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Over 40 Years in the Casino Business |
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Roulette |
Roulette is one of the easiest games to play and understand in the casino. As usual the easier a game is to understand the greater the house edge, and roulette is no exception. If you are looking for a easy to understand and slow paced table game, and are willing to sacrifice on the house edge, then you may like roulette. If you want something more stimulating or with a decent return I would suggest looking at other games.
Roulette uses chips, not checks simply to allow the dealer to know who to pay when the winning number is called. Chips have no value except for their use one the roulette wheel, and cheques have an amount printed on them. Can you imagine the chaos if six people all played a house cheque (value check) on the same number and it came up? Players on a blackjack table three tables away would be claiming part of the win! For that reason, The roulette table comes with six to eight sets of different colored chips, with two or three hundred of each color. When a player buys-in they get their own color and the value would be the buy-in divided by the number of chips received. The dealer will mark that color of chips to indicate the value.
The American Roulette (AR in gaming cirles) wheel consists of 38 numbered slots: numbers 1 to 36, a zero, and a double zero. The betting layout consists of every individual number as well as a host of combinations of numbers. There are also outside numbers. The difference between inside and outside is that an outside bet covers a particular type or location of numbers, and an inside bet is specific to the individual numbers (or combinations of) themselves. A"straight up" bet is placing your bet on a single number, and a split bet is when you put your chip on the line between two adjacent numbers.It naturally follows that a corner bet covers the four numbers that intersect at a given corner. There is more detailed information a little further along.
Under U.S. rules, all casinos follow the same rules except for in Atlantic City. The house edge on all bets is 2/38, or 5.26%, except for one bet. The exception is the 0-00-1-2-3 combination, which carries a house edge of 7.89%. Don't play that bet.
In Atlantic City any even money bets (red, black, odd, even, 1-18, 19-36) follow a variation of the European imprisonment rule. In the event the ball lands in 0 or 00 the player will lose only half of any even money bet. This lowers the house edge to 2.63% on these bets. This rule does not apply on single zero wheels.
Some people and many books claim that roulette wheels are biased, with a heavy side and a light side, that gravity causes the numbers in the heavy side to hit more often. This may have been true when the quality of the equipment was poor. However, modern roulette wheels are made better and very rigorously tested. Only in a casino using a very dated wheel, may you be able to find a biased one by testing many thousands of spins, and those wheels would probably be found in Europe. U. S Casinos are overtly cautious that they don't give money away by flaws in the equipment, and believe me, there are a lot of sharks out there that would pick up on the flaws immediately.
Buying In
You must purchase special roulette chips when you sit down to play. To avoid disputes each player receives a different color chip. These chips are good for that table only and you must cash them in when you are done playing. You will then be given regular casino value cheques to take to the cage. You cannot cash in the roulette table chips at the cage.
Each roulette table has a minimum and maximum bet. You can’t combine your inside and outside bets to meet the table minimum. If the minimum bet is five dollars you have to bet $5 on the inside and/or $5 on an outside bet. You can’t bet $3 inside and $2 outside, nor can you bet $3 on one outside bet and $2 on another.
Inside Bets
There are several inside bets that you can make. You can bet a number straight up or straddle the line between numbers to select a combination of numbers.
The payouts are as follows:
Straight Up bet is a wager on a single number. It pays 35 to 1.
Split Bet is a wager on two numbers and it pays 17 to 1.
You make this bet by placing your chip so it straddles the line between any two numbers.
Street bets or line bet and it pays 11 to 1.
You make this bet by placing your chip on the vertical line separating the outside and inside betting areas. The chip straddles the first number in the row.
Corner bet or Quad bet pays 8 to 1.
You make this bet by placing a chip so it is touching the four corners of the numbers you are betting.
Top Five bet is a five number bet on zero – double zero and numbers-1-2-3 which pays 6 to 1.
On the double zero wheel it has a house edge of 7.89 percent making it the worst bet in Roulette.
Double Street bet is a wager on six numbers and pays 5 to 1.
You place your chip on the line separating the outside and inside area as you do for the street bet but let it also straddle the row above or below.
Outside Bets
The outside bets are any of the bets made in the boxes surrounding the numbers.
Red, Black, Odd, and Even are all even money bets. You place your chips in the boxes on the layout.
Remember, in Atlantic City you get half of this bet back if 0 or 00 comes up. Dozens bet are made on the 12 consecutive numbers. You place your wager in the boxes marked 1-12, 13-24 or 25-36. These bets pay 2 to 1.
