A press release also stated that single zero roulette was now spread at the Las Vegas Strip casino. I headed down to The Cromwell on Thursday night to check out the casino’s new games. New 3-2 Blackjack Tables. I discovered that the press release accurately described the conditions. The Cromwell now has over 20 3-2 blackjack tables on its floor. Specialty games, including: High Card Flush, Super Fun 21 with Diamond Blackjack side wager, Lucky Ladies Blackjack and 21+3 Blackjack, Ultimate Texas Hold‘Em with Trips Bonus and Bonus Craps! We are proud to offer some of the most liberal table odds offered in Laughlin, like triple odds on craps and double down on first two original cards in. Converting Probability into Odds Additional Tips In the example with you hitting number 9 on roulette, the calculations run as follows: (100/2.70) – 1 = 37.03 – 1 = 36.03, or roughly 36 to 1. In the one with the Queen of Spades, the implied probability of 7.69%, when converted into “odds against”, corresponds to (100/7.69) – 1 = 13. Without any deeper understanding of odds in blackjack, it’s easy to believe that hitting on a hand value of 12 would always be the right decision. This is because 12 is a very low value and the fact that more than two-thirds of the cards in the deck (s) would improve the value of it.

Roulette is one of oldest casino games and its origins could easily be traced to more than a millennium ago when various simplified versions of it existed as a form of entertainment. Today, gamblers have access to dozens of betting systems, strategies, and even cheating devices that promise long-term success to those who dare use them. Still, there are only two simple concepts they need to grasp in order to improve their play and their chances of winning and that is the odds and the casino advantage that is built-in in every roulette game.

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Knowing the odds is essential in playing roulette or any other game of chance where players’ decisions have no impact on the outcome of the round. Games of skill, in contrast, typically require at least basic knowledge of the rules and give skilled players the opportunity to improve their chances of winning. Unlike classic casino games such as blackjack or poker where individual actions can significantly change the outcome, roulette is a game of pure chance where the outcome is completely random.

Once players recognize this fact, they can truly understand the nature of roulette and learn how to optimize their play to avoid significant losses on the roulette table. Those who want to be successful in the long term need to learn the basic probabilities in this game and determine how likely to win or lose any given bet is. Moreover, all roulette fans should bear in mind that every bet they place is more likely to lose than to win – this is how casinos manage to always make a profit even with the occasional big wins they have to pay out.

So, what is probability and is there a difference between the true odds in roulette and the casino odds offered to players? These are fundamental questions that need to be answered honestly before gamblers sit around the roulette table.

Probability and True Odds

Often, the terms “probability” and “odds” can be confused by even professional casino players. Although they are, indeed, very similar in terms of their usefulness and relevance to evaluating different roulette bets, the two are quite different – at least theoretically.

First of all, players should know that if fair and unbiased, roulette wheels produce random results with every spin. Each of the numbers is equally likely to win or, rather, equally likely to lose. At the same time, for each number from 0 to 36, there are only two possible outcomes – a win or a loss.

Probability

The probability is the likelihood of any given outcome compared to all outcomes that are possible. Expressed as a number, the probability always exists between 0 and 1 – 0 would indicate that something is impossible to occur, while 1 would mean absolute certainty for the outcome. Even chances, for example, would be expressed as a 0.50 probability. In roulette, we have either 37 or 38 numbers in total, so these are all the possible outcomes.

Let us take the single-zero roulette wheel where for each number, there is only 1 way to win and 36 ways to lose. So what is the probability that the ball will fall on 17 in the next spin, for example? We can calculate it by dividing the number of ways to win by all possible ways – 1/37, which is 0.027. For most people, the probability is easier to understand as a percentage, so we simply multiply the decimal by 100 and we get 2.70%.

True Odds in Roulette

Now that we have established what probability is and how it is determined in roulette, we can compare it to the notion of “odds”. Odds are also used to describe the chance of an event occurring but they compare the number of ways it can occur to the number of ways it cannot occur. The odds of any particular number winning in roulette could be simply displayed as 1:36 or 1/36 where 36 is, once again, the number of ways to lose.

Sometimes, when it comes to expressing the odds of a particular bet in roulette, they would be in reverse, indicating the odds against winning. Using the same example, the odds of the number 17 against winning would be 36:1, or 36 to 1. These are known as “true odds” as compared to what some players refer to as “casino odds”. There is a huge difference between the two terms, but it will be explained in detail in the following section.

To make this even clearer, let us see the odds for probably the most commonly placed bet in roulette – red/black. If we place our chips on red, the probability would be 18 out of 37, while the odds would be 19:18 against us because there would be 19 ways to lose against 18 ways to win. In percentages, the probability would be 18/37 = 0.48648648648, 48.65%.

