The roulette table is one the most iconic features of any casino around the world. The game has gone on to attract gamblers of all types ranging from the small time players to the big high rollers. The main reason behind this is that it’s purely a game of chance and you will have as good a chance of winning as the person stood next to you at the table.
The term roulette translates in French as ‘little wheel’ and the game is commonly thought of deriving from France way back in the 17th century by a French statistician by the name of Blaise Pascal. It’s fitting that a statistician were to come up with such a game due the massive variations in odds on offer from all parts of the roulette board.
There are actually two forms of roulette known as American and European. The more popular European version includes numbers of 1-36 a single zero digit. The American equivalent includes an addition 00 digit on the board having an effect on the odds it pays out at. Whilst the addition of even just one more digit on the wheel (00) has a massive effect on the houses edge in their favour, the game is essentially total luck as there is no way that any one person can affect how the wheel spins or where the ball will land. This will appeal to some gamblers more than others, but one thing is for sure that whichever casino you are in, the roulette table will always be popular.
How to Play Roulette
Essentially playing roulette is very simple. You place your chips on a number or section of the board before or whilst a ball is spinning within the wheel. After the ball has been spinning for a certain amount of time the croupier will call an end to the betting before then waiting for the ball to finish up and fall within a number on the wheel. To be successful you must either have chips on that number or have covered an area of the outside board which includes the number in its set.
There are two sections of the table which should interest you as the bettor; the inside and the outside. The inside includes numbers ranging between 0 and 36. By placing a single unit on these single numbers will pay you at odds of 36/1 for any successful bet. It’s also possible to cover up to four squares with just one chip. If you have a chip covering a section of all four then you will be paid out at 9/1. Similarly if you have a chip covering just two numbers then odds of 18/1 will be paid out.
The outside of the table is a little more interesting for the casual bettor as it includes a good range of odds but covers a much wider spread of numbers. The most popular will be that of choosing between a red or a black number which pays out at evens. Similarly you can pick between odd or even numbers and 1-18 and 19-36 groups which also pay out at evens. The next section splits the table into three sections of 1st12, 2nd 12 and 3rd twelve paying out at 12/1.
The key aspect to any roulette table is the green zero section which takes all the edge and puts in favour of the casino. The easiest way to explain this would be to look at the black and red sections on the outside table. The casino will offer you evens on your money for each which works out at 50%, but actually, with the inclusion of the green zero, the odds of it falling on black or red is around 48.6%. This basically means that long term, this game cannot be beaten!
Roulette Tips & Strategy
Let’s clear one thing up straight away; the roulette table cannot be beaten long term! This is something you just have to live with. That’s not to say money can’t be made from the game, because it can. But if you were to play the game constantly then eventually you will lose your money. It’s for that reason that we want you to apply the following tips and strategies with a pinch of salt, if you will. They will help and allow you to apply theories to the game over the short term, but don’t expect these to have positive long term effects.
The first one up is one of the oldest and most popular roulette strategies; the Martingale system. The concept is simple; start with betting a single unit and if it loses keep doubling your bet. Every time you win you take a unit out of your bet and every time you lose you simply bet double your previous bet until it wins. But, and this is a super, massive, whopping but…all roulette tables have maximum bet amounts to cover this type of system. Eventually you will reach the table maximum and won’t be able to double your bet. Table maximums vary, but if you were on a table that allowed a maximum bet of £500 then after 8 unsuccessful spins you wouldn’t be able to double your bet. Eight unsuccessful spins sounds like a lot, but even if you were simply betting the same colour every time then this sort of run will be much more common than you think.
Other systems which work very similar to the one above are available such as the Labouchere System which is another progressive method except this time you increase your bet amount depending on whether you win or not. The loses remain small whilst the wins are larger. But like the Martingale System, the introduction of table maximum bets eventually makes this systems downfall.
Finally, we just want to finish on a word of warning. Roulette is game that in the long term at least, cannot be beaten. It’s mathematically impossible! But it’s not to say you can’t win money on it in the short term. It’s for this reason that we suggest you play the game with money you can afford to lose and for a bit of fun, rather than a casino game you think you can beat.