How to Play Roulette

All that glitters is not gold, and not all that looks simple actually is. Roulette is one of the oldest and most loved casino games, (in)famous for its simplicity. In its essence, Roulette cannot be easier to play.

As a player, all you need to do is pick your favourite venue. As for the game itself, technology allowed for evolution beyond imagination and you can now play either a video variant of Roulette online or even in real-time thanks to live dealer casinos. Live Roulette is becoming increasingly popular today and one big reason is the fact you can find native Roulette tables that can be played in various native languages. This has made Arabic native Roulette tables extremely popular for example.

Once you’ve made your choice of the venue and game, pick your lucky colour and numbers and place your bet while breathlessly waiting for the wheel to stop spinning.

A luck-based game such as Roulette cannot be in any way affected by your decisions and that’s exactly where all the appeal lies. You cannot control the outcome of the game, but you can indeed increase your odds of winning. There are but a few other things that you should know lest you would like to become a Roulette master.

All rights for your personal strategy remain reserved, and you are free to leave the page if you already have it all worked out for you. However, if you would like to learn to look at things from a different perspective, be our guest and keep reading. You might end up improving your Roulette game!

The Nuts & Bolts of Roulette

Roulette (French for little wheel) as we now know it was invented and developed in the 18th century and was a popular game among French royalty. Since its conception, it started to grow outstandingly and went on to bifurcate into two of its original variants – French (or, European) and American. The essential difference between the two lies in the quantity of numbers on the Roulette wheel. The initial, European Roulette consists of 37 coloured and numbered pockets, whereas the American edition comes with 38 pockets. The extra cipher in the latter variation is the double zero (00), added in the 19th century. Eighteen pockets are coloured red and the other half is tinted black; to avoid confusion, the zeroes are green. Interestingly, the sum of all the numbers on the European version of the wheel totals 666, which is the so-called Number of the Beast.

The winning combination of the colour and the number is determined when a dealer (or, croupier, if you want to keep it French) spins the Roulette wheel in one direction, and then spins the ball on the outer rim of the wheel in the opposite direction. After a few moments the ball loses momentum and, bouncing over diverters, stops in one of the pockets. Your object as a player is to attempt to predict where the ball will land.

Before the croupier takes the wheel into his or her hands, players around the Roulette table are to place their bets. There are a great number of possible bets, and although the number of combinations is limited, they are next to countless. In case of a land-based casino, players need to exchange their cash and casino chips for special Roulette chips. Then each of the players receives chips of various colours, so as to differentiate among them more easily. However, if you are playing online Roulette, this is not necessary.

While you are advised to place your bet as soon as that is announced enabled by the dealer, you still have a few more seconds to make a decision once the ball has been set in motion. When the dealer calls off all bets, all that is left is to wait. Once the ball lands into a pocket and remains there, the dealer will call out the winning number and the colour of the winning pocket. If you are a regular at brick-and-mortar casinos, you will be familiar with the markers. They are used to protect winning bets, and are removed before the next spin. After the announcement, the croupier pays out all winning bets, and the table is ready for the next spin.

Roulette in the Flesh

To play Roulette successfully, you need to play it smart. It is not only about your bankroll and your strategy, but also about a couple of psychological things you should be familiar with before you delve into business. If you think there is no way for the ball to land on black five times in a row, you should think twice. The concept of the gambler’s fallacy (or, Monte Carlo fallacy) is based on a similar principle. The belief, or rather misconception, that if the ball has landed on black multiple times, it is more likely to land on red the next time is completely wrong. This has been proven on several occasions, but somehow a number of players still rely on this delusion. If you want to actually win, don’t be that player.

Follow the Bets

According to the rules of the game, there are two kinds of bets that you can place: inside and outside.

Each fits almost entirely different profile of player. If you want to play safer, you should place an outside bet, as your chances are close to 50/50. However, if you would like to feel that adrenaline due to your risky decisions, place an inside bet, sweat with anticipation, but you will have greater odds as well. Regardless what scenario you choose, whether it is the colour – Reds/Blacks, even/odd, low/high, Dozens, Columns or straight (single) numbers only, your decisions make up your gambler profile.

Make Every Spin Count

For Straights, the lowest probability stands at 2.7% for the European variant. Odds of 2 to 1 are offered for the 1st Dozen, 2nd Dozen and 3rd Dozen, as well as for the 1st Column, 2nd Column and 3rd Column. The most attractive odds are applied to Straight Ups – 35 to 1.

Nothing in life comes free, and we are sorry to rain on your parade, but we all need a flash of reality now and then. The casino has to take its slice of the pie, and it does so through the House Edge. In other words, if the ball lands on zero the casino profits. At least that’s the case with American Roulette. In French Roulette, lest the ball rests on zero, your wager is frozen, or “in prison”, and cannot be changed in the following spin. If it busts in the next spin, the casino cashes in.

Now that you have mastered all the basics of the most renowned casino game of them all, you can go on to have a look at our Best Roulette Casinos list and start your gambling journey.