How to Play Roulette

When learning how to play Roulette, the most important thing is to understand the basic concept of the game and how it works. Roulette is comprised of the Roulette wheel and a betting grid. The Roulette wheel is made up of either 37 or 38 pockets, each pocket is numbered from 1-36 with either a red or black number, in addition there is a green zero when playing European Roulette and a single zero and double zero in green when playing American Roulette. A ball, usually white as it is easy to be seen, is thrown into the spinning wheel in the opposite direction to which it is spinning. The bet or bets that a player places are predictions on which pocket the white ball will come to rest when the wheel stops spinning. A player is allowed to make more than one bet per spin of the wheel.

Placing Your Roulette Bets

Familiarizing yourself with the betting grid is essential before you even consider starting to place your own roulette bets. There are a number of different types of bets that can be placed which are grouped as inside bets and outside bets. The inside bets are bets made on specific numbers or groups of numbers which are within the primary grid. This grid is made up of all of the 36 numbers that appear on the spinning wheel, split into three columns and twelve rows. Surrounding the primary grid are different squares that represent all of the outside bets such as odd and even numbered bets, red and black bets and so on.

Inside Bets and Outside Roulette Bets

Inside roulette bets have names associated with each type of bet. A straight up bet is a bet on a single number. A split bet is a bet across two numbers. A street bet is a bet on three numbers in a row. A corner bet is a bet that includes four adjacent numbers and a six number line bet is a bet on six numbers, i.e. two rows.
Outside bets are bets on at least 12 numbers or more, such as 12 numbers in a column, red or black, the first dozen numbers, even or odd numbers, low or high numbers and so on. Players place their bet or bets by laying their chips on specific numbers, across a group of numbers or for outside bets, in one of the relevant squares. For example, a chip or chips are placed on the line between two numbers for a split bet. For a corner bet, the chip or chips are placed at the middle point between all four numbers.

Roulette Odds and Winning

The odds for winning according to your bet are advertised with each game. As logic defines, the more bets you place per spin the lower your odds are but the higher your chances of winning. In most games, players can carry on placing bets when the roulette wheel is spinning until the croupier will call "no more bets". As soon as the wheel starts to slow down, the bets are stopped and the players wait in anticipation to see in which pocket the ball will come to rest.

Extra Roulette Rules

When playing European Roulette or Atlantic City Roulette there are extra rules that apply such as the Imprisonment Rule or En Prison. The En Prison rule applies for even money bets only, when the ball comes to rest on a zero the player has the chance to take back half of his bet or leave the bet for another spin. If the ball lands on a zero at the next spin, he loses, if it does not land on a zero, he receives the amount he betted back without his winnings. La Partage is similar in that the casino offers half of the bet back without the option to imprison if he lands on a zero. In Atlantic City, if the ball lands on a zero or the double zero, the player loses only half of any even money bet.

Free Roulette First

Playing Roulette is not a difficult concept to grasp, once you have familiarized yourself with the grid, it is just a matter of deciding which numbers to place your bets on and how much to bet. If you are not familiar with the game of Roulette it is still advisable to find a free Roulette game where you can practice for free before you place your own real money bets. Roulette is enthralling and rewarding and also provides great entertainment.