How the Parlay Strategy Works

Initially, the player determines the base bet based on the size of his bank and the bet limits established by the casino for the specific table. According to the Parlay strategy, bets are normally made on simple odds with a payout of 1 to 1. In the game of roulette this means making bets on red or black, odd or even, low (1-18) or high (19-36). Having opted for one of these bets, the player makes their base bet. If they lose, they re-bet the base bet on the same position. If they win, they do not collect the winnings but add them to the initial bet, in effect, doubling it for the next round.

Before the roulette game starts, the player must previously decide how many times they are willing to double their bet in the case of winning successful rounds and, once they have reached this limit, collect the total and start betting again with the base bet.

Occasionally, this strategy is also referred to as Reverse Martingale, the basis of this system also duplicates the bet progressively, but the bets are made from winnings, not from the bankroll of the player. One of the meanings of the English word 'parlay' is precisely 'increase the gain or the bet at the expense of the success of the game'.

In the Parlay system, only a small sum of the base bet is taken from the player's bankroll once. With any loss, the size of the bet always returns to the initial one. In this sense, the system is opposite to the Martingale strategy, as the 'reverse' in its name indicates.

As a result of a series of consecutive victories, the bet and the player's profit progressively grow. If a series of unfortunate runs occurs, the bet size reverts back to the minimum amount and the total loss can progressively increase mathematically.

Obviously, this principle excludes the complicated situations in which the player must bet large amounts or even his entire bank to compensate for the loss, risking everything on a single roll and halting the possibility of continuing to play. Thanks to the criterion of spending the game balance with caution, the Parlay system is recommended to all beginners and also to all players who wish to play roulette without suffering large losses of money.

However, there are no ideal roulette strategies and the Parlay system also has its flaws. If the player is governed by the rules of that strategy, he will suffer losses much more often than gains, although the losses will be extremely small and the gains will be of considerable sizes. To feel safe during the game and overcome long periods without success requires a very thorough management of the bankroll. The player must correctly choose the size of their base bet, based on the balance they wish to invest in the game. The total amount of the balance must be 20-30 times higher than the base bet.

How to Make Bets with the Parlay System

The sizes of the winnings, and also their possible frequency, depend directly on how many times the player decides to double his bet before collecting the final win. The table below shows the number of consecutive winning bets, the bet size after doubling and the possibility of gaining a profit in each case:

Number of consecutive winning bets	Bet size after doubling (in base bets)	Possibility of profit (playing simple probabilities)
1	2	23.6%
2	4	11.5%
3	8	5.6%
4	16	2.7%
5	32	1.3%
6	64	0.6%
7	128	0.3%

The possibility of winning bets on simple odds is equivalent to 18/37 and the possibility of winning after a duplication (for 2 consecutive runs) is equivalent to (18/37) * (18/37) = 0.2366.

The table shows that each subsequent duplicate bet reduces the chance of winning twice. In other words, the choice of the maximum number of duplications in the Parlay strategy influences the dynamics and risk of the game. By deciding to collect a small profit after the first successful duplication, almost a quarter of the time (23.66%), the player will already be winning.

The number of duplications of the win must be chosen taking into account the bet limits of the gaming table in which they are playing. The final size of the bet after having correctly selected the number of duplications must not exceed the maximum limit that have been established by the casino.