Okay, so you're seated at the table, you've got your chips and you're ready to start playing roulette. The first thing that happens is the dealer will say "place your bets". When you hear this put your chips where ever you like. You will have but a few moments to do this so you have to be quick. In just a few seconds the ball will be dropped into the wheel and it will be too late to place a bet. There is usually a little bit of overlap, in other words, for the first few seconds while the wheel is spinning you will have a few more seconds to place bets, but in short order the Dealer will announce that there is to be no more bets. All this happens very quickly, and you are well advised to get your betting done as quickly as possible. Choose your bet amount, take a short moment to think and place your chips on the table. Now there is a big difference when it comes to pacing and time scale when you compare online Roulette with live action roulette. The big difference is that with online roulette the wheel cannot be spun until you have placed all your bets. This allows you to play entirely at your own pace. When you're playing online you can take as much time as you like to decide how much money you want to bet. This can be a huge advantage to new layers who may feel pressured to make bets in a hasty fashion. If you are new to the game and playing live roulette, you might end up making mistakes and betting way too much because you are forced to make your bets so fast. Luckily with online roulette around you will be able to get familiar with the game. Take the time to feel out your own roulette rhythm so that when you walk into a real casino and sit down with real players, a real wheel, a real dealer, and real chips, you won't feel the pressure and you won't make the mistake of betting more or less money than you should.
- Even Chances Chips placed on Red, Black, Odd, Even, High and Low are all even chance bets. This means that winning bets are paid at evens, in other words you are paid an extra amount equal to your bet.
- Dozens Numbers from 1 - 12 are in the 1st Dozen, 13 - 24 in the 2nd and 25 - 36 in the 3rd. Winning bets are paid at odds of 2-1, that means you win twice as much as you staked.
- Columns Numbers forming columns along the table layout are said to be in one of the three column bets. i.e. 1,4,7,10,13,16,19,22,25,28,31,34 are all in the 1st column. Winning bets are paid at odds of 2-1.
- Numbers The simple bet of placing a chip, or chips, on a number. If you are a winner here, you will be paid at 35-1. (E.g. three chips worth ¡ê1 each placed on a winning number will win 3x35=105 chips or the equivalent of ¡ê105 in cash chips)
- Splits Chips can be placed on the line between two numbers and will return a winner if either of the two numbers are the winning number. The odds paid here are 17-1. This is the same effective odds as playing single numbers.
- Streets A line of three numbers like 4,5,6 or 22,23,24 is called a street. To make this bet place one chip on the left border line of the left number. (E.g. For 4,5,6 this is the line separating 4 and the 1st Dozen) This is the same effective odds as playing single numbers.
- Corners These are corners between four numbers. (E.g. 28,29,31,32) Paid at odds of 8-1. This is the same effective odds as playing single numbers.
- Six-Lines Six numbers that form a wide line across the table. (E.g. 13,14,15 and 16,17,18) A chip is placed on the corner of 13 and 16 with the 2nd Dozen. Paid at odds of 5-1. This is the same effective odds as playing single numbers.
- French Bets and Call Bets. Roulette has been around for more than two hundred years in one form or another and in that time it has picked up some curiosities. These are dying out because of the inexperience of new staff and new players.
- French Bets These come from the French version of the game where it is difficult to play many numbers due to the fact that there are no colored chips to tell players' bets apart. Thus one bet covers many numbers and also a section of the Roulette wheel itself. The image shows how a European wheel is split up into sections that are the main French Bets.
- Voisons du Zero For convenience this has been shortened to just Voisins, pronounced 'Vwazon'. All the numbers from 22 to 25 inclusive.
- Tiers du Cylindre This is shortened to Tiers, pronounced 'Te-yare'. Numbers from 27 to 33 inclusive.
- Orphelins and Orphans These orphans are so called because they don't belong in either of the two main bets. They are generally played as one bet. Numbers 1,20,14,31,9 and 17,34,6.
- Finale Another French bet fast dying out is the Finale. 'Seven finale' means that you wish to bet numbers the 7,17 and 27, or numbers that end in seven.
- Call bets An extension of the French bets, which are 'called out' to the dealer, is the Call Bet. These are more precise in that the player can identify any discrete section of the wheel. By far the most popular is the Neighbor bet. 'Eight neighbors' is a five piece bet that implies one piece (chip) on each of 11,30,8,23,10.
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