"I love to just watch the electronic boards that some of the casinos have at roulette tables. You can see past treands (which are usless) but also see the streaks and patterns. Ever see one of these with 12 in a row Red? What's the change on the next spin, it will come up black, rather than red? (the same as the first spin. It never changes.)" .... Pete Porro

Pete; Very true! On more than one occassion (when I play to win vs. play to harvest) I have used this very strategy you have described. I play the color that came up on the previous spin and stay with it until it changes. When the color changes, my next bet follows it. That way when these streaks do occur, which is relatively common, the player is in on the beginning of the streak .... not when someone feels that "black is due" on the next spin because the last ten spins came out red. Ten blacks in a row could just as easily be fifteen or more.

Here's a simple experiment for those interested. Flip a coin in the air and record how many times heads comes up vs. how many time tails comes up. Mix up the height of your flip and the velocity of spins to reflect the different variences on a roulette wheel such as the position the ball entered the spinning wheel and the bounces it took off the pockets. You will find that many times the same side of the coin will come up multiple times in a row.... the same as the ball does in red pockets vs. black pockets. Over the long haul however, the ratio will be very close to 50/50, or just as many heads as tails. But to arrive at the average coin flip (or spin) it may come up heads (or red) 10-12 times in a row, then 5 or 6 tails (blacks) in a row before switching back to heads (red) one time, then a spurt of consective tails to average out 50/50 overall. Where the player gets killed with this "system" is when the ball alternates each spin between red and black. Of course this does not take into account the occassional 0 or 00 factor on the roulette wheel, but that's what makes gambling. Additionally, in Atlantic City, when the 0 or 00 comes up, the even money player gets half of his/her bet returned. Correct me if I'm wrong anyone, but I don't think that's true in Las Vegas.

The point I'm making is that 50/50 does not mean alternating one heads, one tails, one heads, one tails, etc. It could be six consecutive heads (red) and six consecutive tails (black). Try it sometime on a low limit table. Follow the previous color. If the 0 or 00 does come up... don't be disheartened... you'll get half your bet back (in Atlantic City), but stay with the previous red/black color for the next spin. Due to the fact there are 18 reds and 18 blacks, chances are very strong that 0/00 won't repeat on the next spin.
(Don't take all this seriously, I'm merely stating what I've done in the past with mixed success.) Have I lost? Sure! Have I won? Sure! Did I have fun either way? Sure! ..... but I'll concede that winning is more fun than losing. <g>