If the zero or double zero comes up you lose.
Column bets are also 12 number bets. Instead of 12 consecutive numbers they consist of the numbers in one of the three vertical columns and are made in the boxes at the bottom of the layout. These bets pay 2 to 1 as well, and lose if the green comes up.
The Dealer
Dealers are required to keep the wheel moving at all times, even between spins. They spin the ball in the opposite in the opposite direction of the wheel. This causes the ball to jump and spin before landing on a number.
The dealer marks the winning number with a marker. You are not allowed to place your bet for the next spin until the dealer removes the marker from the previous winning number. Make sure you wait for them to pick it up before putting down your chips.
If the number you want to bet is covered is already covered with chips, don’t worry. It is permissible to stack your chips on top of the other chips. This is another reason why each player has their own color chips.
You are allowed to place bets after the dealer spins the ball. The dealer will tell you when to stop. As the ball slows down the dealer will wave their hand over the table and call out “No More Bets.”
Some people claim that they have a sure fire system for winning at Roulette.
The truth is there is no system that will change the house edge.
Don’t waste your money buying a Roulette system.
There are more gambling systems devised to beat the roulette wheel than any other game. I have never seen a roulette system in play that didn't work. However, I have never seen a roulette system in play that would always work.
A system may seem to give you an edge, but don't expect to systematically play your way to riches off the casinos. I have seen many people systematically lose all of their money when they ran into a very bad run of luck. I have seen single numbers not show for over 800 rolls, 7 greens in a row, 37 red numbers in a row. There is no system designed to face a monster against it, because the house always has a table limit and is situations like those just described, all systems require an unlimited bankroll. The house simply won't allow you to bet enough to overcome that string of bad luck. Money management systems just manage to leave you broke at the end.
In a recent pitch a guy is using to sell a system I read this sentence: "In a game of chance using a system is no guarantee of winning, but a well devised roulette system can streamline your losses, control your winnings and have a strategy that will give you an opportunity to be a winner." Let me translate that for you. "Using a system is no guarantee" means that his product doesn't work. He has just given you a disclaimer. "can streamline your losses" means that you can expect to lose using his system. "Control your winnings" means that you might win a little so hang onto whatever that is. "have a strategy that will give you an opportunity to be a winner" means that some of your bets could work, maybe. Or maybe not.
What a load of crap! I'll give you a free system right here. Take whatever you were going to pay for your system, figure out how much you were going to risk to win something, and mail it to the IRS. At the end of the year you'll be ahead.
Roulette is not a game of probability.
Each spin is a new spin and the outcome is never determined by prior spins. After any result of one spin, the event is over. It is not a linked set of circumstances. This defies the logic of the gambler. Granted, I have never seen a single number repeat over 7 times in a row, but I'm sure that number will never make it to the Guiness book of records. At 1:38 to the 7th power, thats over 110 billion to 1 in probability, but still only 1:38 of it happening again and again.
After eight successive Blacks, a Black is as likely to come up as a Red. The roulette wheel has no memory and it does not keep record of previous results. This is what many gamblers find hard to believe. This misconception has been around for many years and will probably be around for as many more years. It is known as the gambler's fallacy.
In theory, roulette may be looked at as a game of probability and that the casino advantage of 5.26% with a double zero wheel (2.7% with a single zero wheel) makes the player a definite loser. In practice, as far as the player is concerned, roulette is a game of luck and the player has a chance to win. If you were to bet $5 on Black for 38 spins on a double zero wheel, in theory you would win and lose every other spin and after 38 spins (which is about an hour of play at a busy roulette table) you would lose $10 because the zero and double zero have come out once each.
In practice, during an hour of play, at some stage, if you were lucky you would be up and if you were unlucky you would be down by more than $10, and deciding when to quit will determine the amount of your winnings or losses.
Here's what you need to know to play roulette successfully:
You need to be lucky, and you need to know when it is time to quit.
If you have gotten nothing else from my series of gambling advise, you need to know that I absolutely advocate setting a fixed limit on the amount you are willing to win and the amount you are willing to lose, and an exact quitting time. When you are playing the wheel, if you are running unlucky, quit then. Don't wait until you are broke. The wheel is not a forgiving mistress. She will kick your butt. The math of the roulette wheel is fixed. You cannot change it.
Always remember, you come to the Casino to have fun. Enjoy yourself. Don't let the games get the best of you.
