Roulette has been popular since the 18th century and has evolved as the game has moved around the world. Although today there are several variants of the game such as: American, French and European, the basic concept is the same in all editions: you have to guess where the ball lands and the more specific you are, the higher the prize.
Here we take a closer look at what has made this game a hit for hundreds of years, a little about the story, the theory and of course how to play to bring home the next big win.
What to think about when playing roulette for the first time
Reading this introduction is a good first step so that you are better equipped for the basics of the game and how it works and that you have gone through some of the strategies that give you a system or method you can follow and play by.
Last but not least, it’s important to start playing in free or demo mode so that you can put the theory into practice and be more prepared for what happens before you start playing for your own hard earned money.
How to play roulette
As a roulette player, it is as a general rule American or European roulette we play. The difference between the two variants is that the European variant has 37 fields with a green pocket marked 0 and the American variant has 38 fields where two are green marked 0 and 00. The remaining 36 fields are marked with numbers from one to 36 which all have red or black color.
The green fields are the house’s “edge” or advantage, which gives the house a 2.7% advantage on the European variant and double, as much as 5.4% on the American version.
In addition to the squares marked with numbers, there are several fields that cover several numbers in different combinations and it is your job to guess where the ball lands.
Depending on how many fields and in what combination they are put together in, the squares give you different odds on an outcome in your favor. You can win anywhere from 35 times the bet and all the way down to one to one or of course a loss. Roulette is played against a croupier or dealer, who represents the house. This means that you win or lose, the same amount no matter how many players are sitting around the table and whether they win in the same way as you.
Roulette payout table and odds
Roulette is a game of chance where you can change your chances of winning by playing on everything from a single number up to where you bet on one or the other half of the table’s 36 numbers. What you bet on and how high the chance is that the ball lands on your field determines how much you win and whether you win at all. The payout table looks like this:
- Straightforward – a single number that gives you 35 times the bet.
- Played – two numbers give you 17 times the bet.
- Street – three numbers give you 11 times the bet.
- Square – four numbers give you eight times the bet.
- Five numbers – five numbers give you six times the bet.
- Sixth line – six numbers gives you five times the bet.
- Column – 12 numbers and twice the bet.
- Dozens – 12 numbers and two to one.
- Low / High – 18 numbers and one to one.
- Red / Black – 18 number and one to one and
- Pair / Odd numbers – 18 numbers and one to one.
Pay attention to the green, or the green fields that give the house an advantage of either 2.7% or 5.4%, which in turn reduces the original percentage chance of winning accordingly.
Strategies in roulette
Over the years, several strategies for playing roulette have emerged, where more have disappeared as fast as they have come while others have come to stay. Some of the roulette’s most commonly used strategies are:
- Martingale – here you will double the bet for each loss until you win. If you have followed the rule, you will get back everything you have lost, the bet from the winning game and a win. If you play for NOK 50 and lose, you must double the bet to NOK 100. If you also lose this, you must play for NOK 200 next time. If you win this round, you collect NOK 400, which is NOK 50 more than what you have played for in total.
- D´alembert system – here you also double the bet in case of loss, but you only deduct the previous bet in case of winning before you continue playing. If the following game also ends with a win, you have increased your holdings with the bet you withdrew.