How to play roulette - A beginner’s guide
May 17, 2007
Who amongst us has not seen the dashing James Bond place a bet on the roulette table and win? He did not think about the number, he just bet on it because a drop-dead gorgeous woman told him that it was a lucky number. The question is this: can roulette really be such a random game? And another question arises: is online roulette just as easy as playing roulette in Monte Carlo for example?
The term “roulette” is French for “little wheel”. On the roulette wheel there are 38 holes and the outcome of each round is decided by the ball landing in one of those holes or slots. The slots represent the numbers 1 to 36, plus 0 and 00. The 0 and 00 slots are placed on opposite sides of the roulette wheel. If you decide to bet on just one number you stand to get a 35-to-1 payout if you win.
What are your chances?
The classic bet is when you put your money on one number, just like James Bond. In that case your chances of winning are 38-to-1, regardless if that number is 7, 19, 25, or 32. The odds are the same regardless of the number you choose to wager upon.
Most people believe that just because the ball landed on a particular number, it will not land on the same number on the following spin. It is easy to understand why roulette players can be fooled into thinking that. It is a common and understandable error. What you must remember is that all the numbers have the same chances of winning. Previous rolls do not matter.
Placing your bets
You are trying to anticipate what number will come up next you are just wasting your time. Placing your bets is not an exercise in anticipating what may come up. Just imagine that the bets you place are a spider’s net and the winning number is the fly that you want to trap.
If you place consecutive bets on the same numbers you have the same chances of winning every spin. It is a perfectly respectable strategy. This way you can wait to see how often those numbers come up. Most experienced roulette players have a set of lucky or preferred numbers on which they always place a bet.
Do not think that betting on a single number is your only choice. It is not as simple as that. There are plenty of other bets to choose from. The chances of you winning those bets are higher, but the payouts are consequently lower.
You have the best chances of winning when you place even or 1-to-1 bets. This means that you will win one chip for every chip that you wagered. Red and Black bets are just such bets. This means that you wager that the winning number will be black or red. odds or Even bets are also even money bets. This means that you wager that the winning number will be even or odd. High or Low bets are also even money bets.
Next come the 2-to-1 bets. This means that you will win one chip for every two chips that you wagered. Betting on the lower, middle or upper third of the number range are just such examples. You could also bet on one of the three columns in which the numbers are organized on the table and if you win you will receive a 2-to-1 payout.
The betting options presented so far are very straightforward and easy to understand.
Now we will talk about betting on number combinations. What you should do is divide the single-number payout by the number of numbers in your combination. The payout for a single number bet is 35-to-1, so the payout for a two-number combination will be 17-to-1, for three numbers 11-to-1, for four numbers 8-to-1, for five numbers 6-to-1.
Note that betting on any number combination is not possible because of the configuration of the roulette table:
- The numbers must be adjacent if you want to place a two-number bet.
- The numbers must be in a row across the table if you want to place a three-number bet.
- The numbers must be in a square if you wan to place a four-number bet.
- The numbers 0 and 00 must be included in a five-number bet.
Online Roulette
There really isn’t much of a difference between playing roulette in a land based casino and playing online roulette. The rules are the same, the game play is the same. The only difference is that you play with your mouse and keyboard, sitting in front of your computer.
So why not give online roulette a try? There are advantages to playing online as opposed to playing in a land based casino. As I see it the only problem is choosing an online casino, since there are so many out there.
