For those of you who are unfamiliar with the history of roulette, the first thing you should know about it is that it was invented by a real physicist and mathematician, Blaise Pascal. The aim of his project was to invent a machine that operates without taking energy from another source, called a perpetual motion machine. Although he failed in that project, the roulette table we know of today is courtesy of Pascal.
In addition, if you parle français, you probably know that ‘roulette’ means ‘little wheel’, hence the look of the roulette table with a wheel in the middle. Though these fun facts are really interesting to hear, we need to focus on the game. We will introduce you to the basics in a nutshell so you gain sufficient background knowledge to try it.
What Should You Know About The Roulette Table?
You must’ve seen a roulette table so far, at least in movies if not somewhere else. A roulette table has a spinning wheel, a betting side of a table and a ceramic ball. The croupier is the one responsible for spinning the wheel and throwing the ball in the opposite direction. The ball falls on a numbered pocket. You have numbers from 0 to 36 in European Roulette and from 00 to 36 in American Roulette. The bets are divided as it follows: Black, Red, Even, Odd, First Dozen, Second Dozen, Third Dozen, 19-36 and 1-18.
How Do You Place Bets?
As mentioned, there are several bets you can make. You can place a bet on a single number, a row, a couple of numbers etc. But the first thing you should know is that the bets are divided into outside and inside bets. The outside bets include the most popular roulette bets red or black, bets on odd or even numbers, or low or high bets. These bets pay 1 to 1. If you want to bet on a column or a dozen, it pays 2 to 1. Inside bets include betting on a single number, which pays 35 to 1, on two numbers (called split) which pays 17 to 1, on three numbers (called a street) that pays 11 to 1, on a corner or four numbers that pays 8 to 1 or on adjoining ‘streets’ that pays 5 to 1. The house edge for American Roulette is 5.26%, while for the European is 2.7%. Both of these variants are also available in pretty much all new bingo sites in the UK.
Are There Any Strategies that Improve Your Odds?
As a matter of fact, professional roulette players tend to follow several roulette strategies they claim work perfectly for them. The Oscar’s Grind, the most popular Martingale, the Fibonacci, the D’Alembert and the Paroli are the 5 most widely-used roulette strategies.
Pro players mostly use the Martingale strategy, since it provides them with excitement, suspense and eventually great wins. It is actually a strategy used not only in roulette but in many other aspects of life. There is nothing genius about it, you’re not using any special mathematical formulas, but you’re simply doubling your lost bets for as long as it takes until you hit a big win. Sounds weird? Well, this is the system most pro roulette players have used for decades, and it proved that it actually works.
Do the Strategies Help You Win for Real?
Of course, the risk of losing everything is always there, but these strategies proved to be quite useful, especially in land-based casinos. But what about online roulette? Do the strategies help there?
Let us remind you that roulette is entirely a game of chance. Now let’s add the fact that online casino games run on a Random Number Generator, a special computer device that using a complicated algorithm provides you with random game outcomes. Both of these reminders just show you the cruel truth that you can never predict where the ball could possibly land.
However, since the Martingale system, for example, is not based on any calculation nor prediction, it is actually the safest system to use when playing online roulette. Why? Because this system does not rely on anything at all; it just encourages you to follow a pattern and hope for the best. Since you have no idea where the ball could end, you should double your bets for as long as your budget allows. If you’re lucky enough, you could get a win when you least expect and that win would be for a huge bet. Therefore, your win would be a big one.
Which Are the Most Popular Online Roulette Games to Try?
Even though the French, the European and the American roulette variants were the only ones available in the past, today, we have so many online roulette variants to choose from and new ones are being released continuously.
Visit any respected online casino site, and you will find online and even live roulette variants such as Mini-Roulette, Double Ball Roulette, 3D Roulette, Live Roulette, Premium Roulette, Monopoly Roulette, Ra Roulette and plenty of other cool variants.
Tip: If you’re a roulette beginner, you should start low. Start with the basic European roulette variant, and this way, you will get the general idea of how online roulette actually works and how to implement your basic knowledge of the game. As soon as you become a more experienced player, you can level up, and try different online roulette variants, even live dealer roulette games.
Now, Let’s Play!
Once you have decided on the variant and the bet you want to make, you will receive special roulette chips depending on the sum of money you want to bet. These chips will be put on the corresponding number(s) by the dealer who will announce that no more bets are allowed. Finally, you will see the dealer spinning the wheel and throwing the ball. After the ball reaches its final destination, the dealer will announce the winner by placing a marker on the winner’s chips. Then, the dealer will first remove the chips of those who didn’t win and after that, will give the winner the sum he/she won.
On the other hand, if you want to learn how to play blackjack, make sure you read our useful guide.
