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. Each player plays with their own color chips. 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. After the ball has started spinning, the dealer will wave his hands across the
table and say 'no more bets'. At this point, as you intuition may have mentioned
to you, you can't place any more bets. Split bet - you
can place a single bet on two individual numbers if those numbers are beside
each other on the table layout. The outside bets on a roulette board are
simply the bets that reside 'outside' of the main playing area of 38 numbers. Red or Black - you can choose to bet on
the outcome either being a red number, or a black number. 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.
Roulette is the game where you guess where the little marble is going to drop
on the spinning wheel. 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) you will likely lose money faster the more
bets you make, because you're betting more. 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. Each player's chips are a different color. 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. 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. 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! 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. 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) 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. You don't get paid for the win, though, but it's better than losing
it outright.