What is the Labouchere Roulette Strategy?
1 minute
Last Updated: February 24, 2024
The Labouchere roulette strategy is a betting system you can use on even-money bets in roulette. It is a negative progression betting strategy, meaning that it involves raising your bet after every loss.
The uniqueness of the Labouchere roulette strategy lies in the fact that the player can create their own betting sequence based on how much money they want to win for the particular session.
Keep in mind, if you’re looking for a simple progressive betting system, the Labouchere strategy is not the right pick. It is far more complicated than other popular roulette strategies such as Martingale, Paroli, and D’Alembert.
In simple terms, when creating your Labouchere betting sequence, you need to write down a list of numbers that make your goal amount. Depending on whether you win or lose a spin, you would follow the sequence accordingly.
When deciding on a bet size, you should bet the sum of the first and last number in your sequence. If you win the bet, you will cross off those two numbers from the sequence. If you lose the bet, you should add the combined amount you bet as a new number at the end of your sequence. This process remains until you cross out all numbers, which would mean you won the desired amount.
We understand that this might sound a bit confusing, so we’ve prepared a helpful table to illustrate how the Labouchere roulette strategy works. Let’s say you want to win $100 for your session. For example, you can create a betting sequence that goes $10, $20, $40, $10, $20. Here’s how the strategy would play out:
Betting Sequence | Bet Amount | Bet Outcome | Net Profit |
$10, $20, $40, $10, $20 | $30 | Loss | -$30 |
$10, $20, $40, $10, $20, $30 | $40 | Loss | -$70 |
$10, $20, $40, $10, $20, $30, $40 | $50 | Win | -$20 |
$10, $20, $40, $10, $20, $30, $40 | $50 | Win | $30 |
$10, $20, $40, $10, $20, $30, $40 | $60 | Loss | -$30 |
$40, $10, $20, $60 | $100 | Win | $70 |
$40, $10, $20, $60 | $30 | Win | $100 |
As an advanced betting strategy, Labouchere is great for experienced roulette players who want a hands-on approach to creating their betting sequence. Because this system involves closely following the sequence, it’s also a very solid option for those who want to keep tight bankroll control.
On the downside, following the sequence can require a lot of concentration and attention. This can often be difficult during a prolonged losing streak, as this line of numbers can stretch for quite a bit. Moreover, as the bets can increase rapidly during a longer losing streak, there’s always a risk of reaching maximum table limits when using the Labouchere roulette strategy.