How to Play Roulette
Roulette is easily one of the most recognizable games in both casinos and online casinos. The immaculately attired croupier, the gleaming roulette wheel, the table with 36 numbers and either a 00 or 0 – it’s all part of the great game. But roulette is more than a popular European gambling game, it’s a wheel of fortune and there are ways to win a lot of money on it. It must be remembered that despite any strategies you’re likely to read, roulette is a game of chance.
But there are ways of putting the percentages in your favour. Firstly you’ve got to decide what version of roulette you’re playing. European Roulette offers better odds because unlike the American version, there is no 00 meaning there is less chance your number won’t come up.
Players get their own colored chips
In order to get gaming, players are given different colored chips. If you win, you simply exchange your chips for cash. Playing is really easy. You take a look at the table and decide which numbers, odds or evens, or color you feel is going to come up. That’s it essentially. But there are many, many betting options where bets are divided or multiplied depending on how much you wager, where your chips are placed and how lucky you are.
Get spinning
The croupier waits for players to place their bets and then gives the wheel a big turn. Momentarily before the ball is about to drop into a slot, the croupier will announce ‘no more bets’. Once the croupier has placed the dolly on the number the ball has landed on, everyone but valid winners will lose their chips and the winners will be rewarded.
What are the odds and rules in roulette?
In European Roulette the house advantage is 2.7%; on American Roulette tables the advantage is 5.26% and a whopping 7.9% on the 5-number combo 0-00-1-2-3. It is important to note that there are no guarantees in roulette. Say for instance the ball lands on red 25 times in a row, there is no greater likelihood that it will land on black next spin around other than 50% (barring the green 0).
Crunching the numbers
- A wager on one number only typically pays 35 to 1
- A two-number wager, known as a split bet, pays 17 to 1
- A three-number wager, known as a street bet, pays 11 to 1
- A four-number wager, known as a corner bet, pays 8 to 1
- A six-number wager pays 5 to 1
- A wager on the outside dozen or column, pays 2 to 1
- A wager on the outside even money bets, pays 1 to 1
Some rules to look out for
Things like the ‘En Prison’ rule and ‘La Partage’ rule are common lingo in roulette. On even-money bets that show results on a zero, some casinos allow players to take back 50% of the bet or let the bet rollover – ‘En Prison’ for another spin. If the second result is zero the bet is lost. The ‘La Partage’ rule differs somewhat. If the player loses half the bet, the player has no recourse of leaving the bet ‘En Prison’ for a second spin.
