Dumbest Bets in the History Of Roulette
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Dumbest Bets in the History Of Roulette
Roulette is a game of pure chance. In fact, going to the casinos to win the jackpot is where you’ll see some of the casino’s dumbest bets. With this game, if you have a big win it’s purely down to the whims of the Gods, not any input from your end. Sometimes a player will have a steak of good fortune and we’ll see the chips start piling up in front of them. But don’t confuse this string of wins with any sort of skill. It’s just plain luck. Sometimes players will throw all caution to the winds and bet a huge sum on the spin of the roulette wheel. Once again, there’s nothing skilled or even brave about this. It’s just showing off coupled with stupidity. As there’s no skill element, then it’s really a matter of being prepared to lose it all.
You’d be surprised as to how many spectators consider a big better almost a hero. As opposed to the correct way of seeing them, as fools. There have been plenty of idiots at the roulette table over the last century. Let’s have a look at three of them.
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Ashley Revell
Any idea that comes after a long night of drinking should be treated as very suspect. And that includes the dumbest bets. Unless your name is Ashley Revell! The UK resident and his friends were in conversation talking about the game of roulette one night in the local pub. Imagine, they suggested someone who would be bonkers enough to bet their entire life savings on a red or black. Well, Ashley got off his barstool and said “Hold my beer!” In the following days, Ashley thought more and more about the idea. In spite of his family and friends telling him he was nuts, he persevered and started to sell all his worldly goods. Once he’d rid himself of everything, including his flat and car, Ashley was left holding around $135,300.
As the publicity machine started into action following his mad-hatted scheme, a betting company offered him a sponsorship deal which involved him changing his middle name by deed poll to “Blue Square”. And why not. In for a penny, then in for a pound!
The Dumbest Bets: Have Faith!
One thing was for sure, and that was that at no time did Ashley ever have second thoughts or waver in his commitment to risk every penny to a random spin of the roulette wheel. And so, with a whole bunch of media in tow, he set off for the Las Vegas Plaza Hotel. Originally he was going to make the bet at the Hard Rock Hotel, but they refused to take such a bet. The TV channel, Sky One were in the process of making a live TV documentary about him called “Double or Nothing”. E! TV was doing the same with a show called “Vegas Winners and Losers”. Because he’d sold everything, he had zero cash left over for a suit. So he borrowed money to rent a tuxedo for the occasion.
Fearlessly Into The Fray
Finally, he found himself stood in front of a roulette table in Las Vegas, with his family and friends behind him, ready to make one of history’s dumbest bets. The pit manager explained how things worked, wished him luck, and then they shook hands. Ashley still had no idea where he was going to place those chips. He asked the crowd, hoping for some jackpot winning tips and tricks, but the result was mixed. As soon as the ball was set in motion, he quickly moved everything onto the red in a red/black wager. There were 30 seconds of high tension….before the ball came to a stop in the number 7, red. All in all he earned a $135,300 payout.
Every Part Of The Bet Was Dumb
So why was this a dumb bet? Well, for a start he bet on a negative-expectation wager. Then he used an American as opposed to a European wheel. The house holds a 5.26% house edge on this version, but just 2.70% on the Euro version. He also chooses to bet in Las Vegas. If he’d chosen Atlantic City, he could of had an even money bet on the zero or double zero. What this would have meant was that should the ball have landed on any of these two slots, then he would see half his money returned. Finally, he embarked on this adventure after a drunken night on the tiles. This is never the best place to start anything that involves your complete life savings.
After the event, he bought a motorcycle and rode around Europe, meeting his eventual wife on the journey. He then set up an online poker room called Poker UTD and a website called iGaming Recruitment. But both folded within a short time. He also tried to set himself up as a professional gambler in London. But as we can see from the most basic mistakes he made in his initial gamble, that didn’t work out well either.
Jake Cody
Unlike the above, this guy is the real deal. He’s been a professional gambler and in 2010 won the EPT Deauville Main Event, taking home the major prize of €857,000. Since then his tournament winnings have been consistent and he’s pulled in around $4.5 million over the course of his career. Cody became a successful player by putting in the hours. He studied the game, researched game strategy, and talked with experts and fellow professionals. In short, he set out to be an expert on the game of roulette. So we have to grant him, that he’s an exceptionally smart player.
