Roulette
From
Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia
Roulette
is a
casino and
gambling game named after the French word
meaning "small wheel". In the game, a croupier spins a wheel in one direction,
then spins a ball in the opposite direction around a tilted circular surface
running around the circumference of the wheel. The ball eventually falls on to
the wheel and into one of 37 (in European roulette) or 38 (in American roulette)
colored and numbered pockets on the wheel. Players place bets on the winning
number and the color of the pocket, whether the number is odd or even, etc.
Wheel
layout
The pockets are numbered from 1 to 36,
alternating between red and black. There is a green pocket numbered 0. In
American roulette, there is a second green pocket marked 00. Pockets are not in
numerical order around the wheel. Some consecutive numbers are the same color.
Number sequence clockwise:
Single zero wheel:
0-32-15-19-4-21-2-25-17-34-6-27-13-36-11-30-8-
-23-10-5-24-16-33-1-20-14-31-9-22-18-29-7-28-12-35-3-26
Double zero wheel:
0-28-9-26-30-11-7-20-32-17-5-22-34-15-3-24-36-
-13-1-00-27-10-25-29-12-8-19-31-18-6-21-33-16-4-23-35-14-2
Betting
Players can place a variety of 'inside'
bets (selecting the number of the pocket the ball will land in, or range of
pockets based on their position), and 'outside' bets (including bets on various
positional groupings of pockets, pocket colors, or whether it is odd or even).
The payout odds for each type of bet is based on its probability. The table
usually imposes minimum and maximum bets, and these rules usually apply
separately for all of a player's 'inside' and 'outside' bets for each spin.
Players can continue to place bets until the dealer announces "No more bets."
History
The first form of roulette was devised in
18th century France. The roulette wheel is believed to be a fusion of the
English wheel games Roly-Poly, Ace of Hearts, and E.O., and the Italian board
games of Hoca and Biribi, and then the name roulette from an already existing
French board game of that title.
The game has been played in its current
form since as early as 1796 in Paris. The earliest description of the roulette
game in its current form is found in a French novel "La Roulette, ou le Jour" by
Jaques Lablee, which describes a roulette wheel in the Palais Royal in Paris in
1796. The description included the house pockets, "There are exactly two slots
reserved for the bank, whence it derives its sole mathematical advantage." It
then goes on to describe the layout with, "...two betting spaces containing the
bank's two numbers, zero and double zero." The book was published in 1801. An
even earlier reference to a game of this name was published in regulations for
New France(Canada) in 1758, which banned the games of "dice, hoca, faro, and
roulette."
In 1843, in the German spa casino town of
Homburg, fellow Frenchmen François and Louis Blanc introduced the single "0"
style roulette wheel in order to compete against other casinos offering the
traditional wheel with single and double zero house pockets.
In some forms of early American roulette
wheels - as shown in the 1886 Hoyle gambling books, there were numbers 1 through
28, plus a single zero, a double zero, and an American Eagle. According to Hoyle
"the single 0, the double 0, and eagle are never bars; but when the ball falls
into either of them, the banker sweeps every thing upon the table, except what
may happen to be bet on either one of them, when he pays twenty-seven for one,
which is the amount paid for all sums bet upon any single figure."
In the 1800s, roulette spread all over
both Europe and the U.S., becoming one of the most famous and most popular
casino games. Some call roulette the "King of Casino Games", probably because it
was associated with the glamour of the casinos in Monte Carlo. (François Blanc
actually established the first casinos there.)
A legend tells François Blanc supposedly
bargained with the devil to obtain the secrets of roulette. The legend is based
on the fact that the sum of all the numbers on the roulette wheel (from 1 to 36)
is 666, which is the "Number of the Beast."
