At this point the dealer will say 'place your bets' and everyone at the table will start throwing chips down like crazy. If you haven't read up on the rest of the site I'll quickly go over the different colors of chips and how they relate to the rest of the roulette rules. 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. 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. Split bet - you can place a single bet on two individual numbers if those numbers are beside each other on the table layout. Street bet - this is a bet not unlike a split. It allows you to bet on three different numbers with the same bet. 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. 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. Then he'll scoop up all the losing bets towards the dealer area. 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. If you're asked Inside or Outside, always answer "Both", even if you only intend to bet one or the other. For outside bets, any bet you make has to be the table minimum. 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. There's an old saying, "The wheel has no memory. Now let's say you've been playing Roulette for a few hours, betting on Red every time, and you've been keeping track of what numbers have hit. You can certainly switch to another number if you want, but that won't improve or worsen your chances. 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. if you win, the casino doesn't pay you 37 to 1, they pay you less - 35 to 1. You don't get paid for the win, though, but it's better than losing it outright.