Roulette Rules 2024 – Learn to Play the Table Game
Playing a game of roulette is far more complicated than meets the eye. But the intricacies of roulette is not daunting in the least when compared to the great payouts for the adventure-seekers. The game is titillating from start to finish.
Colourful, complex and wonderfully exhilarating, roulette is a game that can have you reaping great benefits if played right. The key to getting your next game to a great start and a super rewarding end is knowing the rules.
Knowing the rules, playing by them and employing the best strategy is a sure fire way to succeed. Read this comprehensive roulette guide to learn more and have the basics at your fingertips in no time at all.
The Basics: Roulette Rules
In French, roulette actually means “little wheel”. The French origins of the game are clearly reflected in a variety of its bets but to get a clear head start, a good understanding of the wheel works wonders. The wheel itself has 37 or 38 pockets.
In American roulette, you will have 38 pockets whereas in European roulette, you will have 37. Each pocket has a number ranging from 0 to 36. You will see that in American Roulette, another pocket with the value of 00 is present.
All the pockets are designated with a colour:
- Zeroes are usually green
- There are 18 pockets that are red
- There are 18 pockets that are black
In a game of roulette, the start is demarcated by the dealer spinning the ball on the outer rim of the wheel. The ball will eventually fall onto one of the numbered pockets. What you have to do as a player is take a chance by guessing which pocket the ball will land on. The whole idea is to bet on where the ball will end up and if you are right, wins are in order.
At the table, each player has a chance to place their bets around the roulette table. There are multiple ways to decide your bets and these are usually placed with chips. The chips represent a denomination of cash and there usually is a minimum bet required.
So, be sure to check on these before you actually put down your money. As a player, you get to bet on any combination of the numbers. If someone else has bet on the pocket you want to bet on, no worries there! You can still place your bet on the same pocket.
In a traditional brick and mortar casino, each player has different coloured chips so as not mix things up. But in the virtual world, that is not a problem as your chips will be clearly marked as yours and can be tracked on the sidebar or virtual board on the game interface.
Once you have placed your bet and the ball starts rolling, that is when the atmosphere sizzles with heightened anticipation. But even when the ball is in motion, you generally can place your bets for a few more seconds until the dealer calls out the cut-off.
Once the ball lands in its final destination, your dealer will call out the winning number and the colour of the pocket the ball landed in. To protect your bets, the dealer also puts in markers and the losing bets are cleared off. Once all the winning bets are paid, the next round begins.
Betting in Roulette Rules
The sectors for betting on a roulette wheel comprise of several main structures. There, are of course, the numbers 0 to 36. And then there are the odd/even numbers, red/black colours, 1-18 or 19-36, columns and dozens. There are two types of main bets that you would place.
These are the inside bets and the outside bets. Inside bets are bets you make on the inside of the wheel on the numbers. Outside bets are the bets that you place on the other sectors that lie beyond the numbers.
Inside Bets
So let us talk a little bit more about the inside bets. There are seven main bets you can place in roulette that are tried and tested inside bets. The straight bet is when you only bet on one number. All you have to do to make this bet is place your chips one one particular number.
Then, there is the split bet. The split bet allows you to place your chips on two numbers that lie side by side. This is usually done by placing the chips on the line between the two selected numbers, denoting that a split bet is being made.
The third inside bet that you can make is none other than the street bet. The street bet paves the way for you to place your chips on not one, or two but three numbers that are side by side. This bet is demarcated when the chips are placed on the outer corner of the row on the wheel.
The six-line bet is another inside bet which involves betting on two adjacent lines. To make this bet, it is required that you place your chips on the outer corner of two of the lines you are interested in.
Next up, we have the corner bet. This bet is particularly unique because it is a four-number bet that is placed by putting your chips on the common corner shared between four numbers. This bet is also known as the square bet.
Placing a trio bet, means placing a three-number bet that includes a 0 or 00. To do this, the chips are usually placed on the lines that share the 0 or 00 box with two other numbers.