Board depiction
(American roulette)
|
|
0 |
↔ |
00 |
|
1-
18 |
1st
12 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
← |
|
4 |
5 |
6 |
← |
|
odd |
7 |
8 |
9 |
← |
|
10 |
11 |
12 |
← |
|
red |
2nd
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
← |
|
16 |
17 |
18 |
← |
|
blk |
19 |
20 |
21 |
← |
|
22 |
23 |
24 |
← |
|
even |
3rd
12 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
← |
|
28 |
29 |
30 |
← |
|
19-
36 |
31 |
32 |
33 |
← |
|
34 |
35 |
36 |
← |
|
|
↑ |
↑ |
↑ |
Types of bets
Inside bets
-
Straight: a single number. The
chip is placed entirely on the middle of a number square.
-
Split: a bet on two adjoining
numbers, either on the vertical or horizontal (as in 14-17 or 8-9). The chip
is placed on the line between these numbers.
-
Street: a bet on three numbers
on a single horizontal line. The chip is placed on the edge of line of a
number at the end of the line (either the left or the right, depending on
the layout).
-
Corner (or square): a bet on
four numbers in a square layout (as in 11-12-14-15). The chip is placed at
the horizontal and vertical intersection of the lines between the numbers.
-
Sixline (or 'sixaine'): a bet
on two adjoining streets, with the chip placed at the corresponding
intersection, as if in between where two street bets would be placed.
Outside bets
-
Even Money Bets: a bet on 18
numbers. This is placed in the box representing the attribute
(black/red/low/high/even/odd) that you wish to bet on.
-
Group Bets: a bet on the first,
second, or third group of twelve numbers.
-
Column: a bet on all 12 numbers
on any of the three vertical lines (such as 1-4-7-10 on down to 34). The
chip is placed on the space below the final number in this string.
Bet odds table
(American roulette)
(in addition to the mentioned payout the
bet is returned)
| Bet name |
Winning spaces |
Payout |
Odds of winning
(against) |
Expected value
(on a $1 bet) |
|
0 |
0 |
35 to 1 |
37 to 1 |
-$0.053 |
|
00 |
00 |
35 to 1 |
37 to 1 |
-$0.053 |
|
1 |
1 |
35 to 1 |
37 to 1 |
-$0.053 |
|
2 |
2 |
35 to 1 |
37 to 1 |
-$0.053 |
|
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
|
36 |
36 |
35 to 1 |
37 to 1 |
-$0.053 |
|
Row 00 |
0, 00 |
17 to 1 |
18 to 1 |
-$0.053 |
|
Row 3 |
1, 2, 3 |
11 to 1 |
11.667 to 1 |
-$0.053 |
|
Row 6 |
4, 5, 6 |
11 to 1 |
11.667 to 1 |
-$0.053 |
|
Row 9 |
7, 8, 9 |
11 to 1 |
11.667 to 1 |
-$0.053 |
|
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
|
Row 36 |
34, 35, 36 |
11 to 1 |
11.667 to 1 |
-$0.053 |
|
Corner |
any number from the corner of any
4 numbers |
8 to 1 |
8.5 to 1 |
-$0.053 |
|
2 Rows |
any number from two rows |
5 to 1 |
5.33 to 1 |
-$0.053 |
|
five number bet |
0, 00, 1, 2, 3 |
6 to 1 |
6.6 to 1 |
-$0.079 |
|
Column 1 |
1, 4, 7, ..., 34 |
2 to 1 |
2.167 to 1 |
-$0.053 |
|
Column 2 |
2, 5, 8, ..., 35 |
2 to 1 |
2.167 to 1 |
-$0.053 |
|
Column 3 |
3, 6, 9, ..., 36 |
2 to 1 |
2.167 to 1 |
-$0.053 |
|
First 12 |
1, 2, 3, ..., 12 |
2 to 1 |
2.167 to 1 |
-$0.053 |
|
Middle 12 |
13, 14, 15, ..., 24 |
2 to 1 |
2.167 to 1 |
-$0.053 |
|
Last 12 |
25, 26, 27, ..., 36 |
2 to 1 |
2.167 to 1 |
-$0.053 |
|
Odd |
1, 3, 5, ..., 35 |
1 to 1 |
1.111 to 1 |
-$0.053 |
|
Even |
2, 4, 6, ..., 36 |
1 to 1 |
1.111 to 1 |
-$0.053 |
|
Red |
1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12,
14, 16, 18, 19, 21, 23,
25, 27, 30, 32, 34, 36 |
1 to 1 |
1.111 to 1 |
-$0.053 |
|
Black |
2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11,
13, 15, 17, 20, 22, 24,
26, 28, 29, 31, 33, 35 |
1 to 1 |
1.111 to 1 |
-$0.053 |
|
1 to 18 |
1, 2, 3, ..., 18 |
1 to 1 |
1.111 to 1 |
-$0.053 |
|
19 to 36 |
19, 20, 21, ..., 36 |
1 to 1 |
1.111 to 1 |
-$0.053 |
Note also that 0 and 00 are neither odd
nor even in this game.
