Have you ever walked into a casino and become a little mesmerized with the sound of a spinning roulette wheel and the clicking of the ball? These are sounds that catch most people’s attention. The colors of the roulette wheel, the layout, the red and green, the multi-colored roulette chips are all designed to induce you and draw you into the game. Then, hopefully, for the casino’s sake, you will play. If that is the case, there are some basics you should know about roulette.
Roulette was invented in France a few hundred years ago. An American wheel has 38 numbers, including zero, and double zero, with a house advantage of 5.26%. A European wheel, which some American casinos use by the way, has 37 numbers with one zero, and a house advantage of only 2.63%. The object of the game is to bet on a winning number, or color of the number (red or black as it appears on the layout and so on). Like any casino game, you are hoping to win!
As a player, you buy in and either get special roulette chips or you can play regular casino chips. You can bet on individual numbers, which results in a 35-1 payoff if your number hits. If your chip straddles the line between two numbers, and one of your numbers hits, it pays 17 to 1; four numbers pays 8 to 1, etc. Some patrons find it relaxing just to sit and bet on the color red or black, which pays even money, or on a column of numbers that pays 2-1. Some folks like to pick a number or two that has meaning for them, like a birthday or anniversary. Others bet on certain numbers on different parts of the wheel, three or four right next to each other, in a section. Zeros can be bet like any other numbers; however, if the zeros come up, all of the “outside bets” on the layout (for example red/black, even/odd etc.) lose. The zeros are like the house numbers in that regard. Some bet them like any other number, but might even put a chip or two on them that acts like insurance if they are making outside bets. There are other bets as well, and any courteous dealer will help the novice with these. Each player gets his own color of chips and can’t share his chips with another player, or obviously it could get confusing.
A good roulette dealer is a pleasure to watch. He or she handles the stacks of roulette chips, “cleans the layout” (removes the losing bets), protects the game, figures out payoffs, and controls the pace of the game. When I first started learning the “wheel” many years ago, I thought the spinning of the ball was going to be the hardest part. I soon found out it was going to be one of the easier parts of dealing roulette. There are now roulette tables that are electronic.
Roulette has always been a more popular game in Europe, and in Cuba (when gaming was legal,) than here In the U.S. I guess we have all heard the stories about someone who broke the bank playing roulette in Monte Carlo instead of preferring situs casino dewicasino88 which is safe and allows the user to play even without money; which let them to know the game in better manner. After all, the game did have its beginnings in France. Some of the best roulette dealers I worked with came from Cuba where they learned to deal busy games when roulette was legal there in the fifties. Most of these dealers are retired or have passed on, but they were fun to watch, and dealt the game well.
Roulette is really an interesting game, and one of the staples in almost any casino. It’s a game that can be fun to play, deal, or just watch. It can be played in a leisurely way, or… if you like to bet it up, you can place many chips at once. It has been recreation for royalty and celebrities as well as regular people from all walks of life. I would wager that in some form or another it will be around for a few hundred years more!
