About Time: You Learned How to Play RouletteBy Angelica Malin
Roulette is the most popular casino game at the moment. In fact, this is the first thing many people think of when someone talks about casino games.
Before you learn how to play it, you need to understand that it is a game of chance and that the element of luck is perhaps the most important factor that will influence the outcome.
Without further ado, let’s explore basic roulette rules, as described by roulettesites.org.
What Does a Roulette Table Consist of?
The two most important parts of a roulette table are a wheel and a betting field. The wheel consists of numbers (0–36) with each number coloured either red or black. Before a ball is released into the spinning wheel, players need to use chips to place bets onto the betting field.
Types of Bets in Roulette
Roulette is all about how you place bets. The most common ones are so-called straight-up bets where players get to place chips on one of the numbers. The payout here is usually 1:35. In other words, if you bet £1 on 25, and the ball hits that number, you will win a total of £35.
The beauty of roulette is that you can bet on several numbers at once. For example, if you place split bets, you will split a bet into two adjacent numbers on the table. You can also make a ‘street’ by placing bets on three consecutive numbers on the betting field. Other popular inside bets include six-line, corner, trio, and basket.
The outside bets are also very interesting. They don’t pay as much as the inside ones, but the possibilities of actually winning a bet are higher. The most popular outside bet is Red or Black. It is basically a coin toss type of bet as there is a 50% chance to win it. The numbers of red and black fields on the reels are equal, and the only thing that could really mess your bets is the zero field. Zeros are green and, in case the ball hits it, you will lose a bet on both red and black.
You can also place bets on odd or even numbers or on 1 to 18 or 19 to 36. These are also 1:1 bets similar to the red and black ones.
Another popular bet is called a ‘dozens’ bet. Players usually place chips on 1–12, 13–27 or 28–36. The payout here is 1:2. Finally, there’s the columns bet which also provides a 1:2 payout. The numbers on the betting field are categorized into three columns and you basically bet on which column will be the winning one.
Roulette Strategies
Playing roulette is even more entertaining when you use betting strategies to manage your bankroll. These will require you to step out of your comfort zone and actually invest more energy into playing roulette.
At the moment, the most popular roulette betting system (and the only one you should consider as a beginner) is the so-called martingale strategy. The idea is to focus on bets that pay 1:1 such as the red and black bets. Start with a minimum bet and, every time you lose it, make sure to double it up the next time. For example, if you bet £1 and lose, you need to bet £2. If you win it, you will win £4 in total (you invested £3 and got £4, so every time you win, you will get your money back + the starting bet amount).
The martingale strategy also relies on the element of luck as there are minimum and maximum bets you can make, so if you manage to make several consecutive losses, you will hit the maximum, and the strategy will not be as effective anymore.