House
edge
The house average or house edge
(also called the expected value) is the amount the player loses relative to any
bet made, on average. If a player bets on a single number in the American game
there is a probability of 1/38 that the player wins 35 times the bet, and a
37/38 chance that the player loses their bet. The expected value is:
-1*37/38 + 35*1/38 = -0.0526 (5.26% house
edge)
For European roulette, a single number
wins 1/37 and loses 36/37:
-1*36/37 + 35*1/37 = -0.0270 (2.70% house
edge)
In roulette the house has the same edge on
all other kinds of bets also, because the pay outs are always set as if the zero
square(s) did not exist. The only exception are the five numbers bet where the
house edge is considerably higher (7.89% on an American wheel) and the 'even
money' bets in the some European games, where the house edge is halved because
only half the stake is lost when a zero comes up.
The house edge should not be confused with
the hold. The hold is the total amount of cash the table changes for
chips, minus the chips taken away from the table. In other words, the actual
"win" amount for the casino. The Casino Control Commission in Atlantic City
releases a monthly report showing the win/hold amounts for each casino. The
average win/hold for double zero wheels is between 21-30%, significantly more
than 5.26%/2.70% of all players money because players are making repeated bets
after winning and losing portions of their total money. This is known in the
casino gaming industry as "churning" and is especially true of slot machine
players who usually end up losing all their money.
A player with a certain total amount of
money may not win or lose all their money instantly, such that the total of all
bets they make will often be greater than the total of the money they actually
started with. The house edge applies to each bet made; not the total money,
which means the player can end up losing significantly more than 5.26% of his
starting money. For example it is likely that a player with $100 making $10 bets
on red will be able to bet more than 10 times, because sometimes he wins. He may
end up betting a total of 20 times on red. This means the expected value is
20*$10*5.26% = $10.52, over 10% of his money is now in the 'hold' despite the
game having a 5.26% house advantage. A player who continually bets until they
run out of money will give the house 100% hold.
Called (or
call) bets
There are a number of series in roulette
that have special names attached to them. These are placed by betting a set
amount per series (or multiples of that amount). They are based on the way in
which certain numbers lie next to each other on the roulette wheel. Not all
casinos offer these bets, and some may offer additional bets or variations on
these.
Voisins du Zero
("Neighbors of Zero")
This is a name for the numbers which lie
between 22 and 25 on the wheel including 22 and 25 themselves. The series is
22,18,29,7,28,12,35,3,26,0,32,15,19,4,21,2,25 (on a single zero wheel).
9 chips or multiples thereof are bet. 2
chips are placed on the 0,2,3 street; 1 on the 4/7 split; 1 on 12/15; 1 on
18/21; 1 on 19/22; 2 on 25/26/28/29 corner; and 1 on 32/35.
Tiers ("The
third")
This is the name for the numbers which lie
on the opposite side of the wheel between 27 and 33 including 27 and 33
themselves. The series is 27,13,36,11,30,8,23,10,5,24,16,33 (on a single zero
wheel).
