Most players are familiar with the two different types of roulette wheel layouts, which are American and European. This refers to the sequence of numbered pockets. But this article will cover the different variations in greater depth.
The variations about roulette game are shown below:
French Roulette
French roulette uses the European wheel format. The only difference is some of the betting options on the betting table. Most commonly the additional options are called the “trace track”, and are shown on the roulette race track bets page. Essentially the bets enable players to cover particular sections of the wheel.
Mini Roulette
This variation involves a wheel with 13 numbers. It includes numbers 1 to 12, and a zero. There are various forms of mini roulette. For example, it can include a real physical wheel and ball. Or there could be no ball at all, and the wheel is spun until it stops at a static marker, which determines the winning number.
RNG mini roulette doesn’t use any physical wheel or ball. Such variations are no different to slot machines, but with particularly bad payouts and odds for players. Keep in mind fewer numbers doesn’t increase your chance of profiting. RNG mini roulette is shown below:
Double ball Roulette
Double ball roulette first appeared in Vegas. As the name suggests, it’s like normal roulette except with two balls. Below is one such variation with the European wheel layout. Generally you’re unlikely to see this in typical casinos. It was first offered more as an experiment, and to give players new and potentially more exciting wagering options. With the exception of roulette wheel bias analysis, there is no reason why professional players would favor this variation over others. This is because with an extra ball bouncing, bias analysis players can obtain data twice as quickly. Nevertheless, bias analysis is not the quickest, most effective or practical professional roulette strategy method.
Rapid Roulette
To any casino, floor space is revenue. So every casino carefully considers the revenue generated for each square foot of floor space. Generally no game is more profitable for casinos than slot machines. But having a casino full of slot machines is particularly boring. So naturally casinos provide their players with various options, including roulette.
However, roulette tables can become crowded, and spins become less frequent. This limits the casino’s revenue. Rapid roulette solves this issue for casinos.
It typically involves a real roulette wheel being spun within view of players, except players place bets on a touch screen. See a below example from Melbourne’s Crown casino:
In addition to allowing many more players to bet on the same spins, the wheel is spun much more frequently because payouts to players are automatic. If you’ve ever been at a busy roulette table, you’ll understand the frustration of the delays caused from paying players – especially when you aren’t the one being paid.
There are some versions of rapid roulette where the wheel is actually just a computer animation. Knowledgeable players still consider this to be roulette, when it’s in fact a slot machine with computer animations.
Which type of Roulette is best?
Firstly, consider your intentions. Are you looking to play roulette professionally, or just for fun?
If you’re playing just for fun, choose whatever you find most exciting. But keep in mind the higher the house edge, the lower your chance of profiting. Most casinos openly display the house edge to players, which makes it easy for you. For example, the single 0 European wheel has a 2.7% house edge, whereas the 00 American wheel has a 5.26% house edge. So the single 0 European wheel is better to play on.
With one exception of the American wheel, all bets have the same house edge. See more details about the house edge, odds and payouts of roulette.
If you’re looking to play professionally, you must only consider real physical wheels. The only time you’d consider RNG (random number generators) is if you are attempting to find a flaw in the RNG software, which determines winning numbers. But this can take even 100,000 spins, which makes it very impractical to do.
As a professional player, usually you’d start with the European wheels because of the lower house edge. But more importantly, the methods that legitimately beat roulette are effective on both American or European wheels. A technique that achieves a 50% edge on an American wheel will achieve an even higher edge on a European wheel. But it’s not solely a wheel’s number layout that determines your edge. It’s mostly what is causing spins to be predictable. An example may be physical flaws of the wheel.
Summary of playing
If you’re more of a gamer for fun, and dabble in the occasional system for entertainment, keep this in mind: what you’re betting on is inconsequential. What matters is the difference between odds and payout.
Odds are your chance of winning, not specifically profiting. And payout is what you are paid when you win.
The difference between the odds and payout, or more specifically the expected result, is the edge. When your predictions are no more accurate than random, your expectation will be the house edge. And the house edge is in the casino’s favor, not yours. So pay close attention to the house edge.
If you are planning to beat any casino game, including roulette, you must attack the mechanism that determines the winning number. In cases where real physical wheels are used, the mechanism is the wheel and ball.
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