Roulette is an easy game to play. The rules are easy and simple to understand. You take a wager from your bankroll and place it in designated areas to signify the kind of bet you want to make. The croupier rolls the well, the ball bounces down to a number and the bets that contain the number wins a pre-determined amount. Unfortunately, the ease of rules comes with the price players have to pay. The house edge is quite high and many players who bet before they think usually go home with their pockets empty.

One way of making sure you get the most out of the game is to have better understanding and appreciation of rules that governs roulette. Understanding the rules is basically understanding the only thing in the game a player can control - the way he bets. By understanding the odds that comes with his bets and the level of risk he is undertaking in order to do so, a player can make use of some guidelines to make playing roulette a worthwhile, if not, profitable experience.

Inside Bets Odds

Inside Bets are the ones that contain the highest risk, the highest payout and the lowest odds in the game of roulette. There are five common inside bets a player could use, each has its own odds and own payout. They are, namely, the straight, the split, the street, the corner, and the line bets. A five-liner bet can also be found exclusively with American roulette and it contains the number 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3.

Straight bet or the classic bet has the best payout of the game with 35 to 1. The bet also has the worse odds in the game with one in 37 chances in European roulette and one in 38 chances in the American counterpart.

Split bet, or the two-number bet, are the bets you made on two adjacent numbers. The payout is a nice 17.5 to 1, but the odds are just a bit better than straight bets with 2 in 37 and 1 in 19 chances in European and American roulette, respectively.

Street bets, or the three number bets, are bets made on numbers in a single row. It pays 11 to one and has the odds of 3 in 37 chances in European and 3 in 38 in American Roulette.

Corner or Square bets are bets made on numbers that form a square in the grid. Its odds are four in 37 chances and 2 in 19 chances for European and American versions respectively. It pays roulette players eight to one.

Six-Line Bets are made on two adjacent rows in the roulette grid. It pays five to one and has the odds of 6 in 37 chances for European roulette and 3 in 19 chances for its American counterpart.

Outside Bets Odds

There are three kinds of outside bets used in poker games; the even-money bets, the column bets, and the dozen bets.

The Even-Money bets are bets made on specific combinations like High/Low, Odd/Even, and Red/Black. It pays 1 is to 1 and have and odds of a little less than one in two chances.

Column bets are those made on one of the three columns on the grid. It pays two to one with the odds of 12 in 37 and 6 in 19 for European and American version, respectively.

Dozen Bets, on the other hand, is a wager on dozen numbers, i.e. 1 to 12, 13 to 24, 25 to 36. The payout for this bet is 2 for every one unit wagered. It has the same odds as the column bets.