6 chips or multiples thereof are bet. 1
chip is placed on each of the following splits: 5/8; 10/11; 13/16; 23/24; 27/30;
33/36.
A variant known as "Tier 5,8,10,11" has an
additional chip placed straight up on 5, 8, 10 and 11; and so is a 10-piece bet.
This is also called the "Small Series" It
includes the following wagers which are all Splits
5/8, 10/11, 13/16, 23/24, 27/30, 33/36
Orphelins
("Orphans")
These numbers make up the two slices of
the wheel outside the Tiers and Voisins. They contain a total of eight numbers,
the Orphans comprising 17,34,6 and the Orphelins being 1,20,14,31,9.
5 chips or multiples thereof are bet. 1
chip is placed straight-up on 1 and 1 chip on each of the splits: 6/9; 14/17;
17/20 and 31/34.
"xx and the
Neighbors"
A number may be backed along with the 2
numbers on either side of it in a 5 piece bet. For example, "0 and the
Neighbors" is a 5 piece bet with 1 piece straight-up on 3, 26, 0, 32 and 15.
Neighbors bets are often put on in combinations, for example "1, 9, 14 and the
neighbors" is a 15 piece bet covering 18, 22, 33, 16 with 1 piece; 9, 31, 20, 1
with 2 pieces and 14 with 3 pieces.
Any of the above bets may be combined, eg
"Orphelins by 1 and Zero and the Neighbors by 1." The "...and the Neighbors." is
often assumed by the Croupier.
Betting
strategies and tactics
Albert Einstein is reputed to have stated,
"You cannot beat a roulette table unless you steal money from it."
Nevertheless, the numerous even-money bets
in roulette have inspired many players over the years to attempt to beat the
game by using one or more variations of a Martingale betting strategy, wherein
the gamer doubles the bet after every loss, so that the first win would recover
all previous losses, plus win a profit equal to the original bet. As the
referenced article on Martingales points out, this betting strategy is
fundamentally flawed in practice and the inevitable long-term consequence is a
large financial loss. Another strategy is the Fibonacci system, where bets are
calculated according to the Fibonacci sequence. Regardless of the specific
progression, no such strategy can statistically overcome the casino's advantage.
While not a strategy to win money, Los
Angeles Times editor Andrés Martinez described an enjoyable roulette betting
method in his book on Las Vegas entitled "24/7". He called it the "dopey
experiment". The idea is to divide one's roulette session bankroll into 35
units. This unit is bet on a particular number for 35 consecutive spins. Thus,
if the number hits in that time, the gambler wins back the original bankroll and
can play subsequent spins with house money. However, there is only a
(1 − (37 / 38)35) * 100% = 60.68%
probability of winning within 35 spins (assuming a double zero wheel with 38
pockets).
There is a common misconception that the
green numbers are "house numbers" and that by betting on them one "gains the
house edge." In fact, it is true that the house's advantage comes from the
existence of the green numbers (a game without them would be statistically
fair); however, they are no more or less likely to come up than any other
number.
Various attempts have been made by
engineers to overcome the house edge through predicting the mechanical
performance of the wheel, most notably by Joseph Jagger at Monte Carlo in 1873.
These schemes work by determining that the ball is more likely to fall at
certain numbers. Claude Shannon, a mathematician and computer scientist best
known for his contributions to information theory, built arguably the first
wearable computer to do so in 1961.
To try to prevent exploits like this, the
casinos monitor the performance of their wheels, and rebalance and realign them
regularly to try to keep the result of the spins as random as possible.
More recently Thomas Bass, in his book
The Eudaemonic Pie 1991 (published as The Newtonian Casino in
Britain), has claimed to be able to predict wheel performance in real time. The
book describes the exploits of a group of computer hackers, who called
themselves the Eudaemons, who in the late 1970s used computers in their
shoes to win at roulette by predicting where the ball would fall.