Casino Odds

When determining whether a roulette bet has good or bad odds, experienced players take into account not only their probability of winning and the true odds but also the potential reward they could bring. Each bet pays out differently, depending on its likelihood of winning – the less likely a given outcome is to occur, the more its potential payout would be. There is a sound logic behind this and in a perfect world where casinos would not have to make a profit, the payout of every bet would be equal to the odds against winning.

Let us take a look at the straight bet in European roulette – the odds against the player here are 36 to 1 (36:1) because as we have already shown above, there are 36 ways for this bet to lose and only 1 way to win. In order to offer a reward that would match the risk, the casino would be expected to pay players 36 to 1. In other words, it would be expected to return the original stake and to pay out winnings that are worth 36 times the amount of the bet.

Casino Odds Additional TipsIn reality, this does not happen, however, and the house gives a slightly lower payout of 35:1 on winning straight-up bets. The idea is that on every winning wager, players pay a small fee to the casino and in this case, it is one unit. The difference does not seem significant but it is how casinos gain their advantage over players – by paying every winner just slightly less than they should have. Over time, this tiny difference makes a large profit for the house and provides a guaranteed income in any possible scenario.

These payouts offered by casinos are sometimes referred to as “casino odds” due to their visible similarity. And while both are expressed as ratios of two numbers, they are never equal – the odds against winning are always slightly higher than the casino odds. The closer the casino odds get to the true odds of any given bet, the lower the advantage of the casino.

Roulette House Edge Explained

Clearly, the payout does not correspond to the true odds of roulette bets. This advantage of the casino over its patrons is called house advantage and can be easily demonstrated with the following example – we bet $1 on the number 17 and win. If given the true odds for this bet (36:1), we would receive our initial $1 stake back plus $36 as a payout. Instead, casinos pay us $35 and the original $1 bet but they keep the $1 difference.

The same concept applies to all bets in the game, which results in an average house edge of 2.70% for single-zero roulette and 5.26% for double-zero roulette. There are several formulas for calculating the house edge but probably the simplest one is the following – we need to subtract the casino odds from the true odds against success and then, to multiply that by the probability of success. So, the formula will look like this:

House Edge = (True Odds – Casino Odds) x Probability

When we substitute with the numbers we have already used for the straight bet, we get – (36/1 – 35/1) x 1/37 = 1×1/37 = 0.02702702702, or 0.027. To express it as a percentage, we multiply by 100 and get 2.70%. Several other formulas exist, but they all eventually come to the same conclusion and percentage for the house edge.

Roulette House Edge Additional TipsWhat this means for the players is that they can expect to lose 2.70% of their wager when playing a single-zero roulette. For every $100 they bet, they would lose on $2.70 on average. Of course, this is a theoretical ratio between the stake and the expected loss but things could be very different in real life. If we place a $100 chip on red, we can either win or lose its entire value. But we cannot win the bet and lose $2.70 at the same time.

So, the house edge can only get closer to reality with hundreds or even hundreds of thousands spins of the roulette wheel. It is a theoretical concept and while this may sound too vague to players, it is a good indicator of how much money they can expect to lose over time. Of course, they might win hundreds of dollars by the end of one gaming session or lose hundreds more in the next one. Still, they are less likely to lose their bankroll if they stick to specific games and bets where the casino has the lowest advantage.

Beating the Odds in Roulette

The idea that by using a complex strategy one could beat the odds in roulette is very popular but equally misleading. There are countless guides, books, and websites dedicated to convincing people that there is a guaranteed method of winning in this game. In fact, various betting systems, often inaccurately called “strategies”, have been developed over the years, as well as ways that would supposedly help players exploit the imperfections of physical roulette wheels and overcome the house edge.

Unfortunately, these methodologies have been repeatedly proven to be inefficient in securing winnings over the long term. Moreover, their short-term usefulness is doubtful and the reason is obvious to most expert-level players – roulette is a game with fixed odds that cannot be changed even with the best strategy. As explained above, the outcome of every spin of the roulette is random and based on probability. The house edge, therefore, also remains the same almost as a proof for the popular saying that the house always wins.

Roulette Strategies

The so-called roulette strategies are, in their essence, betting systems based on a progression where the amount of the stake changes after a certain outcome. Famous methods such as the Martingale or the D’Alembert suggest that you increase your bet after every loss, hoping that, in the end, one winning bet will compensate for all the losses. There are also systems where the bet is decreased, while in others, it remains the same throughout the entire game session. Overall, the idea is to help players minimize their losses or even generate some decent winnings over the long term.

While none of these betting progressions provides a fool-proof way to win, another type of strategies comes with exactly this claim. These strategies are based on the notion that you can increase your chances of winning by covering a large part of the table. Indeed, this sounds logical at first and certain methods even suggest that you should cover much more than 50% of the table. This strategy, however, will be too costly for most players, especially after a few losing spins.

