Category: Gambling and Casinos

The Great British Pub Quiz and the American show Jeopardy have a lot to answer for – they are both responsible for the retaining of highly useless yet highly interesting bits of trivia; information that you would never need in normal life. However, which of us haven’t at some point uttered the words, “well, it’ll come in useful for a pub quiz”, or something akin to that. It is for this reason solely that I have chosen to pick a few of my favorite pieces or roulette trivia to share with you – use them wisely.

Did you know that the roulette wheel was invented by the French inventor Blaise Pascal. Pascal was actually trying to create a perpetual movement machine, but ended up with the roulette wheel – not a bad rap.

The double 00 position found on American Roulette Wheels were added only when roulette found its way to the United States of America. Previous to this the wheel only had the single 0 position, but the American casino owners didn’t feel that the house had enough of an edge with this and so added the extra position.

The chap that added the original one 0 position was named Francois Blanc; he was also responsible for setting up the first casino in Monte Carlo. It was rumored that in order to learn the secrets of roulette Mr. Blanc actually made a pact with the devil. The evidence lies in the wheel itself: If you add all the numbers of the board together you come to the sum of the devil, 666.

Row 5 is the worst row to bet on; statistically speaking row 5 is the least likely row to win.

One of the most impressive recent wins was by an English man called Ashley Revel who sold everything he owned in 2004 and went to a Las Vegas Casino. He put down the sum of all of his possessions, $135, 300, on a double or nothing bet. He bet on red, and red came in – he left with double his money!

Also in 2004, a group of 3 were accused of winning over 1,000,000 GBP by illegal measures in a London casino. The casino charged the group with using mobile phone and laser technology in order to predict the falling of the ball. The case was taken to court and the casino lost – the group kept all of their winnings.

Einstein apparently commented that “you can’t beat a roulette table unless you steal from it”.

Roulette has played a part in many a flick, the most famous of which being James Bond’s ‘Diamonds are Forever’, and of course Casablanca where we found our hero, Rick, fixing the wheel for a destitute client to win big and be able to escape to America.

Hope this comes in handy!

Roulette is the exciting game of chance that has been the setting of countless tense movie scenes as suave men and sexy women make or lose a fortune at the spin of a wheel. While there is no way to gain an advantage or even alter the odds a the roulette table if you place your bets with a strategy that takes statistics into consideration you will get the most out of your time at the table.

The trick to betting in roulette is to understand how much each bet is worth if you win, but at the same time being able to continue betting if you lose. There is no point in putting everything on one number because unless you are very lucky you will be out of pocket on one spin of the wheel.

The simplest bets to place are the outside bets. These are the bets on either red or black, odds or even, high(1-18) or low (19-36). These bets pay even money and have the advantage that you can stretch your bankroll for quite a while by placing minimum bets. One method or betting on the outside blocks is to use the Martingale method. This method works by placing a bet on one of the outside bets. If you lose, you double up and place the same bet again and continue doubling until you win. When you eventually win you will get all of your previous bets back plus one bet. However, there is a catch. Most tables have a maximum bet and if you lose too many times in a row your doubled up bet will pass the maximum. Although this method doesn’t ‘beat the system’ it is a good way of staying in the game for a while and if you do have luck you will make some winnings. You can also play two sets of Martingale bets in parallel, for instance one on red or black and one on odds or even.

Group bets cover the numbers from 1-12, 13-24, or 25-36. Similarly, column bets cover all the numbers in one of the three columns that go the length of the table. Both these kind of bets pay 2:1. You can use the Martingale method on these bets as well. Although your chances of winning are less you are making a corresponding increase in your winnings.

Another fun betting method is to just place one bet on the same number for each spin of the wheel. If your number comes up before you have placed 36 bets then you will make a profit.

Famous physicist Albert Einstein said that the only way to win money at roulette is by stealing it when the croupier isn’t looking. Nonetheless, understanding the betting system will help you put your cash in the right place at the right time, and have a lot of fun along the way.

