When you're trying to decide what the 'best' bets in roulette are, you have to decide what is going to make you happiest when you're playing. Some people want to enjoy frequent small wins and stay in action for as long as possible. Others like the thrill of hitting big wins less frequently, even if it means sometimes going broke faster.
Other gamblers might want to find the bets which offer the lowest house edge. On most roulette games, the house edge is the same for every bet but one. Choosing which game to play becomes the road to a lower house edge for those players.
The highest roulette odds (36 to 1) are for a single number bet and the lowest (1 to 1) are for outside bets like Odd/Even or Red/Black. Secondly, if you want to know what is the best bet for winning in online roulette, keep in mind that the European roulette. The D'Alambert Strategy & The Martingale Strategy both have their positives and negatives and shouldn't be considered as the automatic best bets in roulette either. Most of all, it is important to remember that whatever strategy you decide to use when playing roulette, that it is a game of chance. With this bet, there is a 2:1 payout, the same as standard dozen bets. The snake bet will be placed by placing the chips on the lower corner of 34 on the table. Since there are many betting options in roulette, players need to know what eh best bets are for winning and preserving the bankroll.
This page examines the various bets in roulette and compares them with various players' goals so that you can choose which bets will bring you the most thrills, excitement, and fun.
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The Best Bets if You Want to Spend a Lot of Time Gambling
Variance is the term used by gamblers and mathematicians to describe the swings in your bankroll that are caused by statistical deviation. Usually, the higher the payout is, the lower the variance is. Some examples help illustrate this.
If you're playing roulette and making straight-up bets on a single number, you're going to win 35 units when you win, but you'll only win (on average) once out of every 37 hands. This is a higher variance option than an even-money bet.
With even-money bets, you'll win a lot less—the same amount that you bet. But you'll win a lot more often—47.36% of the time, which is almost every other bet.
If you're interested in spending a lot of time at the table, then the way to do so is to stick with the lower payout bets, because you'll lose less often. Your money will eventually all go to the casino if you play long enough, but it will last longer, and you'll have more fun.
The Best Bets if You Want the Thrill of Winning Big Bucks
Of course, if you're just looking for the thrill of a big win, the only bet that makes sense is the straight-up bet, which offers a payout of 35 to 1. If you place a $100 wager on a single number and win, you'll get $3500 for your trouble.
The only problem with this choice is that you can lose a lot of money very fast. But that's true of any gambling game in which you have the potential to win a big dollar amount on a single bet. The payoff might not be as big as a progressive slot machine jackpot, but you will see the big win a lot more often on this roulette bet.
How to Get the Lowest House Edge on Roulette
In American roulette, there are two types of bets—the ones with a house edge of 5.26% and the one bet with a house edge of 7.29%. If you want to minimize the house edge on an American roulette game, then it's easy. Just avoid the five-number bet, which is the only bet with the higher house edge. All of the other bets on the table offer a 5.26% house edge.
If that house edge is still too high, then your next step is to find an American roulette game that offers the surrender option. These can be found in some Atlantic City casinos. The house edge on this game is cut in half, to 2.63%, because the house only takes half your bet when you lose on the even money bets. Surrender only applies to those bets which offer even money, though.
Another option is to play European roulette, if you can find it. That game only has a single zero on the wheel, which reduces the house edge to 2.70%.
The best bet in roulette is on a European roulette table which offers the en prison option. This reduces the house edge by half again, making it only 1.35%. Here's how it works:
On a European roulette game with the en prison rule in effect, your even money bet becomes 'imprisoned' when the ball lands on the zero. The result of the next spin of the wheel determines your outcome. For example, if you bet on black, and it lands on zero, then you'll get your bet back if the next spin lands on black. If it lands on red, you lose the bet.
Roulette Systems and the Worst Bets You Can Make
In a larger sense, the worst bets you can make are on worthless roulette systems. All betting systems for roulette are equally nonsensical, so as long as you avoid them, you're making some of the better bets at the table.
The reason for my strident-sounding condemnation of roulette betting systems is that they offer false hope. I know lots of people like to think that you can control the universe by thinking positive thoughts, but the reality is a little bit different. That's true regardless of what nonsense is spouted in books like The Secret.
No one is well served by delusion. So don't delude yourself into thinking that you can come up with some clever way to beat roulette. People have tried for hundreds of years and the only ones who succeeded were the ones who got lucky.
And you don't get any control over the luck in roulette, other than choosing bets with a lower house edge whenever you can
One of the most fascinating things about roulette is the variety of bets that you can place. Before you play roulette, especially for real money, it is best to have a clear understanding about the different bets and their payouts.
On this page, we're going to go through every single bet type, including the more advanced Call/Announce Bets. If you want to see a quick 'cheat sheet' with all of the different payouts in a graph for quick reference, you will find it on our page on roulette payouts.
