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. Most roulette sessions move at a fairly slow pace, to accommodate the number of
people betting, and the variety on which they can bet. On inside bets, the total of all
of your bets must add up to at least the table minimum. 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. The outside bets on a roulette board are
simply the bets that reside 'outside' of the main playing area of 38 numbers. When you place an outside
bet your bet must meet the table minimum. 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. Columns - at one end of the set of 38 numbers are
boxes with the words '2 to 1' written in them.
For most bets it's fairly obvious - you can't miss the
Red diamond for Red bets, and things like Even, 1-18, and 1st 12 are written out
in plain English. The house edge is the same whether you
make one bet per spin or several. you will likely lose money faster the more
bets you make, because you're betting more. 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. 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. In other games the color of the chip
denotes the denomination, but in Roulette the color denotes only which player
the chip belongs to. Roulette games have minimum bets, which will be posted on a
placard at the table. For outside bets, any bet you make has to be the table minimum. In this way, Roulette is more like slots - one single bet can
win a lot. It's important to
understand that the outcome of the roulette wheel is truly random. 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. Atlantic City has a special rule which
reduces the house edge to 2.7% on even money bets (Red/Black, Odd/Even,
1-18/19-36): If 0 or 00 comes up on on even money bet, you lose only half your
bet. In effect, this variation has the ability to turn a loss into a tie.