The roulette is rather uncomplicated, but one
must be a bit familiar with roulette rules before placing
any sophisticated bets.
Players, usually up to eight, play against
the house represented by the croupier also called the dealer,
who spins the roulette wheel and handles the wagers and payouts.
In the European roulette and French roulette version, the
wheel has 37 slots representing 36 numbers and one zero. In
the USA most roulette wheels have two zeros and therefore
38 slots.
Each player buys-in a different colored chips
so their bets don't get mixed up. At the end of play, if you
won, you exchange back the colored chips with cash chips.
These are special chips with the value amount imprinted on
them. There are several denominations in various colors. You
then take these chips to the cash desk where they will give
you actual cash money in exchange.
To play roulette, you place your bet or bets
on numbers (any number including the zero) in the table layout
or on the outside, and when everybody at the table had a chance
to place their bets, the croupier starts the spin and launches
the ball. Just a few moments before the ball is about to drop
over the slots, the croupier says 'no more bets'. From that
moment no one is allowed to place - or change - his or her
bets until the ball drops on a slot. Only after the croupier
places the dolly on the winning number on the roulette table
and clears all the losing bets you can then start placing
your new bets while the croupier pays the winners. The winners
are those bets that are on or around the number that comes
up. Also the bets on the outside of the layout win if the
winning number is represented.
Outside bets
- The outside bets on a roulette table are the bets that
reside 'outside' of the main playing area of 37 numbers.
There are no winning outside bets for 0 results. Let's have
a look at the different types of outside bets:
- Red or Black bets - you can choose to bet on the outcome
either being a red number, or a black number.
- Odd or Even bets - similar to the red black bet, this
even money bet is based on whether the number will be odd
or even.
- Low or high bets - Roulette rules allow ranges of numbers
to be bet on.
- Columns bets - at one end of the set of 37 numbers are
boxes with the words '2 to 1' written in them.
- Dozens bets - a bet very similar to the columns bet,
dozens lets you place a bet on either the first dozen numbers
(1-12), the second dozen (13-24), or the third dozen (25-36).
The inside bets
- The inside bets are made up of specific numbers or combinations
of numbers within the number layout, or along the border
of it. Remember, the total of all of your bets must add
up to at least the table minimum.
- Straight up bet - this is the simple roulette bet.
- Split bet - Roulette rules allow you to place a single
bet on two different numbers if those numbers are beside
each other on the table layout.
- Street bet - This is a bet not unlike the split. It allows
you to bet on three different numbers with the same bet.
- Corner bet - Roulette rules also allow for other combinations.
- Square bet - To make this bet place your chips at the
intersection of 0 and 3 on the corner. You can win if any
of 0, 1, 2, or 3 is hit. You are paid 8 to 1.
More roulette rules:
The 'En Prison' rules
A roulette rule applied to even-money bets only, and by some
casinos (not all). When the outcome is zero, some casinos
will allow the player to either take back half his/her bet
or leave the bet (en prison = in prison) for another roulette
spin. In the second case, if the following spin the outcome
is again zero, then the whole bet is lost.
The 'La Partage' rule
The la partage roulette rule is similar to the en prison rule;
only in this case the player loses half the bet and does not
have the option of leaving the bet en prison for another spin.
This refers to the 'outside' even-money bets Red/Black, High/Low,
and Odd/Even and applies when the outcome is zero. Both the
La Partage and the En Prison roulette rules essentially cut
the casino edge on the 'even-money bets' in half. So a bet
on Red on a single-zero roulette table with the la partage
rule or the en prison rule has a 1.35% house edge and one
on a double-zero roulette table has a house edge of 2.63%.
Object of the game
To win at roulette the player needs to predict where the ball
will land after each spin. This is by no means easy. In fact,
luck plays an important part in this game. Some players go
with the winning numbers calling them 'hot' numbers and therefore
likely to come up more times. Others see which numbers did
not come up for some time and bet on them believing that their
turn is now due. Some players bet on many numbers to increase
their chances of winning at every spin, but this way the payout
is considerably reduced. Other methodical players use specific
roulette systems or methods, money management systems, or
both.
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