But after the 2018 PartyPoker UK Championships, he made a silly mistake and ended up making one of his career-best dumbest bets. Having won the competition, he found himself $60,000 richer. But instead of adding that amount to his bankroll or savings, in a moment of apparent madness, he decided to put it all on a single roulette wheel spin. In some ways that bet was similar to that made by Ashley Revell, the main difference being that Cody didn’t put his entire life savings on the line. After winning, Cody wasn’t interested in putting more monies on the table. But his “friends” added enough peer pressure that he ended up do it anyway.
Too Much Peer Pressure
Soon the buzz in the casino table games room grew so loud, that Cody felt he had no other opportunity but to go forwards with this hare-brained scheme. The chorus grew to the point whereby the casino’s owner Robert Yong, promised to spin the wheel himself. So Cody bet the entire $60,000 on black. Yong spun the wheel and everything went silent. The ball finally landed on a black slot and Cody doubled his money. The event was captured by a thousand smartphones and soon the win was doing the rounds on social media, growing into a huge and sensational media story.
Afterward, Cody noted that this was not how he normally plays. He says that he only gambles with jackpot games when he has an edge. He claimed that it was peer pressure that made him do it. But he promised that it’ll be his last time playing with just chance, as it was one of his dumbest bets. Unfortunately, many news outlets celebrated his win. They framed him as some sort of gambling expert. Though in truth, he had nothing to do with a purely random event.
Charlie Wells
Unlike the two clowns above, Wells didn’t risk everything on just the one spin. Nope, he decided to gradually lose everything until the only prison beckoned. Wells was nothing more than a con man and he operated during the latter part of the nineteenth century. His first major success was conning investors out of a combines £4,000 towards the production of a musical jump rope. He took this money and hot-footed it off to Monte Carlo for a gambling adventure. Considering that the game of roulette is simply one of chance and that you will always have the house edge against you, Well’s must have been as surprised as anyone when he started winning.
And not just winning small amounts. He actually managed to “break the bank” on numerous roulette tables. This means that he won every chip at that particular table. Wells returned to the UK a very wealthy man. But he couldn’t sit on his hands. So within a very short space of time, he made the return journey to the South of France. Once again in managed to beat the casinos of Monte Carlo, winning over 1 million francs and in doing so, became not only a millionaire but wildly famous in the process.
The High Roller Lifestyle
In England, he enjoyed celebrity status with everyone wanting to know his secret. He gave many high profile interviews, and though claiming an infallible gambling technique, always refused to reveal it. In truth, he tried many different strategies, with the Martingale his most favored, and enjoyed having nothing more than sheer luck on his side. He bought himself a massive yacht on which he hosted lavish parties every weekend. It was big enough to house a 50 person ballroom on board. He also set up a private bank in Paris under the assumed name of “Lucien Rivier”. With this, he was able to attract as much as 2 million francs. All money to gamble with.
So much for hubris. He set off once more and visited Monte Carlo a third time. But nothing went his way and he ended up losing his whole fortune. Before he set out to France, he managed to con some investors out of funds for yet another fictitious invention. This time on his return to England, he was arrested at the port and thrown into prison. After a 5 year stretch, he was released and spent the remainder of his life playing casino games with what was left of his pot. He died at the age of 51 in 1922.
The Dumbest Bets: What Are More Appropriate Roulette Strategies?
Well, for a start, all or nothing bets are not what we would consider being a jackpot winning strategy. In fact, they’re the dumbest bets. As you already know, there’s no strategy for winning roulette. All you have are strategies designed to help your bankroll go further. That’s why we always recommend flat betting with roulette. this means placing the same amount for each round. This allows you to spread your betting over a longer period. It does nothing that can affect your chances of winning. Whatever you do, stay well clear of any gambling systems. Names like La Boucher and Martingale should be left well alone, as these can lead you to lose your bankroll much faster than plain old and simple flat betting.
Yes, flat betting sounds boring, but it’s better to have some cash at the end of the night as opposed to nothing at all.
The Dumbest Bets: Hunt for the Best Roulette Games
By choosing the right game, you can reduce the house edge. Of all the roulette variations, you should stay away from the US wheels. They have a house edge of 5.26%, which is double that of a single-zero European wheel. The French version has the “La Partage” rule, meaning that you’ll get half your money back if your ball lands on the zero. The house edge is just 1.35%, which is by far the best of all casino roulette variations. Having said that, you might struggle to find a casino offering French roulette.
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