Top 12 Pro Roulette Players on the Planet
The pro-gambling world has truly exploded over the past couple of decades, and it’s never been more entertaining to keep track of the best players in games like poker and roulette. Many say that roulette offers high odds of winning but with increased risk. And when it comes to roulette, there are certainly fewer professional players compared to, let’s say, poker. Nevertheless, some pros have managed to cash in major wins and took all that the table had to offer.
So take a look at the top 12 pro roulette players!
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12. Ashley Revell’s All or Nothing Spin
Ashley Revell is from Britain, and he became extremely popular when he sold everything to get money for gambling. However, Revell aimed high, and he used all that money on a single roulette spin in Vegas in 2004. The stake was a whopping $135,000, meaning it was truly all or nothing!
The media went crazy and created a worldwide frenzy over Revell’s bet at the Plaza Hotel & Casino. And luck smiled upon him that day as he was able to double his wager. He ended up with $270,600 for a single spin on red (7) .
11. Chris Boyd: A $220,000 Bet
Chris Boyd is another British player who managed to become one of the game’s most famous faces. He was initially a computer programmer who managed to save up over $200k over a three-year span. He then went to Vegas and wanted to place all his money (exactly $220,000) on one bet. It was hard for him even to find a casino that would allow it, but he finally managed to persuade the staff at Binion’s Horseshoe Club. They allowed him to make a single bet with all that money and even removed the 00 from their American wheel.
Boyd played with European odds and placed his bet on red. Interestingly, the ball landed in the right pocket, which made Ashley Revell rich. Boyd went home with a total of $440,000!
10. Joseph Jagger: The Pioneer
This player was among the first to play roulette at a professional level. In the 1880s, he predicted that there’s a big difference between the outcomes of each individual roulette wheel and believed that results could be calculated. Jagger thought that factors like the wheel angle, whether it was off-center, or additional obstructions could significantly affect the outcome. Eventually, he managed to try out all those ideas in Monte Carlo and was incredibly successful. It’s said that he won over 2 million Francs in just a few days. Adjusted to today’s money, that equals to an incredible $9 million!
9. Gonzalo Garcia-Pelayo: The True Master
It’s said that Gonzalo Garcia-Pelayo was among the first players who realized that perfect roulette wheels were impossible to create. Namely, he spent a long time analyzing the errors and imperfections in wheels and found out that there were elements that could create a biased wheel.
At the beginning of the 1990s, Gonzalo used a computer simulation to study thousands of roulette spins. Somehow, he found a way to manipulate the edge and turn the standard 2.6 percentage into an incredible 15% advantage for the player. He proceeded to test his theories successfully in real casinos and was extremely careful not to get caught. Eventually, he relocated to Vegas where he quickly won around $1.5 million. Interestingly, a casino from Spain even sued him, but the country’s Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit.
The judge claimed that Garcia-Pelayo’s methods weren’t illegal and that he was simply using complex software to figure out the best winning chances. This player’s story is truly fascinating, and it inspired a movie named “The Pelayos.”
8. Charles Wells: Luck or Cheating?
Wells’ story is also incredibly fascinating because he followed the footsteps of Joseph Jagger, only 18 years later.
Wells went to Monte Carlo and played on the same exact wheel as Jagger. Even though the casino staff fixed the wheel issue after Jagger’s wins, it developed a similar problem over the years. Wells somehow found out about the biased wheel and managed to exploit it to his gain. Apparently, he was able to win 23 out of 30 consecutive spins and over a million Francs. What’s more, he returned to the casino later and doubled his winnings!
7. Kim Larsen: “Vegasdude”
Kim Larsen, aka “Vegasdude,” is quite a mysterious figure in the gambling world. Namely, he got famous after a livestreamed roulette win in Las Vegas. He played with $500 and managed to boost his winnings to $10,000 in only a single day.
Vegasdude’s story is a bit controversial since he simply disappeared after the big win. The reason for this could be that the livestream made everyone remember his appearance and that U.S. casinos simply banned him after that. Unfortunately, he also never revealed the roulette strategy he used to win so much money.
6. Christian Kaisan: The Most Famous German Gambler
Kaisan was a successful German gambler who started off placing money at the racetracks in 1972. When Germany’s law started to allow casino games, Kaisan moved on to some card games. However, when a friend from Japan showed him how to play roulette, he displayed some incredible skills.
Kaisan refined them and created his own “Kesselglucken Method,” which he ultimately used to predict where the roulette ball would land. He managed to score some big wins in a short time, like 500,000 German Marks (around $280,000) over three days in an Australian casino. Unfortunately, the casinos in Germany didn’t want him around, and he was eventually banned from most of them. In total, Kaisan’s estimated winnings from roulette are about $2.2 million!
