Each roulette table moves in
sessions, each session is associated with a spin of the wheel and that spin's
result. You trade in
your checks (which most people think of as regular casino chips, but they're
actually called checks) for roulette chips when a new session starts, and the
dealer assigns you a number and denomination. After the ball has started spinning, the dealer will wave his hands across the
table and say 'no more bets'. 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. When you place an outside
bet your bet must meet the table minimum. 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.
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. 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. 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. " when you're buying chips, to find
out whether you're making inside bets (the ones listed in purple in the table,
on specific numbers) or outside bets (the ones listed in yellow, on kinds of
numbers) When you buy in, tell the dealer what denomination you want. Roulette games have minimum bets, which will be posted on a
placard at the table. Inside bets can
usually be as small a you like, as long as the total of all your inside bets is
the table minimum. In this way, Roulette is more like slots - one single bet can
win a lot. " 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. On an American wheel,
there are 38 spots - numbers 1-36, plus 0 and 00. The difference
between the true odds and what they actually pay you is 2/38, or 5.26%. 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. 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. If
you win the second spin, your bet is "released from prison" and you
get it back.