The allure of the Roulette wheel has captured the attention of many walking through the casino. In some areas of the world, it is viewed as an elegant game-thoughts of James Bond come to mind. Roulette has a few versions. The two most popular are the European and American versions. The main difference and its effect on the game will be discussed in this article. We will also go over the probabilities of winning. Anyone that wants to win at a casino game needs to know as much as possible.

American Roulette

The American Roulette wheel has 38 slots in it. First, there are the numbers one through thirty-six. Finally, there are the 0 and 00 slots. American Roulette has a 5.26% house advantage over the player.

European Roulette

The European Roulette wheel has 37 slots in it. Like the American wheel, there are the numbers one through thirty-six. The European wheel also has a single 0 slot. The lack of the 00 slot makes the European version better to play. The house advantage drops down to 2.70%. There have been many systems devised for Roulette. The origins of these systems were really devised for the European version of the game.

Betting Types

Following are some common types of betting in Roulette. If you are playing in a live game and have any trouble, just ask the dealer. He or she will be happy to assist you.

Column Bet: The column bet is on the outside of the Roulette layout. It pays 2-1.

Dozens: Players can bet on the first, second or third set of 12 numbers. It pays 2-1.

Low or High: This bet pays even money. Players can bet on the winning number being 1-18 or 19-36.

Odd or Even: Another even money bet. Players bet on the winning number being odd or even.

Red or Black: A very common even money bet. Will the winning number be red or black?

Split Bet: Placing your bet on the line between two numbers creates a split bet. You win if either number comes up. It pays 17-1.

Straight-Up Bet: Placing your bet on any single number. If your number comes up, you win 35-1.

As you may have noticed, if the winning number is 0 or 00, these bets lose. That’s why the house has a nice advantage. To win on a 0 or 00, you must bet it straight up or split. Honestly, the game of Roulette is not that complicated. In a live game, there tends to be a spin every minute or two. Most live games also record the last 10-40 numbers for you as well. Even if you are brand-new to the game, you can have it down pat in about 10-30 minutes. Online players can play at their own speed. Most online Roulette games offer betting help too.

Roulette may look like a very simple game in a casino but it may surprise you to know that among all of the games hosted in a casino or online gambling site, more gambling systems are formulated to try to beat the roulette wheel than any other game.

It is true that an established gambling system will help you gain an advantage when playing roulette but don’t think that there is a system that can guarantee that you will become a multi-millionaire playing roulette in a casino or online gambling site.

A far more realistic goal is to stay ahead in the game even if by a small margin.

One must realize that in a game of chance like roulette, you can never be sure of winning. But employing a system will mean that you can make the losses a little more manageable and grant you a chance to actually win a significant amount of spins. A winning system should be one that has a good strategy that will allow you to win and concurrently keep you ahead for the duration of your game.

Based on the experience of professional gamblers and gambling systems makers, roulette systems in which the foundation is on sequential or conditional probability does not work in real-world applications giving very inconsistent results. The reason for this is that roulette is not a game of probability.

It must be pointed out that each spin of the roulette wheel is considered a new spin and the outcome cannot be predicted by any of the previous spins — the same applies to online roulette games. What this means is that the chance of a particular result in each roulette spin remains the same and a probability advantage cannot possibly be formulated.

Even after nine successive roulette results of black there is still no higher probability that the next result will be Red. As gambling systems experts reveal, a roulette wheel does not have a memory nor does it keep a record of the prior results of past roulette spins. It is a “popular” fallacy for gamblers to think that probability plays a big role in establishing or following a system in playing roulette.

Of course, in theory, roulette is perceived as a game of probability. With the casino advantage of 5.26 per cent for American roulette (2.7 per cent for European roulette) it is believed that ultimately players are sure losers. But in practice, players actually think of roulette as a game of chance and thus they have a good chance of actually winning.

For example, if I decided to bet $3 on Red for 40 spins on an American roulette wheel, the theory would be that I will alternately win and lose every other spin and that after the total spins, I will lose $6 for two times the zero outcome.

But in actual real-world practice, during the total number of hours you will play the 40 spins, you will, depending on your luck be up or down by more than $6 and making a decision of when to stop playing roulette will ultimately determine how much you will win or lose.