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 player plays with their own color chips. When the new session starts you can put your chips down where you want to bet, and you don't really have to be in a hurry. After the ball has started spinning, the dealer will wave his hands across the table and say 'no more bets'. Just sit back and let the ball fall where it may. 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. There are the different types of outside bets. Odd or Even - similar to the red black bet, this even money bet is based on whether the resulting number will be odd or even. Dozens - 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)

Roulette is the game where you guess where the little marble is going to drop on the spinning wheel. 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. you will likely lose money faster the more bets you make, because you're betting more. New players often have to be told this repeatedly the first time they play because they kept forgetting and because they're excited about collecting their winnings. If you're asked Inside or Outside, always answer "Both", even if you only intend to bet one or the other. Minimum bets work differently for inside and outside bets. Inside bets can usually be as small a you like, as long as the total of all your inside bets is the table minimum. Remember that you can bet inside or outside if you like; there's no requirement to bet both on a given spin. If Black has come up for the last 10 spins in a row, the next spin is not more likely to be Red. 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. It's more important to know what the house edge is, than how to calculate it, but here's a quick analysis in case you're interested. On an American wheel, there are 38 spots - numbers 1-36, plus 0 and 00. If you play Roulette, the most important thing is to find a casino that offers the European wheel (which is called "Single 0" Roulette) 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.