Tips for Winning at Vegas and Online Casino South Africa Roulette

Roulette is a favored game among many online casino South Africa aficionados and other gaming enthusiasts from around the world.  Even though the odds are not as good as those of other casino games, roulette is preferred by many casino experts who believe that the skill and knowledge needed to accurately navigate the roulette betting table more than make up for the odds. 

Added to the fact that roulette is one of the most fun-filled games in the casino, it’s easy to see why players flock to the casino tables when they visit a Vegas casino.  

Casino advisors have compiled tips to help roulette aficionados get a head-start on beating those odds and give themselves more of an edge when they play roulette. 

Homework

As with any game, if you’re going to succeed in roulette, you need to understand the game.  It’s not enough to throw down your money and hope for the best…..you must have a good understanding of the various elements of game, especially the issue of the House Edge. 

There are two main types of roulette —   American roulette and  European roulette.  There are, in fact, other types of roulette but they aren’t generally found in Vegas casinos. 

The mst popular type of roulette is American roulette.  The main difference between American roulette and European roulette is that the American roulette game has an extra pocket on the wheel, called the “double zero pocket.” On an American roulette wheel, in addition to the zero pocket, there’s an additional zero pocket. 

Now, you can start to understand the issue of roulette odds. This is important because understanding the odds of any gambling game is the first step in knowing what you’re up against.

With all the bet options on the roulette betting table, one thing that all the bets have in common is that they are all long-term break-even bets if there are 36 numbers on the roulette wheel. However, on a standard American roulette wheel, there are 38 numbers.

When examining the single number bet, you see that the odds are 35 to one.. For instance, if you bet $100 on the number 9, and the ball lands on 9

Now, when you calculate the house’s advantage on a statistically perfect set of 38 spins (American Roulette), if you land on each number once while making the same $100 bet on the same number every time.

You’ll win $3500 on the winning spin, for a total win of $3500.

You’ll lose $100 on 37 of those spins, for a total loss of $3700.

In total, you will have lost $200. That works out to an average of $5.26 per bet. To get the average loss in the case given above, divide the net loss by the number of bets. It works out to 5.26% of your action --the house edge.

Each game has its own house edge.  So with American roulette, the house edge is 5.26%. 

Find Your Wheel

Now that you understand the issue of the House Edge, you have a better idea of why it’s best to find a roulette table with one zero. Those are the European roulette wheels and the differences between an American wheel and A European wheel involve the number of possible outcomes on each.

A European wheel only has 37 possible outcomes, while an American roulette wheel has 38 possible outcomes.  Sands roulette wheel has 39 possible outcomes.

The difference comes from the number of zeroes on each wheel.

All the wheels have the numbers 1 through 36 on them. Half of those numbers are red and half are black. On the American wheel, there’s both the green 0 pocket, as with the Eurpean wheel, and an extra green 00 pocket.  The extra 00 pocket increases the house edge. On a European wheel, the house edge is 2.70% while on the American wheel, it’s 5.26%. 

Both games  play exactly the same. So, in a perfect statistical set of 37 spins, you don’t lose $200 on a European wheel, only $100.

 En Prison or La Partage Rule Games 

Another advantage of European Roulette is that they sometimes feature en prison or la partage rules. The rules of en prison and la partage apply only to even money bets such as bets on red/black, odd/even and high/low. If you win one of these bets, you win even money --bet $100, and you win $100. The house edge is still the same.

On a even money bet, out of 37 spins (on a European wheel), eighteen of those numbers are black, 18 are black, and one, the zero, is green. Regardless of your bet, you lose on 19 of those spins and you win on 18 o those spins. On a $100 bet, a win will get you $100 per number and your net loss is still $100 over 37 spins -- $2.70 per spin.

But, if you’re playing a game with the en prison or la partage rule in effect, there’s a 50% probability that you’ll get back your original bet. Now the house edge is reduced from 2.70% to 1.35%. The odds become 50% better, similar to those of craps on a pass line bet which are among the best in the casino.  

Betting Systems

There are a number of betting systems from which to choose but research shows that you’re better off if you rely on your intuition and don’t bother with a system.

One of the most popular systems is the Martingale betting system which involves even money bets and doubling the size of the bet on a loss and then bet again. You continue in that vein — on every loss, you bet again, doubling again on each bet. When you eventually win, you will win back all the money that you lost and get an extra profit. 

Just remember that the system doesn’t change the house edge.  Each one of those bets is a negative expectation bet. That means that basically, you just add multiple different sized negative numbers together as you hope to get a positive number at some point.

But even though you see winning progressions with this system, you lose so much money on a big losing progression that it overtakes your wins. 

Casino advisors say that betting systems, including the Martingale system, are generally not successful. However, if you want to use such a system, statistically, you’ll have a better chance of success if you keep it to the short term. 

If you play intelligently, you can make the roulette odds work for you.