The Ins and Outs of Online Roulette

For land based casinos, roulette is a cost effective game that always draws a crowd. While roulette is certainly an emotional game, there are a few strategies that can certainly improve your chances of walking away a winner. JackpotCity takes a look at the ins and outs of this classic table game.

**3 Versions of Roulette **

Before we get into the basic strategies of roulette, let’s take a look at the layout of the game and the various betting options. There are three main types of roulette played online. These include American roulette, European roulette and French roulette. Of the three games, American roulette is the least popular due to its unfavourable setup.

While the various betting options remain the same, American roulette differs in that the actual roulette wheel has one extra slot which houses a second 0. This means that the house edge is effectively doubled. On the other hand, French and European roulette have the same table and wheel setup. The main difference is that the French roulette table is marked out in French and contains a number of specialised bets.

The Layout and Wheel

Of the three types of games, European roulette is the most popular with online casinos. It is also the game we will be focusing on here. A game of roulette consists of a large betting table and a roulette wheel. The wheel itself is divided up into 37 slots and is numbered from 1 to 36. Each number is coloured in either red or black while the final slots is reserved for the 0 which is coloured in green.

One main difference between roulette and other table games is that the chips do not have any specific value. At land based casinos, the chips are called a check. When a player buys in, they get issued a specific colour which will be placed on the betting areas on the table.

Low Risk Bets

In roulette, there are multiple betting options with low and high risk bets. For players just starting out, the easiest way to get into roulette is to place an even money bet. There are three different bets that pay out even money. These include red/black bets, odd/even bets and high/low bets. In the case of red/black bets, players simply choose a colour they think the ball will drop into.

The same goes of odd number or even numbers. With high/low bets, the table is split into low numbers 1-18 and high numbers 19-36. Players place a bet on whether the ball will drop into a high number or a low number.

High Risk Bets

As well as offering even money bets, roulette also includes high paying bets such as a thirds bet which is where the table is split into thirds. Players can also choose to place a bet on a specific number which will pay out 36:1.

Experienced players can place multiple bets on a single round. For example, a player can place a bet on black numbers, on odd numbers, on high numbers and the specific number 29 all at the same time. Once a player has placed their bet or series of bets, the dealer will spin the roulette wheel and drop the ball into the spinning wheel. When the wheel comes to a stop, the ball will drop into one of the numbered slots and the bets will be paid out accordingly.

Roulette Betting Systems

Now that you know how the game works, we can look at the various betting strategies. Over the years, there have been many betting strategies of systems developed with varying degrees of success. One of the most popular betting systems is the Martingale system. Essentially what the martingale comes down to is a system that requires players to double their bets when they lose a round and stick with the same bet if they win.

While this may sound like a good idea, the truth is that you need a large amount of cash on hand to get you out of sticky situations. This particular strategy has the potential to bankrupt players very quickly.

Another popular betting system is called Oscar’s Grind. This betting system comprises of four levels. It is often used with red/black or odd/even roulette bets. In this system, players stick with a single coloured or odd/even number. On a winning bet, players step up one level to the Grind bet. At the fourth level of betting, players remain at the top until a losing bet comes along at which point players start again at the first level and work their way up again.