Plinko is great for low drops, but it really depends how you play it. I like to drop a 1$ on high, 8 rows and see what happens. Worst case you lose half, best case x5.
Strategies are there to put some limited control over what you are doing. No strategy provides a guarantee, but it can help managing your wallet & expectations.
Low bet, increase on loss and autobet. With the right wallet-size, it will work out until bets are too big for your wallet. Usually, 40 losses in a row are killing me.