If not used carefully, both betting systems and roulette strategies may “eat up” players’ entire bankroll within a short period of time. Placing neighbor bets or any other type of announced bets could be detrimental to those who are not well prepared to suffer serious losses. In conclusion, even the best methods and combinations of bets cannot aid you in beating the odds and overcoming the built-in casino advantage.

Advantage Play

Some roulette players rely on quite different methods for securing winnings. Known as advantage play methods, these include any strategies that give players either a statistical or a mathematical advantage over the casino. If employed successfully, they can beat the standard roulette odds and even if it is just by a little, it should be enough to provide players with long-term winnings. Unlike the betting strategies and systems described above, advantage play does not revolve around the betting layout but rather, around the wheel.

It can be used in both online and land-based casinos and online, advantage players would try to use special software that records and analyzes the results of hundreds of spins. The aim is to find a pattern in the winning numbers (such as repeating sequences of winning numbers) and then, to use it to make predictions. However, most online casinos nowadays offer roulette games based on RNG (random number generator) so finding patterns would be impossible as the outcome of every spin is random.

When it comes to playing a roulette game with a physical roulette wheel, however, advantage play is much more different. Players who try to use this technique would typically stand by the roulette table for at least 40-50 spins and write down all the winning numbers in the hope that they would be able to spot numbers that come out more frequently than others. In fact, sometimes they observe the wheel for hundreds of spins before they can notice repeating numbers, patterns or some irregularities.

Advantage Play Additional TipsThis method was mostly used in the past when casinos did not have such strict maintenance rules and protocols, while the wheels and other gaming equipment were manufactured in a manner that today would be deemed unacceptable. Players who wish to turn the odds in their favor these days need to be extremely discreet if they plan to observe the wheels before the casino security become aware of them. Exploiting roulette wheels’ bias and imperfections for one’s profit is not usually met with understanding from casinos.

How to Increase Player’s Chances of Winning

There are no reliable ways to actually beat the odds when playing roulette and even if such methods exist, they are neither simple nor acceptable by casino standards. Yet, players can increase their chances of winning by following several basic principles that can be applied to both online and brick-and-mortar casinos.

First of all, choosing a good roulette table is essential and obviously, single-zero roulette games are a much better option than double-zero games, which are mostly offered in casinos across the United States. The house edge in the American-style roulette is twice as high due to the additional sector on the wheel, the green 00. But picking French or European-style roulette variations is just the first step in learning how to maximize players’ expected value.

Second, players should always base their play around wagers with the lowest possible house edge. Of course, the best bets in roulette are the outside bets, which cover large portions of the wheel and require a single chip to be wagered. These include black/red, even/odd, and low/high, where the advantage of the casino is 2.70% while the player’s odds of winning are the highest. It is true that the payouts are not particularly attractive but these bets are less risky options in the game.

When choosing a bet, players need to compare the casino odds to the true odds and find the type of bet where these two as close to each other as possible. Often, the most attractive payouts are offered for bets which the casino pays much less than their actual worth. As a general rule of thumb, players should remember that the less risk they take, the less they can expect to win. All the good payouts, however, come with exceptionally bad odds and require a great tolerance for risk.

If you wanted to, you could spend all day ruminating about the concept of what makes something better than something else. Here’s a Stanford University page on the philosophy that explains “value theory” if you’re curious about “what is better.”

Asking if blackjack is better than roulette is a lot like asking what a best-selling beer does for you. Some people will scream it “tastes great” while others will argue it’s “less filling.” It’s pretty subjective. The comparison for blackjack and roulette is a lot similar.

It’s all about context, isn’t it?

I’m sure the old adage about sauce for gooses and ganders only works for the casino. They don’t care where the player loses money as long as everyone is having fun.

Since gambling is best enjoyed as entertainment, comparing blackjack and roulette feels like comparing a 5-course meal to an elite buffet. As long as the food is good in both places, everyone should be happy.

Everyone has his or her own preferences. So, when a beginning gambler is trying to decide between the meal of blackjack or the roulette buffet, they’ll have to decide which suits their diet best.

The rules for deciding which game is best in gambling should be simple.

• Where do I consistently lose the most money?
• Where do I enjoy the most wins?
• Am I having fun?

But what is the best way to explain the pros and cons of both games to a beginner?

Imagine taking your kids to the casino on their 21^st birthday. They finally get to enjoy a night with the adults. Here’s how I would compare the two games to my kids:

Blackjack Is More Quietly Social Than Roulette

People chat away at blackjack tables, but the conversation is more subdued in my experience. Many players are more relaxed than the folks standing at the roulette tables.

For someone who is taking it all in for the first time, blackjack is a good game where you can explain odds and probabilities. You can’t sit there and count cards out loud for a newbie gambler, but you can explain the game patiently.

