What Is Roulette?
The concept is a simple one, but the game itself has many ways to bet. Since the roulette wheel is moving, players have a flat board with rows and columns of numbers on which to place their chips.
A player can bet on one number only, if he thinks that is where the ball is going to land. Of course, betting the exact number is pretty difficult, so the payout is huge. The player who guesses the exact number wins $35 for each $1. That particular wager is known as a straight up bet.
A little less exciting but still with a potentially huge payoff is the split roulette bet. With a split bet, the player says, "I think it will land either here or here," and places her chip between the two numbers. As you can imagine, getting the correct spot having bet only two numbers can also be quite the challenge, so the winner of the split bet wins 17:1. There are still quite a number of other ways to bet, as well. The less adventurous roulette player can simply bet "black." Then, if the ball lands in any one of the black spots, the player is a winner. The same holds true for red. If the player bets "red" and the ball lands in any red spot, the player wins. Similarly, the player can bet on either "odd" or "even," with the same results as described for black and red.
Because 36 is dividable by 12, the player can also wager what is known as a dozen roulette bet. The player can choose the first dozen (any number ranging between 1-12), the second dozen (any number ranging between 13-24) or the third dozen (any number ranging between 25-36). If the ball lands on any number in the player’s chosen dozen, the player wins. Because the odds are greater than picking the straight up winner, the payout is less, but even so, betting dozens is exciting.
It takes just a little while to become familiar with the betting strategies and etiquette of the game of roulette, especially if you go into the casino with a basic understanding such as this provides. Peering at the blur of red and black as it twirls around and hoping for the ball to land on your very own chosen spot makes roulette one of the most fun games in the casino.
