The first thing you should know before you learn anything about the bets you
can make, is when and how you can make those bets. A session ends when the ball lands where it may, and the dealers clear
the board of losing bets (and pay winning ones of course) Each player plays with their own color chips. 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. 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. When you place an outside
bet your bet must meet the table minimum. There
are the different types of outside bets. Red or Black - you can choose to bet on
the outcome either being a red number, or a black number. 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.
now, let's see how to play roulette. 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. Don't reach for your winnings until the dealer
removes the marker, or the dealer will scold you. 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. Roulette games have minimum bets, which will be posted on a
placard at the table. 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. 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. 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. 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) 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. 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. In effect, this variation has the ability to turn a loss into a tie.