Remember to stay realistic about the long odds on this popular game of chance. Approach roulette with the sober realization that, with a house advantage of 5.26 percent on the American wheel, roulette is among the worst bets in a casino. Despite the odds, you can still use some simple strategies to stretch your roulette bankroll and enjoy the thrill of the spin. This article contains a few tips that can help you improve your chances of winning.
And the chances for red or black to come and you win are not even 50:50, it's 47.37%, and your chances to loose are 52.63% on american roulette (with 0 and 00). On european roulette (only one 0 field) chances to win are 48.65%, and to loose 51.35%, offcourse if you play on even chances. But despite of this odds. Anyone knows that odds for the same event to occur several consecutive times in a series of independent plays of a game are very low. This applies for any game of chance, including roulette. For example, hitting the same color for n times in a row on a single-zero roulette has the probability For n = 3, this is 11.51%, for n = 5 is 2.72%, while.
Roulette is a drain on your wallet simply because the game doesn’t pay what the bets are worth. With 38 numbers (1 to 36, plus 0 and 00), the true odds of hitting a single number on a straight-up bet are 37 to 1, but the house pays only 35 to 1 if you win! Ditto the payouts on the combination bets. This discrepancy is where the house gets its huge edge in roulette.
Starting with the basics
Strategy is critical if you want to increase your odds of winning. The first time you play roulette, the players sprinkling the layout with chips may look as if they’re heaping pepperoni slices on a pizza. You can make many different bets as long as you stay within the table’s maximum limits. Consequently, few players make just one bet at a time.
Of course, the more bets you make, the more complicated and challenging it is to follow all the action. Here are two possible plans of attack to simplify matters:
- Stick to the table minimum and play only the outside bets. For example, bet on either red or black for each spin. This type of outside bet pays 1 to 1 and covers 18 of the 38 possible combinations.
- Place two bets of equal amounts on two outside bets: one bet on an even-money play and the other on a column or dozen that pays 2 to 1. For example, place one bet on black and one bet on Column Three, which has eight red numbers. That way, you have 26 numbers to hit, 4 of which you cover twice. You can also make a bet on red and pair it with a bet on Column Two, which has eight black numbers. Again, you cover 26 numbers, and 4 of them have two ways to win. Pairing a bet on either red or black with Column One (or on one of the three dozens) covers 24 numbers, and 6 numbers have two ways of winning. Spreading bets like this won’t make you rich, but it does keep things interesting at the table.
Playing a European wheel
If you happen to find a single-zero European wheel, you greatly improve your odds: The house edge is half that of roulette with the American wheel — only 2.63 percent. You may see a European wheel at one of the posh Vegas casinos, such as Bellagio, Mirage, or Caesars Palace. If you can’t find one on the floor, it’s probably tucked away in the high-limit area along with the baccarat tables, so you may need to ask. You can also find the single-zero wheel at some other upscale casinos around the country.
Because casinos set aside the European wheel for high rollers, you’re likely to find a higher table minimum, say $25. But because the house edge is half that of a double-zero wheel, the European wheel is the better roulette game to play for bigger bettors.
Your chances of winning get even better if the casino offers an advantageous rule called en prison. Sometimes available on the European wheel, the en prison rule lowers the house edge even further to a reasonable 1.35 percent. The rule applies to even-money bets. For example, say you have a $10 bet riding on black. If the ball lands on zero, your even-money bet doesn’t win or lose but remains locked up for one more spin. If the ball lands on black on the next spin, the house returns your original bet of $10, but you don’t win anything. If the ball lands on red, you lose. And if the ball repeats the zero number again, your bet stays imprisoned for another round.
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Wheel-based casino games can be traced back hundreds of years to the 17th century, when French scientist Blaise Pascal was on the hunt for a perpetual motion machine. Though he wasn’t successful in his search, he did manage to combine a wheel with existing board games to come up with the roulette wheel.
Modified roulette wheels of the 18th century featured only 28 numbers, plus 0 and 00.
Early Roulette Wheels
By the late 18th century, roulette, which is French for “small wheel,” gained popularity throughout Europe, including Russia, and Turkey. The game was already quite similar to what we see in modern casinos: The wheel featured 36 numbers in red and black, plus the 0 and 00, and the types of bets used today were present.
