There is no doubt that Roulette carries with it a certain amount of excitement, flair if you will. What could be easier than that? There are a dozen different bets to be made on a Roulette wheel. They fall under one of two categories: "inside" bets and "outside" bets. Inside bets are made on the individual numbers, one through 36, and the zeros. Betting on a single number is called a "straight-up" wager. If the ball drops into the number 23 pocket, you're paid off at 35-1. Those are all the inside bets. Outside bets are the wagers made on the outside of the layout. These are the bets on red-black, odd-even, and high-low. If you place your chips in the even box and the ball drops into the number 24, you win. Read a book, ask a dealer, study the layout, or just watch for a while and you'll quickly know how to make every bet that's offered. The chip system for Roulette is a little different from the other table games. If you've got one of those feelings that the next number will be 15 and somebody's already on that number, just pile your wheel chips right on top. Before sitting down to play, take particular note of the table-minimum betting rules. It indicates the lowest wager allowed on any outside bet and the lowest total bet inside. The chip minimum tells you the least amount you can bet inside on a number. On a table that's really jamming, players twist, lunge and sometimes elbow their way past other players to get their bets down before the deadline. When you're ready to cash out, don't forget to redeem your wheel chips (for real chips) right at the table. You CAN'T exchange them anywhere else in the casino, not even at the cashier's cage. Most Roulette wheels in Las Vegas have two green-colored pockets, one displaying a zero, and a second with two zeros. The zeros are called house numbers, because when the ball lands in one of them, the casino collects all bets except those placed on the zeros. The casino advantage on a double-zero Roulette wheel is 5.26%. It has a whopping casino edge of 7.89%. Some casinos provide reader boards that track the last 20 to 30 spins. While interesting to observe and look for patterns, they don't provide much information of practical use.

Roulette Tips

Keep in mind that all the bets on the roulette table naturally return a 5.25% Casino Advantage (except the five-number bet), although there are some situations when this advantage can be lowered to 2.6% and 1.3%.  With this in mind, here are the best non-system related tips that will help a player hold out at the roulette table:

Tip - Play the European version of Roulette

Most online casinos will offer both the American and European versions of roulette. With these bets, a 1.3% House Edge is obtainable, and will help a bankroll hold out longer with more positive return.  Additionally, it is only the even money bets that qualify for the "en prison" rule (see tip #3), which will bring the House Edge down even more.

Tip - Play a roulette table that offers the en prison or la partage rule

With this rule in place, which not all casinos offer, (and so therefore is a subject worth looking into when picking an online casino to play roulette at) the House Edge can be brought down to 1.35%.  It states that when a 0 (and 00 for the American version) is landed by the roulette ball, all even money bets are not lost, but are rather afforded the opportunity to stay on the board for the next bet, or be taken back by the player.  In the long run, this rule can be the deciding factor on whether a player ends in the red or not.  It may not even come into play during a round of roulette.  the fact that it can be exercised is quite reassuring, made evident by a House Edge reduced by half.  Las partage, called the Surrender rule, governs even money wagers in the same fashion, except that it returns half of the wager, thereby returning a 2.6% House Edge.

Tip - Do not place the five-number bet

The five-number bet, simply put, gives a House Edge of 7.3%.  This is the highest casino advantage of any other roulette wager, and should always be avoided.  With 5 to 1 payout odds, a player is better off taking the 8 to 1 payout on a corner bet.

As one can see, an approach to playing roulette can still be based on the numbers, as few as they might be.  The Casino advantage and odds still change from bet to bet, but do so in such a way that making a wise wager choice is easy to not second-guess oneself over.