My First Crack at Mystery Roulette

play roulette My first attempt at beating Mystery Roulette took place on December 9, 2009 on a trip I took to Choctaw Casino in Durant, Oklahoma. The wife and I drove up there from Dallas on a Wednesday. We had been there once before in October 2009. But, I did not see any roulette tables there on that trip. Doesn't mean they weren't there. Just means I didn't see any.

In the weeks after our first trip to Choctaw casino, we started receiving mailers in the mail from them with all sorts of "free" offers to entice us to return (we had joined their players club). In one of these flyers, I noticed an advertisement promoting their roulette game. Since I didn't remember seeing a roulette game their, I checked their website. Sure enough, they claimed they offered roulette. So, I made a mental note to look for a roulette table when we got there.

My wife is primarily a slots player. Because of this, I played a number of slots games with her upon our arrival at the casino. After about an hour I asked on of the casino employees where I could find a roulette game and was directed to it.

Mystery Roulette - The Same, But Only Different

I was surprised by what I found. As detailed in our Mystery Roulette page, the roulette game offered by Choctaw Casino involves the use of cards pulled from slots on a flat wheel rather than a typical roulette wheel and a ball. This is done to comply with an Oklahoma state regulation that all table games have to be a form of card game.

I was somewhat taken aback by this and had to watch the game for a few minutes and ask a number of questions before I felt comfortable sitting down. As I mentioned on our Mystery Roulette page, even though they use a flat wheel and a clacker to determine which slot to withdraw the card indicating the number and color of the winner, it plays much like a regular roulette game.

The Ante Decreases Your Odds in Mystery Roulette

Another difference, and one that really ticks me off about this game, is that you are forced to ante 50 cents for each spin of the wheel. I do not like this requirement one bit. See, they game is the standard roulette game with no modifications to the bets allowed - more importantly the payoffs. It is a double zero game. So, you know that already you as a player are at a 5% disadvantage against the house. The introduction of the 50 cent ante increases the odds against you.

Obviously, the more you bet in any one round, the less of an impact the 50 cent ante has upon the player disadvantage. The casino was busy that evening - lots of college kids. Incredibly, many of them were betting in amounts of 1$ to 5$ per round! I tried to explain the effects of the ante on bet sizes that small. But, I really could not get anyone to listen to me.

Mystery Roulette and The 50% Solution

I began my assault on Mystery Roulette by using my Fifty Percent Solution roulette strategy featured under the Roulette Strategies section of this website. This strategy involves switching among the even money bets (even, odd, red, black , high and low) whenever any one of them hits three times in a row. Visit 50% Solution page to get the whole rundown on how to correctly play this strategy.

Initially, I felt just a little uncomfortable with the game of Mystery Roulette. So, I decided to flat bet the strategy at $10 a spin. I know that doesn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense given the 50 cent ante. But, I was afraid there might be rules I was not aware of. Therefore, I was not going to be to aggressive in my first try at the wheel.

At this roulette game they did not have the standard lighted sign indicating the last 10 spins of the wheel. Instead, they handed you lined cards the same length as a normal piece of copy paper and half the width and a pen for you to keep track of the results by yourself. It was not difficult to keep track and other players were also keeping track. If I missed one, they were all very helpful in filling me in. Anyway, with this strategy you only need the last three results anyway.

The fifty percent solution roulette strategy is easy play. I had no problems switching from one bet to another as the strategy indicated, even with a very full and very vocal table. Flat betting at $10 a spin, I played for about an hour and a half. $60 ahead is as far as I got that evening. I decided to quit when I got back down to even. But, I figure that given the number of 50 cent ante bets I was forced to make, I would have been up somewhere between $20 to $30 dollars at a regular roulette game. I was fairly happy with the result.

Mystery Roulette and the Anticipate the Wheel Strategy

After meeting my wife over at the Blue Moon Café inside Choctaw Casino for a sandwich, I went back to the Mystery Roulette table for another try. This time around I applied the anticipate the wheel roulette strategy. I decided to play the strategy as hit, press, and drop starting with $10. What this means is that I would play two thirds of the numbers for $10 each for a total of $20 per spin. If I hit the number and won, I would press my bet by taking my winnings of $30 and dividing it equally among two thirds bets making two $15 bets. If I won that bet I would then drop back down to $10 bets and repeat.

This time around, I did not fair so well. I lost the first four bets in a row, very quickly going down $80 in bets and four 50 cent antes. I had set my limit at $100 without counting the antes. I won the next bet, pressed it and won again. However, I just could never really get on a good run. That happens sometimes. The closest I could get to even, was about $40 down. The play went back and forth for about 45 minutes. Eventually, I reached my $100 loss limit and had to give it up.

Mystery Roulette Wins the Day

So, for the evening I had two separate sessions at Mystery Roulette for a total of about two hours play and ended up down at sum total $100. Looks like the game kicked my tail for an evening. We are planning another trip up to Choctaw after New Years and I'll give Mystery Roulette another try.