Most players will acknowledge that the two main variants of roulette are European and American roulette. French roulette is also available, although it is mainly similar to European roulette. You are going to want to play European roulette, not American roulette. The reason for this is quite simple to grasp.
American roulette features two zero pockets, European roulette has just the one. As you will be aware, if the roulette ball lands in the zero pocket you lose. You are, therefore, twice as likely to lose when playing American roulette as European roulette. The house edge in the American version stands at 5.26%. In European roulette, though, the house edge is 2.70%.
La Partage and En Prison
If possible, you may wish to try your hand at French roulette. This is played in virtually the same way as European roulette (with just a single zero pocket), but it also offers up a few other goodies. French roulette often comes with La Partage and En Prison rules.
The En Prison rule (also known as the half-back rule) will see any player who makes an even money bet and land on zero, get to keep half of their money for the next bet. By contrast, the La Partage rule will see players who place even money bets get half of their bet back straight away if they land on zero. Either one of these rules will allow players to cut down the house edge further, to 1.35% in all.
Good Roulette Tips to Keep in Mind
When playing roulette online, there are several tips and tricks you should try to remember and incorporate into your gameplay. These can include the following:
- Always play European roulette over American roulette.
- The En Prison or La Partage rules make French roulette even more desirable.
- If you are new to roulette, start off with even money bets.
- Inside bets represent a far higher risk than outside bets.
- When playing live dealer roulette, keep in mind that the betting windows (the time in-between games) may be substantially shorter than you think. RNG (random number generator) roulette games played with just yourself, do not have such windows.
- Racetrack bets give you decent coverage of the wheel when betting.
- Play roulette for free, as a demo game online. This will help you familiarise yourself with the betting board, and the many different types of bets you can make in roulette.
- Use a roulette betting strategy to help manage your bankroll.
Roulette Mistakes – Things to Avoid When Playing
While there are a few tips and tricks you can use to help you land wins, there are also a couple of things you’re going to want to avoid to be successful at roulette. These include:
- Ignoring number patterns. Betting on your favourite numbers in sequence then stopping makes them no more likely to pop up.
- Ignore “hot and cold” statistics. Every possible number has an equal chance of popping up each time, regardless of its history. Just because a 7 hasn’t appeared in ages, doesn’t make any more likely to show up on the next few spins.
- Never go “all in” with a roulette bet, in a bid to recoup your losses, especially with inside bets. The odds of success are just too little.
Using Roulette Betting Systems
There are several roulette betting systems out there which may help you get the most of your game. These betting systems won’t guarantee you a win from the Indian casino, but they can stop you losing too much (most of the time). Most of the popular betting systems which exist online are specialised for roulette. These include the Martingale, Paroli, La Bouchère and Fibonacci systems.
The idea behind betting systems is that by adjusting the amount you wager following a loss or a win, you will eventually be able to break even (or even be narrowly ahead) when you do win. The flaw with betting systems is that they often require players to have a considerable bankroll in the first place. During times of consecutive losses, you need a positive balance to be able to keep yourself in the game until you win.