If you walk into any American casino today, you will find a roulette wheel that features 38 slots. However, this wasn’t always the case. When roulette was introduced to the United States at the end of the 18th century, it came up through Louisiana along with French immigrants. Eventually, the game spread throughout the American territories, where it gained popularity in the West by the early 19th century.
These roulette wheels were modified, and looked quite different from those of the 18th century. These wheels only featured 28 numbers, plus 0, 00 and an additional pocket with a picture of an American Eagle. However, it was decided that this system gave the casino too much of an advantage and ultimately done away with.
The modern American roulette wheel has numbers 00 through 36 as shown.
Modern Roulette Wheels
On an American roulette wheel, there are 38 slots. The numbers featured are 1 through 36, plus 0 and 00. They can be found on almost all wheels in the following order, starting at 0 and going clockwise:
Roulette Odds Table
0, 28, 9, 26, 30, 11, 7, 20, 32, 17, 5, 22, 34, 15, 3, 24, 36, 13, 1, 00, 27, 10, 25, 29, 12, 8, 19, 31, 18, 6, 21, 33, 16, 4, 23, 35, 14, 2
Both 0 and 00 are in green, while the rest of the numbers alternate between red and black.
For numbers between 1 and 10, as well as 19 to 28, the odd numbers are red while even numbers are black. The remaining numbers – 11 to 18 and 29 to 26 – show even numbers in red and odds in black.
Inside Bets and their Odds
When betting in roulette, you have a variety of choices, all of which come with various odds.
For example, if you bet on any one number, the chance of it hitting is 2.63 percent. As you can see, the odds are not in your favor, though you do get a 35-1 payout should it hit.
Tale showing a straight bet, street bet, and a corner bet.
But just laying some chips on a single number is far from your only option when it comes to betting in roulette. There are a variety of ways to increase your chances of winning, though you will naturally decrease the amount you will win.
Split Bet:
If you chose to place a split bet, you’re betting that one of two numbers will come up. You can do this with a huge combination of numbers, as long as they are adjacent. For example, you can bet on 5 and 2, 5 and 4, 5 and 8, or 5 and 6. The probability that you will win on this bet is, logically, double that of a single bet at 5.26 percent, and your winnings will be reduced to 17-1.
Street Bet:
A street bet gives you the chance to bet that one of three numbers will come up. These are always placed on a row of numbers, so you can bet that 1, 2 or 3 will come up, or 4, 5 and 6, all of the way down to 34, 35 or 36. These bets will give you a 7.89 percent chance of winning, and you’ll be paid out 11-1.
Corner Bet:
To bet on four different numbers, you can place a corner bet. There are 22 different combinations to be played on the board: 1, 2, 4 and 5 or 2, 3, 5 and 6, for example. If you hit, the payout is 8-1, and the probability that you hit is up to 10.53 percent.
Five-Number Bet:
This is, mathematically, the worst bet you can make in roulette. Every play on the board gives the house an edge of 5.26 percent except for a five-number bet, which bumps house edge to 7.89 percent. If you chose to make this bet, you are looking for 0, 00, 1, 2 or 3 to hit to pay you out 6-1. The probability that you win this is 13.16 percent.
Double street:
Here, you’re betting that one of six consecutive numbers will hit. Because you’re putting your chips on two rows, the bet can be on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 or 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, and so forth. Your probability to win is 15.79, and it will pay out 5-1.
Table showing a dozens bet, odd bet, and a black bet.
Outside Bets and their Odds
These bets can be broken up into two categories: those that pay 2-1 and those that pay even money. The two ways to win 2-1 odds are to bet on columns or dozens.
Columns:
These are a bet on an entire column, and if any one number in that column hits, you’ll win. you have a 31.58 percent chance of winning with a column bet.
Dozens:
These give you the same probability of winning as the columns, but the thirds are broken up by dozens: 1-12, 13-24 and 25-36.
Roulette Odds Chart
Finally, a bet on Red, Black, Odds, Even, 1-18 or 19-36 all offer a 1-1 payout, and you have a 47.37 percent chance of winning. The reason you don’t have a straight 50/50 chance of winning on one of these outside bets are the 0 and 00. Should either of those hit, all outside bets lose.