The Casino wins for three reasons.
The player's natural greed for money
The player's lack of self-discipline
Time
Give us those, and I can guarantee that we will win. Keep those under control and you can walk out winner.
Roulette uses chips, not checks simply to allow the dealer to know who to pay when the winning number is called. Chips have no value except for their use one the roulette wheel, and cheques have an amount printed on them. Can you imagine the chaos if six people all played a house cheque (value check) on the same number and it came up? Players on a blackjack table three tables away would be claiming part of the win! For that reason, The roulette table comes with six to eight sets of different colored chips, with two or three hundred of each color. When a player buys-in they get their own color and the value would be the buy-in divided by the number of chips received. The dealer will mark that color of chips to indicate the value.
The American Roulette (AR in gaming cirles) wheel consists of 38 numbered slots: numbers 1 to 36, a zero, and a double zero. The betting layout consists of every individual number as well as a host of combinations of numbers. There are also outside numbers. The difference between inside and outside is that an outside bet covers a particular type or location of numbers, and an inside bet is specific to the individual numbers (or combinations of) themselves. A"straight up" bet is placing your bet on a single number, and a split bet is when you put your chip on the line between two adjacent numbers.It naturally follows that a corner bet covers the four numbers that intersect at a given corner. There is more detailed information a little further along.
Under U.S. rules, all casinos follow the same rules except for in Atlantic City. The house edge on all bets is 2/38, or 5.26%, except for one bet. The exception is the 0-00-1-2-3 combination, which carries a house edge of 7.89%. Don't play that bet.
In Atlantic City any even money bets (red, black, odd, even, 1-18, 19-36) follow a variation of the European imprisonment rule. In the event the ball lands in 0 or 00 the player will lose only half of any even money bet. This lowers the house edge to 2.63% on these bets. This rule does not apply on single zero wheels.
Some people and many books claim that roulette wheels are biased, with a heavy side and a light side, that gravity causes the numbers in the heavy side to hit more often. This may have been true when the quality of the equipment was poor. However, modern roulette wheels are made better and very rigorously tested. Only in a casino using a very dated wheel, may you be able to find a biased one by testing many thousands of spins, and those wheels would probably be found in Europe. U. S Casinos are overtly cautious that they don't give money away by flaws in the equipment, and believe me, there are a lot of sharks out there that would pick up on the flaws immediately.
Buying In
You must purchase special roulette chips when you sit down to play. To avoid disputes each player receives a different color chip. These chips are good for that table only and you must cash them in when you are done playing. You will then be given regular casino value cheques to take to the cage. You cannot cash in the roulette table chips at the cage.
Each roulette table has a minimum and maximum bet. You can’t combine your inside and outside bets to meet the table minimum. If the minimum bet is five dollars you have to bet $5 on the inside and/or $5 on an outside bet. You can’t bet $3 inside and $2 outside, nor can you bet $3 on one outside bet and $2 on another.
Inside Bets
There are several inside bets that you can make. You can bet a number straight up or straddle the line between numbers to select a combination of numbers.
The payouts are as follows:
Straight Up bet is a wager on a single number. It pays 35 to 1.
Split Bet is a wager on two numbers and it pays 17 to 1.
You make this bet by placing your chip so it straddles the line between any two numbers.
Street bets or line bet and it pays 11 to 1.
You make this bet by placing your chip on the vertical line separating the outside and inside betting areas. The chip straddles the first number in the row.
Corner bet or Quad bet pays 8 to 1.
You make this bet by placing a chip so it is touching the four corners of the numbers you are betting.
Top Five bet is a five number bet on zero – double zero and numbers-1-2-3 which pays 6 to 1.
On the double zero wheel it has a house edge of 7.89 percent making it the worst bet in Roulette.
Double Street bet is a wager on six numbers and pays 5 to 1.
You place your chip on the line separating the outside and inside area as you do for the street bet but let it also straddle the row above or below.
Outside Bets
The outside bets are any of the bets made in the boxes surrounding the numbers.
Red, Black, Odd, and Even are all even money bets. You place your chips in the boxes on the layout.
Remember, in Atlantic City you get half of this bet back if 0 or 00 comes up. Dozens bet are made on the 12 consecutive numbers. You place your wager in the boxes marked 1-12, 13-24 or 25-36. These bets pay 2 to 1.
If the zero or double zero comes up you lose.
