Roulette is one of the most popular casino games worldwide. It has offered glamour, mystery and excitement to gamblers since the 17th century. The game has a surprising depth for serious betters, with the right strategy bringing high rewards.
The game consists of a round table with numbered slots, a rotating wheel and a betting layout. The wheel is a solid wooden disk slightly convex in shape with a metal perimeter and compartments, called frets by the croupiers, where the bets are placed. Thirty-six of these compartments, painted alternately red and black, carry the numbers 1 through 36. A green compartment carries the number 0, and two other green compartments on American wheels carry the numbers 0 and 00.
To place a bet, players choose either a single number, a grouping of numbers, the color red or black, or whether the number is odd or even. The payout odds for each bet are based on its probability. Bets on individual numbers are called inside bets, and those on other groupings of pockets, such as a specific row or the odd-or-even number combination, are called outside bets.
Announcing bets are special bets that have their own names and specific payouts on the roulette board, but they can also be included in some other types of bets. For example, the dozens bet, known as douzaine in French, wagers that the winning number will be in the first, second or third dozen on the roulette layout. It pays 2-1.
Other bets include the Orphelins bet, which covers all numbers between 19 and 36, including 0 and 00. The bet pays a fixed amount, which is a fraction of the total number of chips wagered. The Doisine bet, or tiers du cylindre, is similar to the Voisins du Zero but covers more of the numbers on the roulette layout. Another of the announced bets is the Passe et Manque, or low and high bet, which wagers that the ball will land on the first 18 (or last 18) numbers on the layout, or on the 0 or 00. This bet pays 1-to-1.
