Roulette

Roulette is often the casual casino player's game of choice. It's easy to walk up to and place a bet as nobody is sitting down, and there is no maximum number of players, so you're always welcome. It's also a slow paced game that anyone can learn the basics of by just watching for a few minutes.

If you're interested in learning a little more about this game, and learning how to maximize your potential profit, then keep on reading. Although the game is a negative expectation one, which means over the long run we are expected to lose, there are a number of small things you should know to at least give you better odds than anyone else at the table. The problem with trying to develop a proper roulette strategy is that all of the bets on the table calculate out to the same house edge of 5.25% (on American tables). The only exception to this rule is the five number bet, which has an even worse edge of 7.29%!

How might we go about increasing our luck then? The most important variable is your attention span. The more attention you play to the style of game your playing and the options available to you, the better your chances in the long run. The first thing you should keep an eye out for is a rule called 'surrender'. Surrender is offered in many Atlantic city casinos, and a few other places around the world. The rule only applies to outside even money bets, it doesn't affect the edge of your whole session, should you choose to bet on any inside options. Surrender simply cuts your losses in half in the instance of a green pocket hitting. So if you're betting an even money outside bet and a zero or double zero hits, you only lose half of your bet, not the full thing. This of course pulls the house edge on outside even money bets down to 2.63%, pretty good.

The next most important thing to look out for in your roulette hunt is the single zero roulette wheel, or European roulette wheel. A European wheel, if you hadn't guessed by this point, only has a single zero pocket, and no double zero. There are only a total of 37 pockets left on the wheel now, which affects the casino's edge more than you might think. This small and subtle shift lowers the house edge on all bets (not just the outside even money ones) to a respectable 2.70%. Lucky for us, European roulette wheels are easy to find on the Internet these days, so you don't have to hunt across the whole country for one.

The last thing to look out for is mentioned last because you probably wont find it unless you're playing in Europe. A unique rule addition called 'en prison' is beneficial to players, and offered on many European tables, but is quite hard to find in America. If you're placing an even money outside bet (en prison only applies to these bets) and a 0 pocket is hit, en prison comes into effect. If this rule is offered the bet will not be swept away after the rest of the bets, but it wont be returned to you either; the bet is said to be 'in prison' and remains on the board to have it's fate decided by the next spin. If the next spin produces a win for your even money bet, your money is returned to you as was, with no extra winnings. If the next spin is a loss for your imprisoned bet, it gets swept away. If 0 comes up again, the bet remains in prison.

En prison actually manages to slice down the house edge on even money outside bets to a meager 1.35%. At this rate, you're playing roulette with an edge comparable to blackjack, one of the best bets in the casino!