5. Benno Winkel: The Roulette King
Winkel was another popular player from Germany who was a regular in Hamburg casinos. Apparently, it took him only a couple of months to win around 1.5 million German Marks or approximately $860,000. Unfortunately, he hasn’t revealed how he managed to win so much money, and his methods will always remain secret.
4. Norman Leigh: Banned in France
In the 1960s, Leigh famously used the Reverse Labouchere method in Nice, France, to get rich. The system is based on maximizing winning streaks while minimizing losses. And Leigh managed to use it with such success in 1966 that nearly every French gambling establishment banned him. It’s said that he won over 800,000 francs during that year.
3. Laszlo Kovacs: Magic Shoes
Kovacs’s story was broadcasted all over the world when he was apprehended in 2005 in Australia. Namely, the casino accused him of cheating by using a small electronic device that was hidden in his shoe. The computerized device required Kovacs to tap his shoes as the ball was launched. The device would then calculate the ball’s speed and use a complex algorithm to predict where it would land. Kovacs used the system for a long time and managed to bag thousands in winnings while doing so. Luckily, after he was arrested, the jury did not sentence him since they deemed that he did not break the law.
2. Carol Jarecki: Chess Pro Beats Roulette
Jarecki was first a pro chess player, but together with her husband, she managed to find out about the most important elements of wheel bias and exploit them. In the 1970s, she visited the casinos in Monte Carlo and proved that, after all those years from Jagger and Wells’ successes, the wheels were still imperfect. Allegedly, she used this to her advantage and managed to win a whole fortune!
1. Richard Jarecki: Doctor Roulette
Carol Jarecki’s husband Richard was a doctor from Germany who used most of his free time to play roulette. He actually moved to New Jersey during WWII, and in the 1960s, he experienced a sort of revelation. Namely, the doctor believed that he found the best way to predict roulette outcomes.
He tested his methods in casinos in Europe and allegedly went to London University to use a sophisticated computer program to learn how to turn the house edge into an advantage. It’s said that he won around $1.25 million in roulette, which, adjusted for inflation, would be around $8 million today!
Summary
Those were the biggest faces in roulette! Some of them have truly used groundbreaking tactics to take home huge payouts, while others managed to trick the system. Which player is your favorite? Check out some additional questions regarding this game below and have fun playing!
To get successful at the roulette table, you must understand the bet types and the odds that come with them. With that, you’ll know how to manage your total bankroll more efficiently, play for longer, and ultimately, get that big win. Additionally, it’s all about making good choices, and the best way to do that is to pick the European wheel since it will give you the lowest house edge.
In some Vegas casinos, the max bet can go over $10,000. But that’s not the lowest limit. In some high-stakes VIP rooms, bets can exceed $250,000. In fact, roulette is among the only games that offer the highest possible bet limits.
The Martingale is a clever roulette system. It can be used if you find that your bets are simply not paying off. It requires you to double up on your losing wager. That way, the system ensures that, as time passes, you will balance out your losses when you win eventually. However, it is quite a risky system, though, since it requires a large bankroll.
Can you tell me who the most famous roulette player is?
Thanks for the question, Adam. Have you ever heard the story of Sean Connery and his legendary roulette bet?
Apparently, when this actor was shooting James Bond, he developed an interest in roulette. One night in 1963, he started playing in an Italian casino and managed to win three consecutive spins, all on 17. The bets included a payout of 35:1, which means the Scottish Academy Award winner won nearly $30,000. And after that, this type of bet was named 007 in honor of this famous actor.
Where can I play roulette for cheap?
Hi, Melinda. One of the easiest and cheapest ways to try roulette is in online casinos. That is because online roulette games have low minimum bets. If you pick a good roulette game provider, for example, RealTime Gaming, it could cost you $1 for one spin. It’s much cheaper compared to roulette offers in land-based casinos, and thousands of players have already converted to online gaming.
Is there a famous roulette number? I am wondering about which is the most famous.
Interestingly, 17 is among the most popular numbers. It was made famous by the Sean Connery bet we talked about earlier. Moreover, a boss from Newcastle named Mike Ashley won around $1.5 million in one spin, which further added to the mystery of this number. MIT researchers have also said that 17 was the number that people chose the most often. Other famous numbers are 7 and 3, while most people tend to avoid 13. Have a good day!
Do you know who the first player to win a lot of money on roulette was?
One of the earliest roulette pros was Joseph Jagger. He was among the first players to figure out wheel biases, and that’s how he managed to win around 9 million dollars in 1881. He managed to do this in merely a few days, and he was the first man who broke the bank in Monte Carlo.
Why do they call roulette the Devil’s Game?
Hey Deandra, awesome question! There is an odd superstition related to roulette which makes some people associate it with the Devil. Surprisingly, when you add up all the roulette numbers on a wheel, the result is 666. That’s where the nickname comes from, although we believe that there’s nothing evil to a good game of roulette.