A session ends when the ball lands where it may, and the dealers clear
the board of losing bets (and pay winning ones of course) Each player plays with their own color chips. All of your chips of the same
color are worth the same amount. Just sit back and let the ball fall where
it may. Street bet - this is a bet not unlike a split.
It allows you to bet on three different numbers with the same bet. 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. 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. 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.
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. The house edge is the same whether you
make one bet per spin or several. In most games players can continue
making bets even while the ball is still spinning. Then he'll scoop up all the losing bets towards the dealer area. Each player's chips are a different color. Sometimes the dealer
will ask you "Inside or Outside? That's because if you're betting only inside and someone else is
betting only outside, he can give you both the same color chips and there won't
be any confusion. If you're asked Inside or Outside, always answer "Both",
even if you only intend to bet one or the other. That way, you're not locked in
and you always have the ability to change your mind. When you buy in, tell the dealer what denomination you want. For outside bets, any bet you make has to be the table minimum. There's an old saying,
"The wheel has no memory. " That means it doesn't know what it spun
before, and even if it did, the wheel can't select what number comes up out of
its own volition. Here's another example: Since there are 38 slots on the wheel,
we expect any given number to hit 1 out of 38 spins on average. 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. 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.