Last, but certainly not least, is the basket bet. The basket bet includes a bet on 0 or 00, 1, 2 and 3 with a chip on the corner shared by the zero box and the first line.
Outside Bets
The inside bets are usually quite easy to master. The outside bets, on the other hand, are slightly more complicated as they are placed beyond the number of pockets. There are five types of main outside bets. The red or black bets are based on the colour of the winning number while the odd or even bet is based on whether or not the winning number will be even.
The third main outside bet is the 1 to 18 or 19 to 36 which is pretty self-explanatory. The bet is based on whether the winning number will be lower or higher than 19.
Another common outside bet is dozens whereby the bet is made on one of the three dozen that is found on the layout of the table. Columns is one type of bet in which a bet is made on one of the three columns where the winning number is expected to be.
There are a couple more outside bets to make, but these are only available in some of the roulette variations. These are known as the red snake bet and the black snake bet. The red snake bet consists of betting on the red numbers which are 1, 5, 9, 12, 14, 16, 19, 23, 27, 30, 32 and 34.
The black snake bet revolves around betting on the black numbers of the wheel which are 2, 6, 8, 10, 13, 17, 20, 24, 26, 29, 28, 31 and 35. The resultant pattern of these bets resembles a snake, hence the name. It is important to note that in a black snake bet combination, the 17/20 numbers and the 26/29 numbers are actually considered split bets while the rest are straight bets.
Announced Bets
Lastly, there are announced bets. These are special combinations of bets and are usually available in the European and French versions of roulette. The Neighbours of Zero bet encompasses the zero and 7 other numbers on each side of the zero.
This allows for a trio bet covering 0, 2, 3 and five splits, which cover 4 and 7, 12 and 15, 18 and 21, 19 and 22 or 32 and 35. The one corner bet under Neighbours of Zero allows you to place chips on the corner of numbers 25, 26, 28 and 29.
Another announced bet is the One-Third of the Wheel bet. Here, you may place chips on 27, 13, 36, 11, 30, 8, 23,10, 5, 24, 16 and 33. You can also split these bets six ways by placing chips on 5 and 8, 10 and 11, 13 and 16, 23 and 24, 27 and 30 as well as 33 and 36. You can also make a bet known as the Orphelins.
This bet includes eight numbers that are 1, 6, 9, 14, 17, 20, 31 and 34. It works on a basis of four tiers which cover one straight line on the number one or four splits on 6 and 9, 14 and 17, 17 and 20 and 31 and 34. There are also other bets like Zero Game, Finales and Red/Black Splits but these may not be too common even in the respective versions of roulette.
How to Play: Roulette Rules
In this guide, we will cover how to go about playing roulette. First of all, you will have to get a good understanding of the odds or how to calculate them. You could have a great start by getting your hands on a roulette strategy guide.
However, the main odds to consider require just some basic calculations. Outside bets, in general, have better odds with a probability of 50%. Betting on even or odd numbers and the 1 to 18 or 19 to 36 bets are also touted as better strategies albeit the relatively high risk.
Others to consider are bets on the first, second or third dozen which have an odds of 2 to 1. For inside bets, the odds are 17 to 1 which makes it a tad riskier than outside bets. The bet with the least odds are straight bets which are 35 to 1 but hold lucrative rewards.
It is also generally beneficial to know the house edge of the game you are playing. If you do not know by now, roulette comes in a variety of versions. The main differences between the versions lie between American and European or French Roulette.
In American roulette, the house edge is usually higher while in French or European roulette the house edge tends to be lower. Knowing your betting strategy should also begin with you analysing your financial capacity. The rule of thumb is to refrain from betting more than 10% of your bankroll at a time and splitting your bets if you are new to the game.
Most seasoned players are big fans of the Martingale, Reverse Martingale and Fibonacci systems in betting. When it comes to knowing how to strategize your bets, practice and loads of it comes in really handy. So keep practising, do your homework and prepare to have fun!