Rules of Roulette

What to do at the table

If you are new to roulette the first thing to do is observe a few rounds before placing your first bet. This will allow you to get the feel for the game and the pace that the dealer is setting. You will also pick up on some of the subtlies or the table. The rules of Roulette are really very simple. You place your bet, the dealer will spin the ball and call "no more bets" the ball will stop on a number which the dealer will call out as the winning number. At this point the dealer will collect the losing bets and payoff the winning bets. The rules are simple, placing a bet and understanding the payoffs and odds can be a little more difficult.

Outside bets

The layout of the Roulette table is made up of two areas, the inside bets (the numbered area and the outside bet (everything outside the numbered area). Lets deal with the outside bets first. This image shows the location of the outside bets on a European Roulette table.

Outside bets are characterized by the fact that they all are based on groups of numbers. Those groups are broken down into colour, columns, groups of 12 (dozens), even or odd numbers and the first half or last half of the numbers. These wagers are easier for the player to win and therefore the payoffs are lower for these bets.

The payoffs will look like this:

Red/black - A simple wager on whether the ball will land on a Red number or a Black number. This wager pays 1 to 1. Which meansSo a 10 dollar wgare will return 10 dollar win plus the original wager when this bet wins.
Odd/Even - This wager is a bet placed on the even or odd numbers on the layout. Like Red/Black this wager pays 1 to 1.
Low/High - A low wager is a bet placed on the 1 - 18 number group (low numbers), a High wager is a bet placed on the 19-31 number group. The payoff is again 1 to 1
Columns - This is a wager placed on one of the columns that makes up the number grid on the layout. There are 3 columns each with 12 numbers in each column. A wager on a column that wins will be paid off at 2 to 1. Since these wagers are placed on a third of the numbers instead of half the payoff is better.
Dozens - These wagers are on either the first 12 (1-12) the second 12 (13-24) and the last group of 12 (25-36). These wager will pay off winning wager at 2 to 1.

The outside bets are a great place to start and they really are the smartest bet on the table. One thing to remember though is that if the ball lands on zero or double zero your bet will lose as the zeros are not covered by any outside bet.


Link to Inside Bets
Link to French Bets