At Ante Up, it’s fair to say that poker will always be our home. The reads, the bluffs, the strategy, the glorious chaos of a well-timed river card — it’s in our blood, and we are obsessed. But recently, in the name of gambling journalism and a little bit of tender curiosity, we did something a bit off-brand:
We played roulette for a full week. No poker was allowed.
We thought it would be hard to say goodbye to our old friend, but how we were wrong.
For one entire week, there were no tournaments, hand histories, or All-In or Fold dramas. Just a spinning wheel, a bouncing ball, and a whole lot of questioning our decisions.
And if we sit back and look at our week of fun? We kind of loved it.
Here’s what we learned trading the felt for the wheel — and why we think poker players could benefit from the occasional spin.
1. Roulette Is the Wild West Compared to Poker
We all know that poker is strategy, reading people, and possibilities. Roulette, on the other hand? It’s pure randomness, which is more fun than you can imagine.
Being poker fans, we’re used to decisions that involve position, player tendencies, and calculated risk. But when we played roulette, we soon realized that it’s a game that laughs in the face of logic. It’s a game where 13 red numbers in a row means absolutely nothing — and yet, your gut insists that black has to come up next, even when it doesn’t.
There’s something strangely liberating about letting go of all control. It brings us back to our first time at the casino. As tried and true poker players, we obsess over the house edge and the best approaches to playing, but roulette reminded us what it’s like to just have fun with the gamble, and maybe scream a little when that ball lands exactly where you need it to. It brought back the joy of gaming and the art of not knowing what’s coming next, and we’re hooked.
2. Believe It Or Not, There’s a Strategy To The Spin
Believe us, we were originally skeptical of those who said there is a strategy to roulette, but it’s true. So, how on earth do you apply a strategy to a game that has no cards, no reads, and no bluffing?
Well, there is some serious method to this madness; you just need to know where (and how) to look for it. To start with, we turned to the 150 Roulette Strategy, and that changed the game entirely. Suddenly, we had structure and cadence. We weren’t just throwing chips around hoping for the best, instead, we were managing risk, aiming for controlled wins, and walking away when we needed to. So, what is this strategy?
150 Roulette Strategy is the name of a simple approach by which you start with a $150 bankroll and divide it into just two units. You do two times $50 and then ten times $5. Then, when you start placing the bets, the main idea is for you to place $50 on the two sections covering the thirds while placing $5 on 10 random numbers in the remaining third that you didn’t cover originally with the $50 bets. Make sense?
While it’s not poker-level depth, it’s a strategy that helped us treat roulette with some respect – and it made the experience much better.
3. Tilt Is a Real Thing
If you think that getting rivered by two-outer burns, then you’ll be in shock at the roulette wheel. Try watching the roulette ball land ONE slot off your number, time after time.
These roulette tilts hit differently, and now it’s not about other people’s decisions and the way they are playing – or the bad beats you could’ve avoided. It’s all surrounding the aspect of luck and the universe saying that today is not for you. Of course, we can debate about the existence of luck, but understanding that some things are out of your control is critical in roulette.
This whole concept actually turned us into better poker players. The emotional discipline roulette demands, especially when using a strategy like the 150 system, forces us to take a breath and not chase the bad bets. This is exactly the process that every poker player should bring to the table, and we’re not mad about it.
Roulette Made Us Appreciate Poker
At the end of the day, stepping away from poker made us all appreciate it a whole lot more.
Yes, roulette gave us the instant gratification that doesn’t come with poker. But it also reminded us what our beloved poker brings to the table (literally). It brings the grind, the edge, and the ability to outthink other players across the table in order to win yourself chips. It makes you realize that poker is a skill in its own right, and the ability to outthink another player instead of waiting for fate to make a decision means a lot.
Roulette is an amazing side game — it’s our new one-stop place to loosen up at the weekend. But poker? That’s the game you master.
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