The first thing you should know before you learn anything about the bets you can make, is when and how you can make those bets. Each roulette table moves in sessions, each session is associated with a spin of the wheel and that spin's result. At this point the dealer will say 'place your bets' and everyone at the table will start throwing chips down like crazy. Most roulette sessions move at a fairly slow pace, to accommodate the number of people betting, and the variety on which they can bet. Straight-up bet - this is the classic roulette bet. Choose any one of the 38 numbers and put your chips down on that number for the chance to win back at 35 to 1. Split bet - you can place a single bet on two individual numbers if those numbers are beside each other on the table layout. Street bet - this is a bet not unlike a split. It allows you to bet on three different numbers with the same bet. Fiver number bet - there is only one five number bet available. This is different than inside bets, where the total of all of your inside bets must meet the table minimum. Columns - at one end of the set of 38 numbers are boxes with the words '2 to 1' written in them.

Roulette would be a great game were it not for the high house edge - usually 5.26%, sometimes as low as 2.63%, which is still higher than blackjack, craps, or baccarat. You don't have to make just one kind of bet for each spin, you can make several, and you win if the ball lands on any of your numbers. Don't reach for your winnings until the dealer removes the marker, or the dealer will scold you. " when you're buying chips, to find out whether you're making inside bets (the ones listed in purple in the table, on specific numbers) or outside bets (the ones listed in yellow, on kinds of numbers) When you buy in, tell the dealer what denomination you want. For outside bets, any bet you make has to be the table minimum. If Black has come up for the last 10 spins in a row, the next spin is not more likely to be Red. There's an old saying, "The wheel has no memory. Now let's say you've been playing Roulette for a few hours, betting on Red every time, and you've been keeping track of what numbers have hit. The wheel has no memory. On an American wheel, there are 38 spots - numbers 1-36, plus 0 and 00. The difference between the true odds and what they actually pay you is 2/38, or 5.26%. The European wheel has a lower house edge (2.63%) because it has only 37 slots instead of 38 (no 00) European games have an option called en prison which reduces the house edge to 1.35%, but it's generally not available in the U.S., even in casinos that use the European wheel. On even money bets when 0 comes up, instead of losing right away, your bet is "imprisoned" and rides again for the next spin. You don't get paid for the win, though, but it's better than losing it outright. In effect, this variation has the ability to turn a loss into a tie.