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ROULETTE: Cashing in on Half-back
Roulette should need little introduction. It is a simple game of luck any 10-yearold could understand and play however; knowing the house edge and a few basic facts can help stretch your winnings.
To get started, there are two basic wheel variations that can greatly affect the house edge. These variations have to do with the number of zeros on the wheel. In almost all cases, there are either one or two zeros on a roulette wheel and some casinos offer different variations of what happens when it hits. While the single zero wheels are most common, try to stay away from the double zero wheels if possible as the extra zero can cost you in the long run.
Some casinos offer what is called HalfBack, where the player loses only half their wager on even money bets when the ball lands on zero or double zero. The chart on this page shows the house edge based on four combinations. Single zero, Half back, even money bets and all other bets.
European roulette wheels generally feature just one zero, plus the half-back rule on even money bets (often known as “en prison”), or some variation. Following are some other rules you might come across.
Berlin: If the ball lands on zero, all even money bets are “imprisoned.” The next spin is used to resolve the bet. If the next spin results in a win, the bet is released and returned to the player without winnings. Otherwise the bet is lost including on a subsequent zero. This results in a house edge of 1.39% on even-money bets. Holland: Same rule as Berlin, except if zero is hit two consecutive spins, the bet becomes double imprisoned. In this case two consecutive wins are necessary to release the bet. Any further zeros result in a loss. This results in a house edge of 1.37% on even-money bets.
Hamburg: If the ball lands on zero, half of all even-money bets are returned. This results in a house edge of 1.35%.
Most roulette games in the United States feature the unfavorable double zeros and no half-backs on losses. However, there are exceptions. In Atlantic City, the double-zero wheels feature the half-back rule. There are also plenty of singlezero wheels in Atlantic City, but they don’t feature the half-back rule. Las Vegas has several single-zero wheels around town, often with high minimums (but not always; Nevada Palace and Stratosphere have run low-minimum single-zero games for several years now.) The Grand Casino in Tunica also features a single-zero wheel.
The best rules can be found at select high-end Las Vegas casinos (e.g., Bellagio, Mirage, etc…), which offer single-zero roulette with the halfback rule.
Strategy The only strategy in roulette is finding wheels with favorable rules. Most important is to play single zero rather than double zero when possible. This may sound obvious, but on occasions where both are available side by side. Players will usually be split between them, the double-zero players are oblivious to the fact the casino edge is cut almost in half just a couple of steps away. If the half-back rule is in force, make even-money bets only. Always stay away from the 5-number combination bet offered in double-
by MICHAEL SHACKLEFORD
Michael “the Wizard of Odds” Shackleford is the author of is the author of Gambling 102 covering the best proven strategies for all casino games. He holds a degree in mathematics/ economics and is a prominent gambling consultant and acclaimed computer programmer.
FOR MORE FREE TIPS, VISIT GAMINGANDDESTINATIONS.COM
ROULETTE: Cashing in on Half-back (Continued)
zero roulette. Otherwise, there is no strategy in predicting numbers, bet size or bet placement. You may as well fly by the seat of your pants.
Betting System Contrary to popular belief among roulette players, no event (number, color, column, etc.) in roulette is ever “overdue”. It doesn’t matter how many times in a row the ball has landed on red; the odds of a red on the next spin are always equal to those of black. Roulette has been around for some 300 years and throughout its history, players have searched for a way to overcome the house edge. Some players believe (incorrectly) that the odds favor numbers that are overdue to hit. Others believe (incorrectly) that methods of bet-size variation can cause wins to exceed losses. It is mathematically impossible to gain an advantage over a fair game of roulette. No one has ever done so and no one ever will. The Encyclopedia Britannica recognizes the futility as follows:
“The oldest and most common betting system is the Martingale or ‘doubling-up’ system, in which bets are doubled progressively.” This probably dates back to the invention of the Roulette wheel, but every day of the week some gambler somewhere reinvents it, or some variation of it, and believes he has something new. Over the years, hundreds of ‘sure-fire’ winning systems have been dreamed up, but regardless of what system is used, in the long run it cannot overcome the house’s advantage of the 0 or 0 and 00. This house advantage is the only system that consistently wins in the long run.
Dealer Signature and Biased WheelsI have been asked on numerous occasions about the effectiveness of wheel tracking. Believers in a theory known as “dealer signature” maintain that, due to muscle memory, roulette dealers spin the ball at the same speed every time. Thus, they believe the player can predict where the ball will land according to the wheel’s position at the time of the ball release. I’m very skeptical the human eye is precise enough to accomplish this and have seen no evidence it has ever been done successfully. No credible gambling writer that I know of has ever endorsed this as a viable way to beat roulette.
On the other hand, roulette is known to have been beaten by exploiting biased wheels and with computer-aided prediction. The former involves finding a wheel with a pronounced mechanical deficiency that favors certain numbers. The latter involves using (hidden) modern technology to ascertain wheel speed, ball speed and ball position to predict at least what part of the wheel the ball will land in. In 2004, a team in London using laser scanners and microcomputers was believed to have won 1.3£ million with roulette prediction before being caught. Before you get excited, using a “device” to gamble in Nevada is illegal.
Summary As in keno, it isn’t the numbers you bet on that matter when you play. Look for wheels with a single zero or half backs on losses if the ball lands on a zero, or better yet, both.
Good luck!
Yes Yes 1.35% 2.7%
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