Each player plays with their own color chips. 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. All of your chips of the same
color are worth the same amount. 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. Now lets take a look at each of the individual bets you can make. 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. When you place an outside
bet your bet must meet the table minimum. This is different than inside bets,
where the total of all of your inside bets must meet the table minimum.
You should always calculate your expected
loss and how long you can play on a given bankroll before playing any game, but
with roulette it's especially important. 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. 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) When the ball falls into a slot, the dealer will announce the
number and the color, and place a marker on the layout where the winning number
is. 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. It's important to
understand that the outcome of the roulette wheel is truly random. If Black has
come up for the last 10 spins in a row, the next spin is not more likely to be
Red. Black and Red still have equal chances of hitting. 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. if you win, the
casino doesn't pay you 37 to 1, they pay you less - 35 to 1. If you play Roulette, the most important thing is to find a casino that
offers the European wheel (which is called "Single 0" Roulette) 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. On even money bets when 0 comes up, instead of losing right
away, your bet is "imprisoned" and rides again for the next spin.