Column bets are also 12 number bets. Instead of 12 consecutive numbers they consist of the numbers in one of the three vertical columns and are made in the boxes at the bottom of the layout. These bets pay 2 to 1 as well, and lose if the green comes up.
The Dealer
Dealers are required to keep the wheel moving at all times, even between spins. They spin the ball in the opposite in the opposite direction of the wheel. This causes the ball to jump and spin before landing on a number.
The dealer marks the winning number with a marker. You are not allowed to place your bet for the next spin until the dealer removes the marker from the previous winning number. Make sure you wait for them to pick it up before putting down your chips.
If the number you want to bet is covered is already covered with chips, don’t worry. It is permissible to stack your chips on top of the other chips. This is another reason why each player has their own color chips.
You are allowed to place bets after the dealer spins the ball. The dealer will tell you when to stop. As the ball slows down the dealer will wave their hand over the table and call out “No More Bets.”
Some people claim that they have a sure fire system for winning at Roulette.
The truth is there is no system that will change the house edge.
Don’t waste your money buying a Roulette system.
There are more gambling systems devised to beat the roulette wheel than any other game. I have never seen a roulette system in play that didn't work. However, I have never seen a roulette system in play that would always work.
A system may seem to give you an edge, but don't expect to systematically play your way to riches off the casinos. I have seen many people systematically lose all of their money when they ran into a very bad run of luck. I have seen single numbers not show for over 800 rolls, 7 greens in a row, 37 red numbers in a row. There is no system designed to face a monster against it, because the house always has a table limit and is situations like those just described, all systems require an unlimited bankroll. The house simply won't allow you to bet enough to overcome that string of bad luck. Money management systems just manage to leave you broke at the end.
In a recent pitch a guy is using to sell a system I read this sentence: "In a game of chance using a system is no guarantee of winning, but a well devised roulette system can streamline your losses, control your winnings and have a strategy that will give you an opportunity to be a winner." Let me translate that for you. "Using a system is no guarantee" means that his product doesn't work. He has just given you a disclaimer. "can streamline your losses" means that you can expect to lose using his system. "Control your winnings" means that you might win a little so hang onto whatever that is. "have a strategy that will give you an opportunity to be a winner" means that some of your bets could work, maybe. Or maybe not.
What a load of crap! I'll give you a free system right here. Take whatever you were going to pay for your system, figure out how much you were going to risk to win something, and mail it to the IRS. At the end of the year you'll be ahead.
Roulette is not a game of probability.
Each spin is a new spin and the outcome is never determined by prior spins. After any result of one spin, the event is over. It is not a linked set of circumstances. This defies the logic of the gambler. Granted, I have never seen a single number repeat over 7 times in a row, but I'm sure that number will never make it to the Guiness book of records. At 1:38 to the 7th power, thats over 110 billion to 1 in probability, but still only 1:38 of it happening again and again.
After eight successive Blacks, a Black is as likely to come up as a Red. The roulette wheel has no memory and it does not keep record of previous results. This is what many gamblers find hard to believe. This misconception has been around for many years and will probably be around for as many more years. It is known as the gambler's fallacy.
In theory, roulette may be looked at as a game of probability and that the casino advantage of 5.26% with a double zero wheel (2.7% with a single zero wheel) makes the player a definite loser. In practice, as far as the player is concerned, roulette is a game of luck and the player has a chance to win. If you were to bet $5 on Black for 38 spins on a double zero wheel, in theory you would win and lose every other spin and after 38 spins (which is about an hour of play at a busy roulette table) you would lose $10 because the zero and double zero have come out once each.
In practice, during an hour of play, at some stage, if you were lucky you would be up and if you were unlucky you would be down by more than $10, and deciding when to quit will determine the amount of your winnings or losses.
Here's what you need to know to play roulette successfully:
You need to be lucky, and you need to know when it is time to quit.
If you have gotten nothing else from my series of gambling advise, you need to know that I absolutely advocate setting a fixed limit on the amount you are willing to win and the amount you are willing to lose, and an exact quitting time. When you are playing the wheel, if you are running unlucky, quit then. Don't wait until you are broke. The wheel is not a forgiving mistress. She will kick your butt. The math of the roulette wheel is fixed. You cannot change it.
Always remember, you come to the Casino to have fun. Enjoy yourself. Don't let the games get the best of you.
The Casino wins for three reasons.
The player's natural greed for money
The player's lack of self-discipline
Time
Give us those, and I can guarantee that we will win. Keep those under control and you can walk out winner.
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