Roulette: Guide to Betting Part 1.

Betting:

In the game of roulette a player can bet on a variety of inside bets, this means that they opt to bet on a number upon which they believe the ball will land, or on a selection of numbers.

Outside bets, on the other hand, include bets which are placed on one of the positional groupings corresponding to the pockets on the wheel, or pocket colours and pocket number odds or evens.

The amount that will be paid out varied depending on the probabilities of the bets placed being drawn. The rules for the maximum and minimum bets should be shown somewhere on the table, the probabilities will apply differently to all the bets the player places in one round- a player can not make a collection of categorically different bets and select the odds according to one of the bets, they will each have their own individual pay-out amounts.

Types of Bet:

Inside Bet:

• A Straight: this is where a bet is placed on a single number; the chip will be placed in the middle of the square on the roulette table that corresponds to the pocket on the wheel.
• A Split: this is where the player bets on two consecutive numbers; they are either horizontal or vertically connected numbers (e.g. 14 and 17 or 8 and 9), here the chip must be placed on the line between the two adjoining numbers.
• A Street: this is a bet on three different numbers occurring on a horizontal line. The chip must be placed at the edge of the line of the number on the end of the line- they can be placed on either side, left or right, but this depends on the layout. Ask the croupier for help if you are unsure, that is what they are there for.
• A Corner (sometimes known as a Square): this is a bet on all four numbers that are aligned in a square, (e.g. 11, 12, 14 and 15). Here the player places the chip at the vertical and horizontal intersection of the lines in the middle of the four numbers.
• A Sixline (sometimes known as a Sixaine- from the French origins of the game): this is a bet on two consecutive Streets; the chip is placed in the intersection between the two Streets.

Outside Bet:

• Even Money Bets: these are bets which have a fifty/fifty chance of winning and consist of betting on 18 numbers. There are boxes on the roulette table that represent these bets and they are called Black, Red, Low, High, Odd, Even. To place such a bet simply put your chip on the square that corresponds to the bet you wish to make.
• Group Bets: These are bets on the first, second or third group of twelve numbers (there are 36 numbers on a roulette wheel so you are effectively betting on a third of the wheel).
• Column: This is also a bet on 12 numbers, but each group is located in a vertical line on the roulette table. To place this bet players must put their chip in the space that is below the last number on the vertical column.

Bet Odd table for American Roulette:

NB: In this version of roulette you will be able to notice that the 0's are classified as neither odd nor even.

House Advantage:

To make this easier to understand this explanation is working from the basis that you will bet on the same single number for each bet.

The house advantage is simply the amount that the house takes from the player in relation to their bets. So, if a player were to bet on just one number then, for American Roulette, the probability of the player losing the bet is 37/38 and the probability that they will win is 1/38, however the player will only win 35 times the bet, instead of the figure that you may be expecting to see of 38 times the bet.

If you lose the house takes all your money, 37 times out of 38 they will take your money, if you win you will get 35 times the bet, so over the course of 38 spins (if the probabilities were perfect and each time you spin the wheel the ball lands on a different number) you would lose 37 times, but the one time you win they will not be paying you for the full 38 spins, but for 35 spins and keep the equivalent of 3 spins for themselves, so overall even when you win, they will still win some money too- in real life this works out in favour of the house in the long run when you take into consideration the averages. The amount of the 3 spins being taken from you when calculating your pay-out will give the house an advantage of 5.26%, in European roulette this figure is halved, the difference is accounted for by the extra 00 in American Roulette, in European Roulette the odds are worked out on the basis of 37 spins/numbers.

In a simple calculation this amounts to:

-1 x 37/38 + 35 x 1/38= -0.0526 (5.26% House advantage for American Roulette)

-1 x 36/37 + 35 x 1/37= -0.0270 (2.70% House advantage for European Roulette)

In roulette the house has usually has the same advantage for each bet, but there are some exceptions;

• 1. For the five number bets the house advantage is higher, 7.89% in American roulette.
• 2. For Even money bets in some of the European versions of the game the house edge is halved because the player will get half of his stake returned to him if a 0 is drawn; thus reducing the house advantage to just above 1%

So, as you have probably worked out, the European version is much better for the player, especially when they bet on the Even Money Bets.

Do not get confused though, if the house advantage is 5.26 % this does not mean that they will walk away with only 5.26% of your money, this is the amount that they will not lose on your winning bets over the course of the games. You still lose 37/38 times on average if you always wager on the same single number.

Call Bets:

There are specific ranges of numbers that have certain bets attached to them, with their own particular names.

To place a bet you must place chips in the correct square for that particular series of numbers.

The bets are structured by the way in which they lie next to adjoining numbers on the roulette wheel (NB. The numbers on a roulette wheel do not run sequentially).

Some casinos do not offer these bets; others will offer only a selection of them.

They are as follows:

• Voisins du Zero (meaning Zero's neighbours)- these are the numbers that lie between, and include, 22-25 so= 22, 18, 29, 7, 28, 12, 35, 3, 26, 0, 32, 15, 19, 4, 21, 2, 25 (on the European wheel). 9 chips, or multiples of 9 chips, must be wagered and placed on the table as follows.........2chips on the 0, 2, 3 street, 1chip on the 4/7 split, 1 chip on 12/15 split, 1 chip on 18/21 split, 1 chip on 19/22 and 2 chips on the 25, 26, 28 & 29 corner.
• Tiers (Third)- This is the section of the wheel that opposite the Voisins du Zero bets, but it is not as large, it ranges from and includes 27-33. The number sequence is 27, 13, 36, 11, 30, 8, 23, 10, 5, 24, 16, and 33 (European Roulette). To place the bet put 6 chips or multiples of 6 chips in the following squares- 1chip for each split: 5/8, 10/11, 13/16, 23/24, 27/30, 33/36.
• Orphelins (orphans)- these numbers make up the remaining portions of the wheel. There are 8 numbers in two sections of 3 and 5. The numbers are 17, 34, and 6 and 1, 20, 14, 31, and 9. The bet consists of 5 chips or multiples of 5 chips, with 1 chip placed on the 1 square, and then one chip on each of the following splits: 6/9, 14/17, 17/20 and 31/34.
• "?? & the Neighbours"- A number can be bet on with the 2 numbers on each side of it, this will be a 5 chip bet. E.g. ‘‘0 and the Neighbours'' is a 5 piece bet with 1 piece on 3, 26, 0, 32 and 15. Neighbours bets are usually placed in combinations, e.g. ‘‘1, 9, 14 and the neighbours'' is a 15 chip bet and covers 18, 22, 33, 16 with 1 chip, 9, 31, 20, 1 with 2 chips and 14 with 3 chips. Any of these bets can be pooled, e.g. ‘‘Orphelins by 1 and Zero & Neighbours by 1.'' The ‘‘...and the Neighbours.'' is usually performed by the Croupier.