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. 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. 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. 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. Fiver number bet - there
is only one five number bet available. 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.
Roulette is the game where you guess where the little marble is going to drop
on the spinning wheel. 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. In most games players can continue
making bets even while the ball is still spinning. 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. 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. 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 chips can in fact be any denomination - $1, $5,
$25, etc. Roulette games have minimum bets, which will be posted on a
placard at the table. Minimum bets work differently for inside and outside bets. 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. The difference
between the true odds and what they actually pay you is 2/38, or 5.26%. The
last time we checked, Single 0 Roulette was available at the Stratosphere and
the Monte Carlo on the Vegas Strip. 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. If
you win the second spin, your bet is "released from prison" and you
get it back. You don't get paid for the win, though, but it's better than losing
it outright.