The Roulette Rules - Learn How to Play Roulette Guide
Roulette rules are simple and easy to understand. In truth, there is little to know asides from the bets you can place on the Roulette table at live or online casinos. You may divise strategies and calculate numbers and probabilities, however, in the end, it all sums up to luck and entertainment.
Roulette players, usually up to eight, play against the house, represented by the croupier or dealer, whose part is to spin the Roulette wheel and handle the bets and respective payouts. In the European Roulette version, the wheel has 37 slots, from numbers 1 to 36 plus one 0. The American Roulette wheels have two 00 and therefore 38 slots. The numbers also alternate between red and black. The 0 and 00 slots are green.
The Roulette Table
As mentioned before - the largest part of learning the Roulette rules is to learn the different types of bets you can place. Following this you must learn how to place a bet on the table.
First you must buy chips at the Roulette table as in Roulette each player receives chips of a certain colours. This ensures that in the middle of the commotion surrounding the Roulette table both the dealer and the players will know who owns what (meaning the chips). Note that in European Roulette, chips are all the same colour, which can give rise to some confusion if you are not paying close attention. In Online Roulette you have nothing to worry about, since these arrangements are all done automatically by the computer. Now that you have your own chips you can play the Roulette, and place the bets you feel are lucky without fearing that you might be making mistakes.
Roulette Betting Types
There are more than just few types of Roulette bets and it is best to master these before you move on forward to learn how to play casino Roulette just like a pro:
Inside Bets
Inside bets are made on given numbers or combinations of numbers either within the number layout or on its border.
- Straight-Up - bet made on a single number (including 0 or 00). Pays 35:1, so it is quite a long shot.
- Split - bet on any two adjoining numbers (including 0 and 00). Pays 17:1.
- Street - bet covers three numbers in a row. Pays 11:1.
- Corner - bet on four adjoining numbers forming a square. Also known as Quarter bet or Square bet. Pays 8:1.
- Five Number - five-number bet. Pays 6:1.
- Row - bet covers two adjacent rows of numbers. Also known as Line bet. Pays 5:1.
Outside Bets
These are bets placed at the edges of the Roulette table. An outside bet can be a bet made on a group of numbers, or some other common characteristic. All outside bets loose if the ball stays on 0 or 00.
- Dozens - bet on either the 1st dozen numbers (1-12), the 2nd dozen (13-24), or the 3rd dozen (25-36). Pays 2:1.
- Column - bet on the 12 numbers in any of the three columns on the table layout. Pays 2:1.
- Red/Black - bet on the colour. Pays 1:1.
- Odd/Even - bet on winning number being odd or even. Pays 1:1.
- Low/High - bet that the number will either fall in the lower numbers group (1-18) or the high numbers group (19-31). Pays 1:1.
The "En Prison" Rule of Roulette
This is a Roulette rule applied to even-money (1:1) bets only by some casinos. If the result is zero, some casinos allow the player to either take back half of the bet or hold ("en prison" means "in prison") the bet for another Roulette spin. If this is the case, should the following spin result in a zero again, then the entire bet is lost.
These are the bets you can place when you play Online Roulette or at a land base casino. You can practice the different types of bets by playing for free at our selected online casinos, where you can practice until you think you are skilled enough to play in real money Roulette games which are greater fun than playing free Online Roulette.
The Roulette rules do not change and there are no variants to this game. There are two types of Roulette table being used in live or online casinos: the American Roulette and the European Roulette. This is a huge plus for Roulette players since other games have numerous variants which require to learn additional information and it takes longer to master such games. If you want to learn the Roulette rules as best as possible than you must remember that beyond the bets there is little to know.
Learn How to Play Roulette - Additional Material
As you can probably see it's not hard to learn how to play Roulette, but winning is a whole different issue. You'll need to learn how to use correct use of money management policy, Roulette table etiquette, effective betting systems, how to play Roulette in online casinos and many other topics that concern professional Roulette players. The more a player knows the better he becomes, the more skillful he is and this is the right way to start winning at the Roulette tables in land base or online casinos.
Susan McClary - Senior Editor. 23/03/06