Roulette is a game that has fascinated humans since its invention. The reason why is because it combines luck and skill. How does it work?
You bet on red or black, depending on whether you believe that the ball will land on either side of the wheel. If you win, you get paid. If you lose, you still have the option to play again. This means that it’s possible to double your bets at any time.
Some online casinos are now offering online roulette games, where you can practice without risking real money. Before playing online, however, you should consider some important details like the rules, odds, and betting options.
How to Play Online Roulette: Rules
First of all, you need to understand how Roulette works. It’s not as simple as spinning a wheel that has numbers all over it. In reality, there are 37 spaces inside the wheel with 36 pockets in which the ball must bounce before landing on one of them. Once this happens, it continues bouncing until it lands on another space of the wheel. Then, you choose what number pocket you want to wager on (red or black). You put an amount of money on it and place your bet.
Next, you spin the wheel and watch the ball bounce around. When it stops, and if the ball doesn’t land on a pocket that matches your choice, you lose your money. To win, you would need to match the right color with the right number. Even though it seems impossible to do so, you still have a chance to win by making combinations with different numbers on different sides. For example, if the ball goes into 13, then 18, and finally comes back to 13, you could guess that the next roll will probably be into 12. And if it hits 13, 18, and 12, you could guess that it might be into something good.
If you keep doing this, even after losing several times, eventually you would end up winning. But don’t expect to get rich overnight! As long as you stick with it, eventually, you will become the one to call “roulette.”
Best Online Roulette Strategies
1. Betting Strategy for Red/Black Roulette
The first thing to know about the betting strategy for red/black Roulette is that your choices aren’t very many. There are only two colors — Red and Black. On each turn, you either bet red or black. So, when the ball bounces close to the edge, you always have to decide between red and black. Your decision depends on which way the ball goes.
Let’s use an example to illustrate the situation. Imagine that it’s your last turn. The ball is about to land on 17. Which of these do you choose?
17 is closer to being red than black. That means you have more chances to win if the next hit is going to be red. Therefore, let’s say you bet red. What if the next hit is white? Do you still bet red or do you switch to black?
2. Red/Red vs. Black/Black Odds Comparison
Red/black odds are similar to percentages. They represent the probability that someone wins if they pick red. For instance, if the ball is black, you would have 1 out of 38 chances to win. If the ball was red, you would have 32 chances to win.
Similarly, black/black odds represent the probability that someone wins when they choose black. In this case, their chances go from 0% to 100%. For example, if the current ball is black, you have nothing to gain. However, if the ball is red, you have a 33.3% chance to win.
So, now we can compare these probabilities to figure out whether taking one side is better.
3. Black/black odds 1 – red/black odds
You can see that the ratio of odds for choosing black is equal to the opposite of the odds for choosing red. This just means that a 1:1 ratio exists. In other words, if there are exactly the same number of chances for both bets, it doesn’t matter which one you take.
In fact, whenever the ratios are equal, you can always flip coins without a loss of expected value at all. For example, the coin toss is fair because the ratio of heads and tails is 50:50. That’s true no matter how often you try.
However, what happens when the red/red and black/black odds are not equal? In that case, one could say that a disadvantage exists. It’s like flipping two fair coins instead of one. Clearly, you won’t get any extra chances of getting lucky.
4. Black/red odds 1 – red/black
You may wonder why the above statement isn’t written as follows. Black/red odds 2 – red/black. The reason is that while 1:1 ratios exist, 2:1 odds do not necessarily add up to 100%. In some cases, you can make money even though there’s a disadvantage. For example, 1:1 odds mean that twice as many people win when they choose red than when they choose black. But if the difference is only 3 percent, then 5 of 10 people will lose.
Here’s another interesting thing. When there’s a strong advantage for one color over the opposing color, it actually makes sense to play red every time. Remember the previous examples where there were odds of 1:1 and 2:1? Those odds meant that 1 out of 4 times red turned into black, and 3 of 4 times black turned into red. Now imagine if those odds were reversed — so that 1 out of 4 turns to black and 3 out of 4 turns to red.