I’ve stood next to more than one roulette table where some young guy screamed loudly every time the ball landed in his zone. It’s hard to hold a conversation like that.

Other times the casino may be running slow. You can stand at the roulette table and explain the game to someone because there are no other players. The croupiers are efficient and professional.

I’ve never felt inclined to talk to strangers at a roulette table. I’m more willing to chit with the chatters when seated for blackjack. It feels more intimate.

Blackjack Is Less Likely to Take Your Money

I once watched a guy place substantial bets on five individual numbers. That was his system. His money didn’t last long.

You can bet the table limit in blackjack and burn through a small bankroll quickly. But comparatively speaking, blackjack players are more conservative than single-number roulette players.

You’re not at the blackjack table to get rich. You’re there to play a game that requires skill. Any fool can drop $100 on a single number in roulette.

The player is responsible for his wagers. I’ve watched people drop a couple thousand dollars on blackjack. I’ve lost as much as $500 myself.

If you take the time to think about the game, you become more cautious. Deciding whether to split 5s is much harder than deciding not to split 10s. (You should never split either, by the way.)

In roulette, I quickly grow bored with placing all my money in 2-for-1 zones. Sometimes I bet $25 on a single number. I’ve never won that bet, but it was fun while it lasted.

Roulette Is Designed to Give You an Adrenaline Rush

If you want an exciting game, then play roulette or craps. Roulette is easier to understand, so introduce your kid to casino excitement through roulette first.

A seasoned blackjack player may catch on quickly when someone else is running the table. Maybe the guy is only lucky, but he wins a lot of hands. There’s a certain quiet excitement in watching someone play so well.

In roulette, if there’s a crowd around the table, everyone may give a shout when a person wins a risky bet. The excitement grows as the croupier pushes a stack of chips toward a player.

Although the gameplay in blackjack can proceed faster than a slow roulette table, roulette seems to take less time to resolve. That adrenaline rush can go on for a while when the crowd is hot, and the table is paying.

With enough players betting on the wheel, roulette looks a lot like the way it’s shown in the movies. Someone is always getting chips, even if it’s not the same player. The crowd loves a winner.

Crowds are drawn to excitement. If people are hanging around a table, there is a reason. I see groups converge on roulette more often than for blackjack. If your newbie gambler likes attention, this may be the game for them.

Players Have More Control Over Risk in Roulette

Roulette Odds Blackjack Odds

There are more options in roulette than in blackjack. And unlike blackjack, where the player must wait for cards to be dealt to adjust the risk they take, everything is decided at once in roulette.

The game is entirely passive, but players can choose from a wider variety of options than in blackjack.

How often do you get four or five splits in a single hand of blackjack?

Roulette Vs Blackjack Odds

Players who want to throw caution to the winds and challenge the luck gods prefer roulette to blackjack. It’s easier to try a different idea every game. In blackjack, the draw of the cards limits the players’ choices.

Players can also balance their risk in roulette. Place a low-risk outside bet in a 2-for-1 zone and then place a couple of higher-risk inside bets on 4-number points.

More People Can Play a Roulette Table Than a Blackjack Table

This varies by casino. Some casinos place seats around their roulette tables. Even if you can stand and bet, the seats take up space.

Blackjack tables max out at seven players, no matter what. If there is sufficient demand and available staff, the casino will open more blackjack tables.

The same is true for roulette. As the day shifts into evening, more people gravitate toward the roulette tables. Only one wheel may have been active in the slow afternoon, but if a casino has extra, they certainly will open up several more in the evening.

Yet, there is usually no specified limit on the number of players for a roulette table. If 12 people can stand around the table and keep their chips separate, that should be okay.

In a busy casino, roulette may be the easier game to get into. Availability always varies by venue, but it’s been my experience that even on busy nights there’s always room for one more at a roulette table.

And that is where all the yelling and screaming comes from. The bigger the crowd at a table, the more likely they get excited. All they are waiting for is someone to score a nice win.

Conclusion

When comparing the merits of both games, most people start talking about the house edge.

But what is the chance you’ll split five times versus scoring a blackjack on a single draw?

There are multiple edges within each game. The chance of the ball landing on any 1 number ranges from 1-in-37 to 1-in-39, depending on the roulette variation you’re playing. The chance of the ball landing on either black or red is just under 50%.

The payoff odds in both games are adjusted to ensure the house makes a profit in the long run. The real question for me has always been about where I think I have a shot at getting my money back.

That is most often blackjack.

But roulette is a decent fallback game for conservative players who want to take on a little more risk. It’s best to set a limit on how much risk you take before you begin placing your chips.

Roulette Odds Blackjack Games

After all, the night is longer for those who must drive home early than for those who drive home as winners.

Roulette Odds Blackjack Game