The Basics of Roulette
Roulette is one of the classic casino games that has always offered glamour, mystery and excitement to those who play it. Its rules are simple enough to make it accessible for new players and yet it provides a surprising level of depth that will delight more serious gamblers.
The game consists of two components: the betting table and the wheel. The betting table is marked with all the possible bets that can be made, and where you will place your chips during a round. The wheel is a large rotating disk with 37 or 38 separate compartments – called pockets by croupiers – that are alternately red and black, with a single green zero on European-style wheels and a double zero on American ones. The pockets are separated by metal separators, or frets – a term coined by the French mathematician Blaise Pascal to denote the individual segments of the wheel – and numbered from 1 to 36 in a non-consecutive pattern.
After the dealer clears winning bets from the table, he or she spins the wheel and a small ball is thrown onto the spinning disk until it settles in one of the pockets. If you bet on the number where the ball comes to rest, or a grouping of numbers, or on the color (red or black) or whether the number is odd or even, then you have won a bet. The dealer will then pay you the amount of your bet, minus any money that you may have wagered on losing bets.
When a player places his or her bet, the dealer will give him or her coloured roulette chips in the value of the bet placed. The player may withdraw these chips at any time, although it is recommended to keep the same amount of money that you gave for future bets. Moreover, if you have won a bet, don’t dip into your winnings for future bets, as this will only lead to overbetting and eventual losses.
Traditionally, professional roulette balls have been made from ivory, but since the 1970s they have been made of synthetic materials such as Teflon and resin which resemble ivory. The dimensions, weight and material of the roulette ball affect how it behaves on the wheel track and how much unpredictability it has. A light ceramic ball, for example, makes more revolutions on the wheel track and jumps more unpredictably before landing, than a heavier ivorine ball would.
