first and last numbers of the above sequence and use them as a stake. In the above example, we would use $2 – the sum of the first and last numbers (1+1).

If the bet wins, you cross these two numbers out, reducing the sequence. Collect the money, and your staking plan will look like this:

1-1-2-2-2

Now repeat the process. This time, your total stake will be $3 (1+2).

If you win, cross out the numbers and keep progressing down the sequence.

If you lose, however, you need to add the stake you just lost to the sequence. Let’s say we lose this last bet, which makes the sequence look something like this:

1-1-2-2-2-3

Then, back to step 1. Use the first and last numbers to decide your stake – a total of $4.

And that’s pretty much it for how Labouchere works in roulette online. Just remove the first and last numbers with every win, and add the lost stake at the end if you lose. Repeat until you’re out of numbers.

Is Labouchere Good for Roulette?

The goal of Labouchere is quite similar to that of the more famous Martingale. The idea of the Labouchere in Roullete is essentially to negate any previous losses by increasing the stake. That way, you can be sure that you’re coming out with a net positive.

Moreover, clearing out the whole sequence is easier than it might seem at first glance. Statistically, you have the same chance of winning a bet and losing due to the Even Money odds. However, every win removes two numbers, but a loss adds one. As such, you should be able to clear the board given enough time.

The downsides of Labouchere are also quite similar to other negative progression roulette systems. If you hit a losing streak, the sequence can become very long and the stakes quite high. If you don’t have the bankroll to support the bets, you’re in danger of losing all the money you started with.

That said, the Labouchere is relatively less risky than the Martingale. First of all, the increases in the stake are not exponential because you don’t double them, instead relying on addition. This can give you more breathing room and more room to catch up with any losses.

Secondly, you can call it quits if you see things aren’t going your way. The Labouchere roulette system allows you to walk away with a part of your bankroll even if you lost the overall strategy.

Conclusion

Now you know everything you need to play the Labouchere roulette strategy. Keep one thing in mind, though – roulette is a game of luck. No staking plan can help you overcome the house edge of the roulette wheel. Instead, you’re carefully controlling your bankroll in hopes of preventing an overall loss. However, the odds are still very much working against you.

Playing at the best online casinos for Roulette can mitigate this to a degree, though. Better roulette games can have a lower house edge (for instance, European over American roulette.) Various roulette casino bonuses can also dampen some of the disadvantages of playing roulette.