Roulette is a popular, iconic game, so it’s no surprise that you might find yourself interested in delving into this particular activity yourself. However, despite its apparent simplicity, roulette is a game with a long winding history and a surprisingly in-depth system of rules that might prevent you from immediately jumping in with two feet.
That’s okay, it’s understandable to be cautious when trying something new, but this isn’t anything that can’t be overcome with the right research.
It doesn’t take much, but before long, you’ll be in a prime position to get started – well on your way to incorporating a new hobby into your life that can help you to relax, unwind, or even socialize if you want to take the time to visit physical venues with your friends.
That Practice Makes Perfect
First things first, you can read up on all of the theories you want, but when it comes to a game like this, the best way to learn is to throw yourself in. Of course, with a game like roulette, the idea of doing that might throw up some alarm bells in your brain against doing that, and jumping into a game with an element of gambling without a clear idea of what you’re doing might seem foolhardy.
However, it’s important to remember that physical venues may sometimes have free tables that can allow you to practice various games in order to get the hang of them before you play for real. Even before fully understanding all of the theoretical information behind the game, getting a sense of how it simply works, the rhythms of play, and how everything moves can give you a good indication of how you should shape your approach.
You can hear about the best way to play this game before you do so yourself, but at that point, you’re just emulating what you’ve been told. Sitting down, a blank slate with the game, and getting to know it for yourself is a valuable first step.
There are other ways that you can practice, of course, and you might find that the ways in which you do this are somewhat similar to how you might end up playing the game for real. This refers to the availability of online roulette real money, which can allow you to play the game from your smartphone in the comfort of your own home or in any other situation that provides you with some time to simply relax.
Knowing that you can immediately access roulette means that you have a way of putting in more practice, as well as playing the game for real if you so desire, which means that you become more familiar with the game naturally as it becomes part of how you spend your downtime.
With sufficient practice under your belt, you might start to feel confident enough to start visiting casinos or similar venues where roulette is played with a group of friends, taking it from being simply an activity that you engage with during your free time to one that takes on a more social air.
Different people might find that they get into this game for different reasons. To some people, it will be more of a social occasion, as mentioned previously, while others simply enjoy the game and the experience that it provides. The reason that practice and confidence is so vital is due to the disadvantage that you might find yourself at whenever you’re in the position you’re in, up against the forces on the other side of the roulette table.
The History of the Game
As with any iconic game that has become a long-standing symbol of popular culture, roulette has a rich history that might go back further than you think. While, as with most games that involve gambling, roulette is often associated with sites such as Vegas, its origins actually go back to 18th century France, where an earlier form of the device now commonly used for the game was developed.
It’s easy to look at roulette and assume that it’s devoid of cultural significance because of the fact that it’s joined at the hip with the gambling industry, but looking back further down the line might help you gain a higher degree of appreciation for how it integrated itself into modern society.
Several additions and alterations have been made to the game since it was first conceived, which all eventually accumulated in order to lead to the game that you now know, and due to the lack of widespread communication in earlier centuries, different countries might have played the game with slightly different rules.
Many suggest that it wasn’t until the German abolishment of gambling in 1860 that the game ironically found its fortune, as its place at Monte Carlo with the rich, high-society members of Europe gained it the popularity that you now see today.
Interestingly, the aforementioned fact of different countries around the world playing the game differently never fully coalesced into a single, unified vision of the game as you might have expected – instead, the game can still be found in two distinct forms, depending on where in the world you’re planning on playing it.
The double-zero version of the game is what you’ll likely find within the Americas – USA, Canada, and South America. However, if you’re looking to play outside of these regions, you’ll likely encounter the single-zero variant. While that might seem like a small difference, the impact that it makes on the game is rather sizeable, as the double-zero version of the game has, as you might expect, twice as many opportunities for you to land on a zero, the house advantage is doubled, and your own odds of winning diminish.
Therefore, if you have a choice of the two games, you might find yourself naturally inclined towards the single, though you might not always be offered such a decision.
While you might not have initially felt as though the history of the game would have an impact on your own ability to play it, the initial appreciation that you might have gleaned from its origins, as well as how the two variants can actually impact your odds of winning might say otherwise.
It’s easy to take something so deceptively simple for granted, but successful games are an oddity, and the sophistication behind something that manages to be so engaging while also being so simple is not easily recreated. As with games such as chess, you might find that the roulette table is easy to pick up and learn but difficult to truly master.
The Rules
The rules of the game are somewhat simple. There is a spinning disc with divisions that are labeled with different numbers and colors. You put chips down and guess which of these the ball will eventually land on when the disc stops its rotation. Your guess is visualized by the location of your chips on the board, with a corresponding number to the location on the disc that you’ll think it’ll land.
These numbers are 1-36, with one or two spaces occupied by a 0, depending on where you’re playing the game, and while many of the 36 numbers are valid bets – these bets will be lost if the ball lands on the 0(s). That’s the game, and that’s all that you need to know to get started.
However, while you might have thought that painless enough, there is still a breadth of knowledge for you to dive into if you want to join the same leagues of experts who have focused their personal or professional attention on this game.
Most of this knowledge comes in the form of the different bets that you can make and the increasingly complex ways in which you can stake your chips. For example, while the numbers are one way for you to do it, there are also the various colors that decorate the roulette wheel, meaning that you have another avenue to explore in regards to what you stake.
Similarly, these numbers can be divided in such ways that allow you to bet on which section of the sequence the ball will land instead of one number in particular (for example, 1-18 or 19-36). Of course, a lot of this will depend on where you’re playing and the rules available to you at the time, as well additional options such as a rule that allows a degree of leniency if the ball does land on the 0 spots.
Still, understanding the kinds of options that you might have means that you can keep an eye out and make decisions that can benefit you. For example, not knowing that there was a single-zero table might mean that you unknowingly play a version of the game that puts you in a worse position.
Knowledge is power, and in this case, it can go a long way to helping you win and might be your best ally when the aim of the game is appealing to the higher power of luck. Still, while theoretically, knowledge is certainly crucial, you might find that the true bulk of the learning comes by throwing yourself into the game.