Outside Bets
Outside bets can be found on the 'outside' of the roulette table and the cover a large portion of the wheel, but the payouts are low.In total, there are 5 different kinds of outside bets which are the following:
Red and Black – There are 18 red numbers and 18 black numbers.
Odd and Even – There are 18 odd numbers and 18 even numbers.
1-18 and 19-36 – Pretty self explanatory, both of them cover 18 numbers.
The three above bets are 'even money bets' because you double your money if you win e.g. bet £2 on black, win £4 back. Each of them covers just less than half of the table due to the addition of the 0 and in the case of the American game, 0 and 00.
Dozens – There are three dozens on the roulette table, 1-12, 13-24 and 25-36. Each of them covers 12 numbers which equates to just less than a third of the wheel.
Columns – These are similar to the dozens; there are three columns on the table and each of them covers 12 numbers.
Inside Bets
Inside bets can be found on the 'Inside' of the table and they cover less numbers but the payouts are higher.
Straight Up Bet – This is a bet on a single number.
Split Bet – This is a bet on two numbers that are next to each other on the roulette table (not the roulette wheel).
Street Bet – Bets on three numbers that are a Street on the roulette table. For example, 1,2,3 is a Street, 4,5,6 is a Street and so on.
Corner Bet – A bet on four numbers that make a square on the roulette table. For example, 1,2,4,5 is a Corner bet.
4 Number Bet – Bets on 0,1,2,3 at the same time. Only available on European and French roulette.
5 Number Bet – Bets on 0,00,1,2,3 at the same time. Only available on American roulette. This is also the worst bet in the entire game because of the unfair payout – avoid it.
Double Street (Line Bet) – This is the same as the Street bet except it covers two Streets at the same time rather than one.
Call Bets
The Call bets, or Announce bets as they're sometimes named, aren't available on every roulette game and often they're overlooked by players because they either don't understand them or they would simply rather bet on the more simple bets above.
Before explaining what the Call bets are about, it's worth noting that the layout of the roulette table and the roulette wheel are different. For example, as you go around the roulette wheel, the numbers are seemingly in a random order, they don't go 1,2,3,4,5,6 etc.
The Call bets are a way of betting on sectors of the wheel. If you think of the roulette wheel as a pizza, the Call bets are a way of covering a slice or multiple slices if you want to.
Voisins Du Zero
This is a bet that covers 17 consecutive numbers on the roulette wheel, starting from 25 and working your way around the wheel to 22. They're also known by some as neighbours of the zero because the zero is (almost) in the middle of these numbers.
The actual Voisins Du Zero bet is covered by just 9 chips and it is done like this:
2 chips on 0,2,3 street
1 on the 4/7 split
1 on 12/15 split
1 on 18/21 split
Best Roulette Numbers To Bet
1 on 19/22 split
1 on 32/35 split
2 chips on 25,26,28,29 corner
Tier
The Tier bet is 12 numbers that are next to each other on the roulette wheel. The numbers are as follows: 27,13,36,11,30,8,23,10,5,24,16,33. The bet is covered by betting on 6 split bets at the same time which are:
5/8 – 10/11 – 13/16 – 23/24 – 27/30 – 33/36
Orphelins
This is a bet that covers 8 numbers, three that are next to each other on one sector of the wheel, 5 that are next to each other on another sector. The numbers are as follows: 6,34,17 and 1,20,14,31,9. The Orphelins bet is covered in the following way:
Straight bet on number 1
What Is The Best Bet To Make In Roulette
Split bet on 5/9
Split bet on 14/17
Split bet on 17/20
Split bet on 31/34
Neighbours
The Neighbours (sometimes spelt Neighbors depending where you are in the world) are 5 number bets of your choosing. Basically you pick your number and then you bet on that number and the two numbers that are on either side of it, making it a 5 number bet. A very easy way to cover large sections of the wheel. Some casinos will allow you to increase the size of your neighbours, up to eight either side of your number, making it a 17 number bet in total.
Final Bet
You may have a hard to finding this option online because very few casinos offer it. With this bet, you start by picking a number from 1-9. Once this is done, a bet will be placed on all numbers ending with the number that you chose.
Best Odds In Roulette
Does this sound confusing? If so here is an example. If you picked 6, a bet would then be placed on the following numbers: 6, 16 and 26 because they all end in 6.
One Final Thing On Call Bets
Both online and offline, the Call bets are normally accessible via what's called a Racetrack and in some land based casinos, you 'Announce' the bet out loud rather than placing chips on it, hence why they're sometimes referred to as Announce Bets.
What Is The Best Bet In Roulette
If you would like to see the Call bets and try them for yourself, have a go on our free roulette pro game which has all of them available via a menu in the bottom left hand corner rather than the conventional Racetrack.
Roulette Best Betting Strategy
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