Online Roulette School

• Roulette Rules
  
  The origin of the roulette game has been traced back to 17th century France. These days, roulette, both the European and the American version, is one of the most popular gambling games in many casinos all over the world. Places such as Monte Carlo and Las Vegas are well known for their roulette attractions.
  
  
• Roulette Game Objective
  
  The way to win a roulette game is to correctly predict the slot on which the roulette ball will eventually land. Luck plays the most important part in the game of roulette. Some players believe in "hot," i.e., winning numbers, which are more likely to come up, and there are others who think that numbers which haven't won for a while have a greater chance of winning now, since it's "their turn." Some players place bets on many different numbers every spin, in order to increase their chances for a successful bet (which in turn also reduces their total profit), and others use gaming strategies, roulette systems and/or money management systems in order to maximize their profit.
  
  
• The Basics
  
  The roulette game usually contains up to 8 players, each player playing against the house representative – otherwise known as the croupier, or dealer. The dealer is the person who spins the roulette wheel, places the bets and distributes payouts. The European & French versions of roulette include 37 numbers on the wheel (1-36 and 0), and the American version includes 38 numbers (1-36, 0 and 00).
  
  Players buy chips, with different chip colors being used for each player, so that they won't get mixed-up. These chips are used only for the roulette game, and when the game is over, players exchange their colored chips with regular casino chips, or cash. The colored roulette chips have numeric values printed on them, to state the value of each chip.
  
  The first step in playing roulette is to place the chips on the numbers or marked areas on the roulette table. After everyone around the table gets a chance to place bets, the dealer spins the roulette wheel and launches the ball onto the spinning wheel.
  
  A few seconds before the ball stops, the dealer calls "no more bets," and from that moment on, no bets are made or changed. After the ball stops, the dealer marks the winning number with a "dolly" and clears the losing bets. While the dealer pays the winners, the players may start placing new bets for the next round of roulette.
  
  
• The House Advantage
  
  When playing European roulette (with a single 0 only), the house advantage over the player's wagers is 2.7% for all bets. American roulette, on the other hand (with both 0 and 00), gives the house a larger advantage. The house edge for American roulette is 5.26% for all bets, with the exception of 5-number bets, which have a bigger house advantage of 7.9%. The house advantage means the casino takes a "fee" of the winnings, by paying the winners a small percentage less than they have coming to them.
  
  
• The "En Prison" Rule
  
  The Roulette 2002 staff recommends playing in casinos that allow for two rules, En Prison and La Partage, which further reduce the house edge.
  
  The En Prison rule, which exists only in some casinos, applies only to even-money bets (pays 1-to-1). When the outcome of the roulette is 0 or 00, some casinos allow the player to either withdraw the original bet (which wasn't on 0 or 00) or to keep the bet "en prison" (in prison) for the next spin of the roulette. If the bet stays on the table and loses on the next roulette spin, it's lost – even if the outcome is 0 or 00 once more.
  
  
• The 'La Partage' Rule
  
  This rule is quite similar to the En Prison rule, only with a slight modification – the player can't leave the bet on the table "in prison," and he gets only half the bet back instead of the full bet. This rule applies, like En Prison, to even-money outside bets, when the outcome is 0 or 00.
  
  These two rules manage to cut the house advantage on even-money bets in half. For example, betting on "Red" while playing European roulette (single zero) with one of these rules has a house advantage of 1.35%, but for American roulette, it's 2.63%.
  
  
• French Roulette Rules
  
  French roulette is very similar to European roulette, both in its form (a single zero) and its rules. The difference between these two variations of roulette lies in the table layout for the outside bets.
  
  The winning odds of the French roulette are exactly the same as the regular European roulette and higher than the winning odds of American roulette (with 0 and 00). The La Partage rule works here to reduce the loss into 50% when the outcome of the roulette wheel is 0.
  
  French roulette has the same objective as any other roulette. Below you'll find roulette terms in English and their translation into French, for your convenience.
  
  
• Outside Bets
  
  Twelve Numbers Column = Colonne
  Twelve Numbers Dozen = Douzaine
  Red or Black = Rouge, Noir
  Even or Odd = Pair, Impair
  Low or High numbers = Manque, Passe
  
  
• Inside Bets
  
  One Number Straight up = En plein
  Two Numbers Split Bet = Cheval
  Three Numbers Street Bet = Transversale
  Four Numbers Corner = Carre
  Six Numbers Line Bet = Sixainne