Learn To Play Roulette

Jan 15, 2020  Play Online Roulette for Real Money or Free. A winning Straight-Up bet on Zero is a push when it should pay 35 to 1. Learn about Roulette. See my roulette section for more info about the game, including the different bets and the odds.

Roulette is a casino classic. It’s slow-paced, elegant, and has a huge history. People have been playing roulette since the 17th century, even though it didn’t become hugely popular until the 18the century, when it became a common sight at casinos everywhere.

  1. Learn How to Play Roulette. Roulette is a casino classic. It’s slow-paced, elegant, and has a huge history. People have been playing roulette since the 17th century, even though it didn’t become hugely popular until the 18the century, when it became a common sight at casinos everywhere.
  2. The game of roulette is played using a roulette wheel and a table. The Roulette wheel used in this particular game is European and comprises of 37 different pockets. Whilst 36 of them are marked with the numbers 1 through 36 that have alternate black and red backgrounds, the last number is marked in ‘0’ and has a green background.
  3. The first thing you'll notice when you sit down to learn how to play roulette online is the wheel. It has 38 numbers, including 1 through 36, a single zero, and a double zero. If you're playing the European version, only 37 numbers appear, as the double zero is absent. You'll also notice that.

Roulette is more popular in Europe than it is in the United States, but it’s still a fixture in USA casinos. Blackjack and craps are the big draws in terms of U.S. casino table games. But when it comes to how easy it is to play, roulette trumps both of them.

Roulette Wheels

A roulette wheel is three feet in diameter and weighs about 100 pounds. The wheel has 38 numbered pockets colored red, green, and black. The black and red pockets are numbered 1 through 36, and half of them are red. The other half are black. The other two numbers are 0 and 00, and they’re both colored green.

The dealer at the roulette table is called a “croupier”. This person spins the wheel (counterclockwise). At the same time, the croupier releases a ball around the track around the wheel (clockwise). Eventually the ball lands in one of the pockets.

Roulette Tables

The wheel isn’t the only significant thing to see on a roulette table. The surface itself is important, too. The layout is a grid of sorts with a space for each of the 38 numbers corresponding to the numbers on the wheel.

The table also has a sign indicating what the minimum bet at that table is. That minimum is the amount you must wager on any of the bets on the outside of the grid. If you’re placing bets inside the layout, you have to make wagers totaling at least the minimum wager. For example, if the table minimum is $20, you could place a $20 bet on one of the outside bets, but you couldn’t place a $5 bet there. But you could place $5 each on four different numbers and hit your $20 total.

Roulette Chips

The chips at the roulette table are different from the other chips in the casino. Players are assigned their own color chip at the roulette table, so that it’s easier to pay off the right bets. You cannot use these chips at any of the other casino table games in the casino. When you finish your roulette session, the croupier will exchange the roulette tips for regular casino chips for you.

When you buy in, the croupier asks what denomination you want your chips to be. There’s always a minimum. At a dollar table, the chip minimum will be 25 cents per chip. At a $5 table, the chip minimum will be $1 per chip. The croupier keeps track of he value of your chips with a marker.

The Game in Process

Players place their bets on the layout. You can share positions with other players who want to make the same bet—the casino can distinguish your bets because of the different chip colors for each player. You can even put your chips on top of another player’s chips.

Eventually the ball will start to slow down, and the croupier will announce, “No more bets.” At that point, you can’t place a bet.

The ball comes to rest in one of the pockets in the wheel. The dealer calls out the winning number. She also places a marker on that number’s spot on the layout. The losing chips are cleared off the table. Then the winners are paid off. Outside bets are paid first, then inside bets.

Players aren’t allowed to touch the table or the chips until the dealer removes the marker. When she does this, she’ll also announce, “Place your bets”. If you don’t pick up your chips at this point, they become live wagers.

Roulette Bets

Los angeles casinos locations. A multitude of bets are available on the wheel. Some of these pay out at even odds. Others pay out as much as 35 to 1. They’re all based on where the roulette ball lands. You can find descriptions of the payouts for each bet on this page of our site.

Roulette

Roulette isn’t the best bet in the casino. On most roulette games in the United States, the house edge is 5.26%, which is higher than that of most other games in the casino. One bet offers even worse odds. That’s the five-number bet, which has a house edge of 7.89%. Avoid that bet at all costs.

If you can find a casino that offers a rules option called “surrender”, you can reduce the house edge to 2.63% on the even-money bets. These are common in Atlantic City casinos and in some online casinos.

Vegas

Learn How To Play Roulette Las Vegas

European style roulette wheels have a single zero instead of a 0 and a 00. This lowers the house edge to 2.70%. If you can find a European roulette game with “en prison” rules, you can face a house edge of only 1.35% on even-money bets, but that variant is rare in the United States. (It’s not uncommon in European casinos, though.)

Roulette is one of those casino games that can’t be played with an advantage. There’s no such thing as a pro roulette player. Ignore any advice about betting systems and just accept the mathematical edge that the casino has. You’ll have more fun and be less frustrated if you accept the fact that roulette is a losing proposition in the long run.

Just be happy in the short term when you have the occasional lucky win.

Reason I like Bovada #4:

It's fair and safe

As always, the best way to avoid losing money by gambling is to not gamble in the first place. That goes double online, because online gambling is largely unregulated in the U.S. That means the casinos serving the whole U.S. don't answer to anyone. If you have a problem with a casino (like they won't pay you), then you're usually out of luck. I can't count how many players have written to ask me for help because they didn't get paid by some other casino. (Not that I helped them, it's not what I do—if a dodgy casino won't pay you then you're on your own.)

So if you're intent on gambling online, then the #1 most important thing is to pick a good casino. The good ones know they make more money with fair games and consistent payouts than the dodgy casinos, because fair play means repeat customers and good word-of-mouth referrals. It's no coincidence that the most successful online casinos are the ones that focus on their customers.

How Play Roulette

Many casinos try to find excuses to not pay winning players, especially players who have won big. Outright cheating (rigged games) is pretty rare, but it happens. Either way, with the lack of regulation in the U.S., if you have a problem with an online casino, you're usually out of luck.

Learn To Play Casino Roulette

So all this is another reason why I advertise Bovada, and have done so for over ten years. They use industry-standard software, it's absolutely fair, and players get their payouts, consistently. I have a choice in whom I advertise, so I purposefully picked a casino with a good reputation where I'm confident my readers will have a good experience.

To be clear, Bovada's not perfect. Once they got duped by a bad vendor (Betsoft) who provided progressive slots whose jackpots weren't winnable. When I discovered this I alerted Bovada, and they pulled all the Betsoft games from the site, but I thought they were slow to do so and didn't offer proper restitution to affected players. (more on this) Still, even with this incident, their overall history is better than most; as just one example, there are many other casinos still offering Betsoft's questionable games.

How To Play Roulette Table

Another good thing about Bovada is that they allow me to mediate if one of my readers clicks over to them, plays the games, and has a problem they can't get Bovada to resolve. My time is valuable and I wouldn't offer that service if I had to do it very often. I think I've gotten maybe one or two inquiries from affected players in the 14 years I've been advertising Bovada.

Bottom line: I'm confident that Bovada is fair and reasonably safe. You might have a good experience with another casino..and you might not. I trust Bovada, and that's why I picked them.

Learn To Play Roulette

Visit Bovada

Comments are closed.