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. All of your chips of the same
color are worth the same amount. If you have a player you
likes to put down twenty different bets each time they play, the sessions are
going to move a little slower. Corner bet -
lets you bet on four adjoining numbers. Placing your chips at the point where
four numbers meet will indicate you want a corner bet. There are no winning outside bets for 0 or 00 results. There
are the different types of outside bets. Low or High - this bet lets you predict whether you
think the next number to come up will be part of the range from 1 to 18, or part
of the range from 19 to 36. Columns - at one end of the set of 38 numbers are
boxes with the words '2 to 1' written in them. 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 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. We've added blue circled letters to the diagram to point out
how to make the not-so-obvious bets (the sets of 2-6 numbers) When the ball falls into a slot, the dealer will announce the
number and the color, and place a marker on the layout where the winning number
is. Then he'll scoop up all the losing bets towards the dealer area. Don't reach for your winnings until the dealer
removes the marker, or the dealer will scold you. 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. That way if
two players bet on the same number (or set of numbers), then the dealer knows
who to pay, and arguments can't arise over who bet what. Sometimes the dealer
will ask you "Inside or Outside? If you're asked Inside or Outside, always answer "Both",
even if you only intend to bet one or the other. 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. In this way, Roulette is more like slots - one single bet can
win a lot. All the bets on the layout carry the same house edge, with the exception
of 5-number Line Bet (0, 00, 1, 2, 3), which carries a whopping 7.29% edge! If Black has
come up for the last 10 spins in a row, the next spin is not more likely to be
Red. The difference
between the true odds and what they actually pay you is 2/38, or 5.26%. 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. You don't get paid for the win, though, but it's better than losing
it outright.