Can Roulette Act as a Good Introduction to Poker Strategy?

roulette game

As poker players, we should constantly strive for ways to incrementally improve our game wherever possible. This can be done in various ways, and many of the world’s most successful players have found playing other games to be beneficial. Just look at Bryn Kenney and Justin Bonomo. Both sit pretty at the top of the all-time money list yet they both started out with Magic: The Gathering.

Roulette is one game that poker players perhaps don’t turn to enough. Despite having some major differences, the spinning wheel and the card game have a lot in common too. Poker players can learn a thing or two from the centuries old red and black casino classic. Roulette could be a sensible introduction to poker as we explore in this article.

Online Roulette is Highly Accessible

One of the biggest advantages of playing roulette is that it’s highly accessible. There are so many online roulette games to choose from these days, including Gold Vault Roulette, First Person Lightning Roulette, and Spin Till You Win Roulette. There’s something for everyone, meaning that you’ll most likely find a game that appeals to your needs.

Getting into online roulette is much easier than poker due to its simplicity. You should be able to pick up the betting systems quickly. This can act as a good way for beginners to get a taste of gambling for small stakes and get to grips with the way online gambling sites work. For example, it can be useful to find out how to deposit and withdraw funds.

Roulette Involves Basic Strategies

Roulette can act as a gateway to testing out simple gambling strategies before moving onto more complex ones in poker. It’s predominantly a game of chance, but you can incorporate simple methods to try to maximise your chances of ending a playing session in the green. For instance, the Martingale system theoretically means that you will recoup your losses, as long as you have enough money to stake until that happens.

Roulette can act as a testing ground to try out a varied range of strategies until you find one that works best for you. When you play poker professionally, you’re going to have to be open to transitioning between tactics, so this can act as an introduction to that.

Roulette Can Prepare you Psychologically

The variance in poker can be what sorts the wheat from the chaff. Those that can ride the waves and understand the random elements of the game are the ones that stand the best chance of long term success. Roulette can be a great introduction to the psychological effects that you will experience with random outcomes.

A lot of the time, you’re going to feel elation when the ball lands in your favour. But you also need to get used to handling feelings of loss, excitement, and intense anticipation. Poker players need to keep all these feelings in check so they don’t give anything away to other players at the felt, so practicing in roulette first can be advantageous. 

Roulette may not seem like the most obvious choice for poker players to practice their skills, but the game involves some techniques that can be applied to the felt. Always gamble responsibly, but also look for any edge you can get to improve your game.

Narciso Baldo is the Director and Head Coach of Texas Hold'em Questions. He has been playing poker for over 16 years. After spending many years as a professional, he now runs UK poker training site Texas Hold'em Questions. Narciso regularly writes poker articles sharing tips, strategy, news and experience with gambling enthusiasts. Narciso also writes for reputable gambling portal Casino City Times, (bio here). Contact: info@texasholdemquestions.com