Roulette Dozens Strategy: Best Bets & Tips

Welcome to the Roulette Dozens Strategy Guide. Today, we’re going to look at the Dozens.

The most effective way to bet them, what alternatives you may have, and why betting them may make sense for you and your budget. Before we jump into technicalities, here’s something to keep in mind.

For more information on Roulette Dozens strategy, you can watch our video below:

Dozens vs. Columns: Which Is Which

A Roulette layout is divided up several different ways, and betting on the individual Dozens is one of the Outside wagers that you can make.

Here is a layout for an American wheel showing the Inside and Outside bets: 

There are three Dozens that are listed in this picture as 1st 12, 2nd 12, and 3rd 12.

As you can see, there are 12 individual numbers that make up each Dozen.  

They contain the numbers 1 – 12, 13 – 24, and 25 – 36. 

Each Dozen has six Black and six Red numbers, plus six Odd and six Even numbers. 

To bet on the Dozens, you will be making an Outside bet. It pays 2 to 1 when it wins. 

There are some similarities between the Dozens and the Columns.  

There are also some significant differences between them, too.  

But more on those in the upcoming article on Columns. 

What is the Dozens Strategy?

If you bet on a single Dozen, let’s say the 1st 12, you are betting that one of 12 numbers in the 1st 12 will come up.  If you win, you get paid 2 to 1 and your original wager is returned to you. 

As you can see, the European wheel offers a slightly better chance of winning than the American wheel. 

And that’s true for every bet.  The European wheel is always a better option for the players. 

Your chances of hitting one of those two Dozens is 24/38 = 63.16%

And on the European wheel, which only has 37 numbers because of the single zero, the chances of hitting a winning Dozen are 64.86%

Betting on 2 Dozens reduces the risk of losing because you’re betting on twice as many numbers, so you double your chances of winning. 

Having done that, you decrease the amount you will win by 50%.

Let’s say you bet $10 on the 1st 12.  If you win, you get paid 2 to 1, which is $20, and you get your initial bet back. 

If you bet on the 1st 12 and the 2nd 12 and either wins, you get paid $20 for your winning bet, but you lose $10 on the Dozen bet that lost. 

You won $20, but lost $10, which means your net win is only $10, not $20.

Comparing Dozens With Other Popular Systems

Over the 200 years or so that roulette has been a popular casino game, there have been many systems devised and used by players. 

Some of the players were extremely bright - mathematicians, astrophysicists and that type of high IQ guy who used their math skills to develop their systems.

Others were enthusiastic players who just wanted to ‘beat the wheel’ and thought their system could help them do that. 

Having said that, none of their systems managed to find a way to overcome the house edge. 

Not one!

Here are a few of the more popular systems that you may want to try:

• The Martingale: The classic negative progressive system  If you lose you double your bet until you hit a winner.  More on the Martingale system here. 
• The Fibonacci: A well-known system that has been popular since the Middle Ages.  It’s a negative progressive system and follows the natural mathematical structure that is found all through nature.  You decide on the amount of the next bet by adding the last two bets and betting the sum.  I like the Fibonacci as it is a more elegant strategy than the Martingale, and, unlike the Martingale, doesn’t require a huge bankroll to play. 
• Bond, James Bond: A more modern system based on the exploits of the English super-spy and yes, it does include a bet on 00 and 7.  It is a 20-unit bet that includes Low, the 19 – 24 SixLine, and the 00 on an American wheel.  
• The Romanovsky: A system that includes a bet on two of the three Dozens.  It covers a large swath of the layout and offers frequent small wins.  
• The 24+8: Similar to the Romanovsky, the 24+8 (which sometimes becomes the 24+10) is a popular system because it offers lots of wins and, like the Romanovsky, is a great comp value creator.  

Managing Risk

To manage your bankroll, and keep your potential losses low, it’s best to choose a system that isn’t high risk and allows you to bet small.

As I’ve explained there, using the same win/loss results, if you start with a $1 bet, after a 10-bet losing streak with the Fibonacci, you would have lost $143.  With the Martingale, you would have lost $1,043.

 And a 10-spin losing streak does happen, although it is not very common. 

The Martingale loses more than 7 times as much as the Fibonacci system with the same win/loss record.   

Setting Bankroll Limits

Everyone knows that you should have a limit to how much you’re willing to lose when you go to the casino.  And when you hit that amount, you should leave.

If you find yourself with $400 in front of you from a $100 buy in, go and cash out and leave the casino.  

A more realistic goal is to double your money.  And even that isn’t going to happen very often, although you may find yourself in that position and decide to keep playing. 

Why?  Because winning $100 isn’t enough. You want more, right?

