Roulette is amongst the most popular games in casinos round the world. The name roulette which means little basket in French, was probably coined because of the earlier versions of roulette board. To play roulette, one has to basically understand the differences between the two types of roulette tables, the European roulette which has 37 slots and the American roulette which has 38 slots. This variation of this 1 slot between the two types drastically changes the house advantage in a game.
To play roulette, it is important for one to understand what a house advantage means. The house advantage implies that the casino has the most favorable outcome over any long term game. This means that when you play roulette, the chances of the house winning are more than your chances of winning, though there are ways to beat the game by reversing the odds with years of training and acute mathematical skills. A house edge, synonymous with the house advantage is a term used to estimate the amount a player loses on an average in comparison to the bet he has made. The odds against a player in the American table are higher than on its European version, hence one would prefer to play roulette on the European table.
It is important that you get the mathematics part right before you play roulette. Below are the expected values of house edge for the American and European roulette tables. Let us say the house pays you $ 35 for a $ 1 bet you placed.
In the American roulette the house edge is
-1 x 37/38 + 35 x 1/38 which comes up to (-0.0526)
In the European roulette, the house edge is given by
-1 x 36/37 + 35 x 1/37 which comes up to (-0.0270)
It is evident that the odds against you in the American roulette are much higher than in the European roulette. The house edge variation between the two forms when you play roulette is because of the inclusion of the 00 slot in American roulette which changes the way one can place the inside and outside bets in the game. So the longer you play roulette, the closer you get to the house edge. The house edge for roulette is about 5.26% or 2.7% depending on the kind of roulette and varies for other casino games from a mere 0.5% to about 50%.
Despite all the mathematics, one can follow some simple strategies to improve the odds and enjoy the roulette wheel spinning. Most importantly, it is better to play roulette on the European table as the odds are fewer. An important strategy is to play at the minimum table and also for shorter durations. It is advisable to place outside bets more than the inside one as the risk to outcome is more promising. The best thing to do is to split your amount on the outside bets, placing one bet on even money pay and placing the other on double the return. One can finally walk out of the casino a happy man with a few profits by being careful in such small ways.
This article was written by Rupal.
Tags: american roulette, casino table games, european roulette, house advantage, online casino, online roulette, roulette