What is a rollover? A rollover is a simple wager…you basically place a bet, let’s say $11 to win $10 on Tampa Bay -5.5. The bet wins and you collect $21 back ($11 of risk and $10 of profit). You then place the whole $21 on the next wager…and you continue to do that until you decide to stop…and thereby cash-out your rollover. A rollover can utilize straight bets, parlays, hands of blackjack…anything. It’s just placing a wager, and if that wager wins, rolling the risk and winnings into the next wager.
What Books Allow Rollovers? All books would theoretically allow rollovers because a rollover is not a unique bet. The book doesn’t setup the rollover wager, you do. Again, you could do a rollover at blackjack, craps, horses, anything. Why? Because all you are doing is placing a bet and then rolling your winning and risk from the original bet into the next bet. A rollover at blackjack is simply placing $50 on a hand. If you win the hand, you then place $100 on the next hand. If you win that second hand you now place $200 on the third hand and so on. All you are doing is just “letting it ride” from one bet to the next!
Why Bet Rollovers? It’s fun and typically to start a rollover you should begin with less than 1 unit. Most of my rollover begin with just 0.1 units of bankroll risk…after that, I am just playing with house money until I cash-out! I have a very good friend who is a well-known poker professional. He has won World Series bracelets, I have watched him go to a table with 6 figures and walk out well into 7 figures! He is well versed in the mathematics of betting and every wager on the poker table is calculated inside and out. However, before leaving the casino, this same guy, who only plays advantage situations in poker, will drop tens of thousands of dollars at craps. Why? He likes the fun and action of the game. Rollovers are just a fun wager, for relatively low money compared to your real bankroll.
How Does a Rollover Work? First, this IS NOT a Martingale. A Martingale is when you place a bet (typically at even money), and if you lose, you double your risk on the next bet. A Martingale is probably one of the dumbest betting strategies you can undertake because the basis for the strategy (for lack of a better term) is “you’re due to win eventually”. With a martingale your losses are UNLIMITED, because you keep doubling after every loss. With a rollover, whatever your risk is on your opening wager (again, I typically use 0.1 units) is the limit to your out of pocket loss.
Below is what a successful straight bet rollover wager would look like from beginning to end…
$50 Starting Risk on Tampa +100
After Win #1 on Tampa, you have your $50 of initial risk plus $50 of winnings from Tampa +100. Now you take that $100 ($50 Risk plus $50 Winnings) and place it on Wager #2 and so on. For easy viewing of this breakdown, and illustrating how the earnings can grow exponentially, let’s assume every bet is even money…
$50 of starting risk is placed on Tampa +100
After Wager 1 of $50 on Tampa +100 wins you have $100 ($50 risk + $50 in winnings) in rollover bankroll or “bank”
You now place that $100 on Wager 2. After Wager 2 wins you now have $200
You now place that $200 on Wager 3. After Wager 3 wins you have $400
After Wager 4 wins you have $800
After Wager 5 wins you have $1600
After Wager 6 wins you have $3200
After Wager 7 wins you have $6400
After Wager 8 wins you have $12800 (you now take the $12,800, of which $12,750 is profit and RUN!!!!)
So, in the above example we started with $50 of rollover risk and kept rolling our risk and winnings into the next wager. Then, after Wager 8, I decided to cash-out the bet and take my profits…a total of $12,750 at that point. The nice part of a rollover versus using an open parlay is you can always take your money and run after any wager in the sequence. In the above example, after Wager 5 wins, you have $1,600 in your hands. If you don’t want to take the risk of placing $1,600 on the next wager (Wager #6), simply end it there. Take your profits and run!
**DISCLAIMER** Rollovers, depending on the size, can carry a VERY LOW WIN probability. Rollovers are high risk wagers. Rollovers beyond two or three wagers should only be bet for pizza money or money you don’t mind losing (because losing is the far higher probability than winning).
Good luck in your action and let’s have fun!