But if you’ve set doubling your money as the goal, you must leave when you get there – even though it is so hard to do it. 

Everything is going great, you’re winning, the game loves you and it’s just so easy to win.

If you go to YouTube, you will find boatloads of ‘how to beat roulette’ videos there. 

Generally, they fall into one of two camps.  

One camp is ‘bet on a lot of numbers for a small payout and win that way’ philosophy.  

The other camp is some version of the Martingale, which boils down to ‘every time you lose, increase your bet until you hit a winner’ philosophy.  

One thing to be aware of is that just because a guy says, ‘I’ve been playing this system for two days now and I’ve been winning since I got here,’ it’s not necessarily true. 

Over the years, I’ve read through many systems that claim to be the holy grail of roulette systems.  

Basically, they all say, ‘play my system and you will win buckets of money!’ 

And none of them win in the long run. 

Things to Keep in Mind When Using the Roulette Dozens Strategy

The Dozens strategy has two basic ways to play it. 

• One is to bet on one of the Dozens with a 31.58% chance to win, and when you lose, choose either a Martingale strategy or a similar negative progression strategy until you win, and then go back to your initial bet. 
• The other part of this way of playing is to place a bet on two of the Dozens. Your chance of winning is doubled to 63.16% but your payout is reduced by 50%.

Having started betting the Dozens, there are some well-known strategies that include a Dozens bet as part of the strategy.  For example, the Romanovsky and the 24+8 strategy (which is sometimes played as the 24+10 strategy) both include the Dozens as part of the bet. 

Potential Pitfalls​ 

At the risk of sounding like ‘Captain Obvious’, the key to being successful with this type of strategy is to make sure you cash out when you are winning.  

As with most systems, sometimes you will be winning, then losing, then winning, then losing again, and it’s important to cash out when you are ahead.  

Most of the strategies that include betting with a large percentage in your favor will frequently get you into a winning position. This is when choosing a realistic ‘right amount you’re willing to win’ is so important. 

Sadly, many players don’t see the opportunity and think they will continue to win over a long period of time.  And it simply doesn’t work that way. 

Choosing the right strategy is also an important part of a winning strategy.  

You must be aware of the downsides of the various systems that you might choose, and make sure the strategy you choose fits your gambling philosophy. 

Best Games to Play

It’s always true that the European roulette game is a better option for the player than the American game. 

It’s because there are less numbers on the European wheel with 37 than the American wheel with 38. 

The House Advantage on the European game is generally 2.7% vs. the 5.26% HA on the American game. 

In addition to that, look for a European game that includes either ‘En Prison’, or ‘La Partage’ as part of the rules. 

These refer to a 50% ‘rebate’ on the even money bets when the zero hits on the European wheel.  Red/Black, Odd/Even, and High/Low get 50% of the bet returned to the player when the zero hits. 

This is the best option for the player because the House Advantage can be as low as 1.35% on those even money bets.

Should Beginners Use the Roulette Dozens Strategy?

The Dozens are a big part of the Romanovsky and the 24+8 strategies and they’re good systems for a beginner who is learning to play.

Both strategies rely on the player making a high percentage Dozens bet which allows them to win small amounts often.  

These systems give the beginner a great opportunity to learn how the game works and to see how the Dozens can be part of an overall playing strategy. 

As I was reading through some of the information about betting the Dozens strategy, I ran into something called, ‘The Palestis Single Dozen System’. 

It was a complex system, and I’m completely convinced it is absolute nonsense.

It included the ‘Trigger’, a long description of conditions that need to be in place before you should start betting.  

One of the points it made was ‘. . .zeroes tend to come in packs. . .’  Which is simply not true.  If it was true, then a player should wait for a zero to hit and bet it straight up until it’s hit a few times.

Zeroes don’t tend to come in packs.  They don’t tend to do anything except show up on average once every 38 spins on an American wheel. 

Conclusion

The Dozens can be part of a strategy that will allow you to see how a betting system works.  They are an easy part of the game to understand and can be included in an overall low-risk strategy.

Because you can bet on a large chunk of the layout with one bet, the Dozens are often included in a strategy that requires the player to bet on 65% or more of the numbers available, and consequently hit a lot of small winners. 

If the player decides to play a risk-averse strategy that uses two of the Dozens, it can allow him to play for a long time and protect his bankroll so that he doesn’t lose a lot during his playing session.

In the academy here at Chipy, we have many articles about the various roulette systems, and lots of in-depth articles about how to play the other popular table games, including blackjack, baccarat, craps and, of course, roulette.  

They will take you from beginner to expert, and they’re all free. 

Good luck.