At least in the 1930s, some professional
gamblers were able to consistently gain an edge in roulette by seeking out
rigged wheels (not difficult to find at that time) and betting opposite the
largest bets.
In the early 1990s, Gonzalo Garcia-Pelayo
used a computer to model the tendencies of the roulette wheels at the Casino de
Madrid in Madrid, Spain. Betting the most likely numbers, along with members of
his family, he was able to win over one million dollars over a period of several
years. A court ruled in his favor when the legality of his strategy was
challenged by the casino.
In 2004 it was reported that a group of
two Serbs and one Hungarian in London had used a laser scanner hidden inside a
mobile phone linked to a computer to predict the sector of the wheel where the
ball was most likely to drop. They were arrested, but released without charge as
there was no proof they had technically interfered with casino equipment.
Betting only on
red
One conceivable strategy would be to bet
on the ball landing in a red space for a certain number of spins, for example,
38.
There are 18 red spaces on a roulette
table with 38 total spaces. Dividing 18 by 38 yields a probability of landing on
red of 47.37%. This probability can be used in a binomial distribution and made
into an approximate standard normal distribution.
Doing so indicates that, if one were to
spin the wheel 38 times, there is a 99% probability that the ball would land on
red at least 10 times. There is an 83% probability that in 38 spins, the ball
will land on red at least 15 times. Out of 38 spins, there's a 50% chance that
18 will be red.
However, the break-even point is 19 spins,
since the bet on red is 1:1, and the probability of 19 red spins in 38 is only
37%. This indicates the difficulty of winning by only betting on red.
The results occur because, as indicated by
the 18 divided by 38 equals 47.37% figure, the ball will land on red less than
half the time. This percentage applied in the binomial and standard normal
distributions creates the vast divide in probability from 18 red spins to 19 red
spins out of 38 spins. It is very unlikely for anyone to spin much more than 18
red spins out of 38 spins.
Betting
multiple times
This type of bet is a combination of the
red bet and the martingale system. The difference is that this bet also includes
the odd. This strategy starts off with a bet of 1 on each the red and the odd
(or you can do the black and even). Each bet is treated separately. When one bet
loses, it is doubled. When one bet wins, it gets set back to 1. The reason that
this technique keeps the player in the game so long is that there is almost a
25% chance of winning both the red and the odd and there is almost a 50% chance
of breaking even (win one bet and lose the other). Of course, in order for this
method to last, the player would need an unlimited source of money, and a casino
with another one to boot. In reality, this method backfires when the player
can't bet any longer and loses. The loss that this causes is possibly hundreds
of times bigger than a loss made when starting. Also, in the long run, because
the house still has an edge, the player will lose money just like with all other
"unbeatable" casino games.
Labouchere
System
The Labouchere System is progression
betting strategy like the Martingale but does not require the gambler to risk
his stake as quickly with dramatic double ups. The Labouchere System involves
using a series of numbers in a line to determine the bet amount, following a win
or a loss. Typically, the player adds the numbers at the front and end of the
line to determine the size of the next bet. When he wins, he crosses out the
outside numbers and continues working on the smaller line. If he loses, then he
adds his previous bet to the end of the line and continues to work on the longer
line. This is a much more flexible progression betting system and there is much
room for the player to design his initial line to his own playing preference.
Using the dozen
bet
There are two versions to this system, single dozen bets and
double dozen bets. In the single dozen bet version, the player uses a
progressively incrementing stake list starting from the casino table minimum, to
the table maximum. The aim here is to use a single dozen bet to win before the
stake list ends. Many techniques are employed such as: betting on the same dozen
to appear after two consecutive appearances, betting on the dozen that has
appeared most in the last 15, 9, or 5 spins, betting on the dozen that, after a
long absence of 7 or more spins, appears for the first time. The double dozen
bet version uses two dozen bets and half the stake list size of the single dozen
bet version.
