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Casino Games - Roulette
Author: Yui-Bin Chen, Ph.D.
The Copyright of this article is held by the author.
Table Layout
(with 00)
____________________________________________________________________
/ | | | | | | | | | | | | || |
| | (3)| 6 | (9)|(12)| 15 |(18)|(21)| 24 |(27)|(30)| 33 |(36)|| 2:1 |
|00|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____||_____|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | || |
|--| 2 | (5)| 8 | 11 |(14)| 17 | 20 |(23)| 26 | 29 |(32)| 35 || 2:1 |
| |____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____||_____|
|0 | | | | | | | | | | | | || |
| | (1)| 4 | (7)| 10 | 13 |(16)|(19)| 22 |(25)| 28 | 31 |(34)|| 2:1 |
\_|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____||_____|
| | | |
| 1st 12 | 2nd 12 | 3rd 12 |
|___________________|___________________|___________________|
| | | | | | |
| 1 - 18 | Even | (Red) | Black | Odd | 19 - 36 |
|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|
There are 38 numbers (0, 00, 1 to 36) on the wheel. 0 and 00 are Green,
half of numbers from 1 to 36 are Red (marked with parentheses, see above),
and the other half of them are Black. After the marker has been removed
from the table, players can place their bets. Winning bets are the ones
which cover the winning number -- the slot where the small white ball drops.
Winning bets are paid by certain payouts listed below.
Bets & Payouts
____________________________________________________________________
/ | | | | | | | | | | | | || |
| | A | | | | | | | | | | | || G |
| |____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____||_____|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | || |
|--C B | | | | | | | | | | || H |
| |____|____D____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____||_____|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | || |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | || I |
\_E__C_|____F____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____||_____|
| | | |
| 1st 12 | 2nd 12 J 3rd 12 | <-2:1
|___________________|___________________|___________________|
| | | | | | |
| 1 - 18 | Even | (Red) | Black | Odd | 19 - 36 | <-1:1
|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|
Inner Bets
| Bet |
No. of
Spots
Covered |
Payout |
Action |
|---|
| A |
1 |
35:1 |
put your chips on the number |
| B |
2 |
17:1 |
put your chips between
these two adjacent numbers
(such as 1 + 2, or 1 + 4); when bet on 0 + 00, put
your chips between 0 and 00, or between 13-24 and
25-36 (see J in the figure) |
| C |
3 |
11:1 |
if you bet 0, 00 and 2,
put your chips at the center
of these numbers; if you bet on a row (such as 1, 2, 3),
put your chips on the side of this row closing to the outer bets |
| D |
4 |
8:1 |
put your chips on the 4-corner
of these 4 numbers |
| E |
5 |
6:1 |
the only 5-number bet is to bet 0,
00, 1, 2, and 3;
put your chips on the intersection of 0, 1, and 1-12 outer bet |
| F |
6 |
5:1 |
bet on 2 adjacent rows;
put your chips on the side
between these two rows |
Outer Bets
The following groups pay 2:1 (covering 12 numbers)
1-12
13-24
25-36
1st column (X mod 3 = 1) (G)
2nd column (X mod 3 = 2) (H)
3rd column (X mod 3 = 0) (I)
The following groups pay 1:1 (covering 18 numbers)
Red
Black
1-18
19-36
Even
Odd
Note: Tropicana (in Las Vegas) has a quarter bet (covering 9 numbers),
which gets a 3:1 payout.
The payout is computed by the following formula:
| 36 |
| ------------------------------- - 1 | : 1
|_ total number of spots you bet _|
So, if you bet one number and win, you receive 35 units and keep your
original bet.
If there are only 36 spots on the wheel, this will be a fair game.
However, there are 2 extra numbers (0 and 00) on the wheel and they
are GREEN.
No matter how you bet (except the 5-number bet), the casino has 5.263%
edge.
Note that recently in Las Vegas there are casinos providing the
single-0 Roulette game, which reduces the house edge to 2.7%.
Betting Strategy
Somebody may suggest that bet 1 unit on any 1:1 bet, if you lose,
bet 2 units, then 4 units, 8 units, etc. Each time you win, you
win 1 unit. For the ideal case, you will not lose. But in the
real case, first you need to have a huge bankroll (0.163% of chance
that you will lose 10 times straight), and second you may reach
the table limits before you win (this is the way casinos to guarantee
their profits).
Basically this game is almost unbeatable.
The best betting strategy for this game is NOT TO BET.
Unbalanced Wheel
Sometimes the wheel is not balanced and the ball always fall in some
sections (more likely it will fall in opposite quarters). Now, you
can divide all numbers into 2 groups (high probability ones and low
probability ones). Only bet on high probability ones. Considering
a long term playing, this may be the only way for you to get profit
from Roulette.
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