A Primer on Roulette: Why Are You Playing This Game?

 Roulette: Why Do You Want to Play It?

Other articles in this series will include instructions, tips, and cautions. But that is not how the article will read. This will be the literary equivalent to one of the less tasteful traffic safety films. Why? Simple. People play roulette all around the world, even in elite European casinos. Even among the elite players of the most exclusive European casinos, roulette is a popular game. People often lose their winnings playing this game, which is almost by definition impossible to win. I will not teach you any tricks. I'm going to show you how to play the game and tell you why you can't lose. You won't play if you don’t have any sense.

The Rules: Check It Out!

Roulette is not for everyone. The "dealer", as it were, sets the ball in motion and continues to do so. The game is over. The game is completely determinatistic.

Bets:

Inside. Inside bets are placed upon a particular pocket, group of pockets, or range of pockets. The main theme is the location of the pockets' final landing positions. They offer better payouts and have longer odds. They are:

Straight: Only one pocket.

Split: Bet on a pair inside pockets

Street: Make a wager on three pockets within a sequence. Your bet is indicated by a marker placed at the end of each pocket.

Corner: Choose a layout that is four square. The marker is placed at intersection point.

Six Line: A wager on two adjacent streets, placed at their intersection.

Trio: You can bet on the points 0, 1 and 2, or 00, 2, and 3.

Outside. You can place outside bets on certain categories or set of pockets. They offer better odds, but less payouts. They are:

1-18: The first 18 numbers on the wheel.

19-36: The number two eighteenth on the wheel.

Black or Red: Which color will be displayed on the wheel?

Even or Odd: You can place a bet on either an odd or even number.

Dozens: 1-12, 13-24, 25-36

Columns: All 12 numbers along each of the vertical lines. Example: 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 26, 29, 32, 35

The dealer may declare any bet as a winning one at any moment. The dealer can declare any bet as winning at any time. This aspect of poker varies from one casino or another.

Now you are able to play roulette. You should not play this game.

Why you can't win: A tragedy in three parts

Odds

1.111-1.111 are the best odds for roulette. These are the Half bets such as Red or Odd. You will receive a payout of 1:1. Even money. Let's consider something with a higher payout. 2-1. The dozens. What are your odds of winning? 2-1. Nonsense. It is actually 2.167 to 1. This may seem like a tiny difference but it will be a huge advantage over the long-term. This incremental, disproportionately increasing increase in odds is still true even as payouts go up. Why? There are many reasons. They don’t need to rig a game. All the work has been done already.

Negative Expected Valuation

You can calculate the Expected value of $1.00 when you place a wager on something that you can predict. Some bets have an expected value and others have a negative value. Without an external control, strategy, psychological maneuvering, or card counting, your gains will be negative. You can expect a $1.00 return on a roulette bet, minus Trio. Trio is worth approximately -$00.79 These numbers aren't thrilling.

Reset Button Rolls

You have just won a big bet. Everything seems to be going your way, and you're full of adrenaline. Wrong. The next roll is identical to the previous roll. Why? Because you have no control over the outcome of roulette. There is no deck that can be counted and there is no time limit. These odds are set to keep you playing until the end. What is this supposed to remind us? Slot machine. But everyone is better dressed. And you're losing even more money.

I understand what you are saying. "People make money playing Roulette!" Let's look at it in detail.

One for the Books

The Past

I know from personal experience that these men were the ones who produced the greatest roulette payouts. Old tables were not designed or made perfectly. As the night progressed the wheels showed bias towards specific results. The biases of the boards would not be enough to earn a profit. One man cannot determine the biases of all the tables. Solution? Some professional gamblers started to hire accountants, clerks, etc. to help them watch the casinos over the week and put together the numbers required to place their bets. The problem was eventually discovered by the casinos, who spent considerable money fixing it. Modern boards come in two varieties. These boards are supposedly free of bias or resettable.

The Present

One of two factors are essential for modern roulette wins. Blind luck of incomprehensible magnitudes, or systems that are dependent on a player's dependence on Chaos Theory's computational utility. People with extensive math knowledge generally consider this to be a bad idea. You can always use the Martingale and its offspring but it isn't a winning strategy. It is more of a loss minimization technique. This is also what is known as a bad idea. It is true that a team made up of gamblers has the ability to beat a roulette wheel. However, the odds of winning at roulette aren't good enough to warrant such play. As of yet, this is only theory.

The Moral of this Story

Roulette is the ultimate slot machine for the high-sophisticated. Although it seems like a real game at first glance, it is not. You can't play. There is no real winning. There is luck of the draw and there is reality. It is devastating, soul-sucking loss. Although my usual humor may not be present here, it's there to help you avoid making the same mistakes so many make. Roulette is a lot different than slot machines. You can lose significantly more money when you play it. This is a bad thing. This, combined with dealer control, makes the game a loser from start to finish. Gambling is a losing game. You must be in control. This is the end of this discussion. Roulette cannot be controlled. What is the conclusion? There is no way you can win at roulette. Do we even play if there's no way to win? No. We do not. The roulette game