1st and 3rd
column strategy
One bet of 2 pieces on the 1st column and
one bet of 2 pieces on the 3rd column covers most of the red numbers on the
table. One bet of 2 pieces on the black will provide insurance for occurrence of
black. This betting system covers nearly all numbers except for the 4 red
numbers in the middle column and the zero (and double zero in American
Roulette). If the result is a red number in either the 1st or 3rd column, the
player only breaks even. If the result is red in the middle column the player
loses 6 pieces. If the result is black and in the middle column, the player
loses 2 pieces. If the result is a black in the 1st or 3rd column, the player
only wins 4 pieces.
Mechanical
Strategies
There are a number of roulette strategies
which take a more mechanical approach to breaking the casino. The most famous is
the biased wheel attack. In the biased wheel attack, the player clocks the wheel
to find statistical deviations indicating some flaw to the wheel. Given that the
wheel is man made it is quite impossible for the roulette wheel to be perfect.
The biased wheel attack, seeks to find imperfect wheels and exploit the fact
that some wheels will return numbers more often than 1 in 35, which means there
is potential to have an edge over the casino. Clocking the wheel involves taking
spin results in great numbers to identify any opportunities.
BIASED WHEELS: SECTION BETTING
-
In 1982, several casinos in England
began to lose large sums of money at their roulette tables to teams of
gamblers from the USA. Upon investigation by the police, it was discovered
they were using a legal system of biased wheel-section betting. As a result
of this, the English roulette wheel manufacturer John Huxley designed a
roulette wheel to counter-act the problem.
The new wheel was called "low profile"
because the pockets had been drastically reduced in depth, and various other
design modifications caused the ball to descend in a gradual approach to the
pocket area. In 1986, when a professional gambling team headed by Billy Walters
won $3.8 million using the system on an old wheel at the Golden Nugget in
Atlantic City, every casino in the world took notice, and within one year had
switched to the new "low profile" wheel. Recent additional modifications to the
roulette wheel by Cammegh of England has made it almost impossible to use a
mechanical winning system. (ref: Ron Shelley: Roulette Wheel Study, 1988.)
Famous bets
-
In 1873, the Englishman Joseph Jaggers
made the first famous roulette biased wheel attack. Mr Jaggers with a team
of six clerks, clocked all the wheels at the Monte Carlo casino and found
one wheel to show significant bias. In their attack exploiting this flaw
they won over $325,000, an astronomical sum in 1873.
-
In 2004, Ashley Revell of London sold
all of his possessions, clothing included, and brought US$135,300 to the
Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas and put it all on "Red" at the roulette table in a
double-or-nothing bet. The ball landed on "Red 7" and Revell walked away
with his net-worth doubled to $270,600.
-
In the 1942 film Casablanca,
Rick's Café Americain has a trick roulette wheel. The croupier can
cause it to land on 22 at will. Rick (Humphrey Bogart) urges a Bulgarian
refugee with whose case he becomes sympathetic to put his last three chips
on 22 and motions to the croupier to let him win. After the man's number
dramatically comes up, Rick tells him to let it all ride on 22 and lets him
win again. Although the details are not mentioned in the film (the croupier
only notes that they are "a couple of thousand" down), it appears that Rick
has given the man 3885 ((3*36*36)-3) francs.
-
In the third part of the 1998 film
Run, Lola, Run, Lola uses all her money to buy a 100-mark chip. (She is
actually just short of 100 marks, but gains the sympathy of a casino
employee who gives her the chip for what money she has.) She bets her single
chip on 20 and wins. She lets her winnings ride on 20 and wins again, making
her total winnings 129,600 marks (29,600 more than her smuggler boyfriend
owed his boss, Ronnie).
-
In the South Park episode "Red
Man's Greed", the town, facing destruction at the hands of Native Americans,
bets $10,000 to raise money to save the town. They win, but let it ride, and
lose all of it.
TOP
Source of Article: Wikipedia, the free
Encyclopedia
Link to Article:
Roulette