There are punts you can make on roulette that the casino won’t tell you about. Roland de Wolfe says ‘ooh la la’ and enters the hidden world of French bets.
A casino can be an intimidating place and on roulette in particular, people will stick to the bets they know or those advertised. However there are other bets available and rarely used on this game of chance. They may not improve your odds but they will enable you to impress your companions with your in-depth knowledge of the game.
French bets are called out to the dealer rather than being placed on the layout. They cover different areas of the wheel and are ideal if you think the ball will land in a specific area. They exist in European roulette but not American (double zero) roulette, where the numbers are in a different order. They are not advertised in the casino but are accepted – the dealer will know how to place your money.
VOISINS DE ZERO
Two chips on zero, 2, 3
One chip on 4, 7 split
One chip on 12, 15 split
One chip on 18, 21 split
One chip on 19, 22 split
Two chips on 25, 26, 28, 29 corner
One chip on 32, 35 split
Voisins de zero, meaning ‘neighbours of zero’, is a nine-chip bet. Depending on what number comes in, the return will be different. It will be higher on zero, 2, or 3 – where you will get 15 chips profit – as opposed to nine chips profit on the other voisins numbers. However, all of the bet has a house edge of 2.703%, irrespective of what number comes in. Your chance of winning on any given voisin bet is 45.9%.
TIER
One chip on 5, 8 split
One chip on 10, 11 split
One chip on 13, 16 split
One chip on 23, 24 split
One chip on 27, 30 split
One chip on 33, 36 split
Tier means ‘third’ in French. These are the numbers on the wheel opposite zero. The bet is six chips over 12 numbers and the house edge is 2.703% as it would be if betting on the first, second or third 12. If the player calls ‘tier by ten,’ for example, the bet would cost £60, and pay £170 if successful, plus £10 stake returned. The bet wins 32.4% of the time.
ORPHELINS
One chip on 1
One chip on 6, 9 split
One chip on 14, 17 split
One chip on 17, 20 split
One chip on 31, 34 split
Orphelins means ‘orphans’. It covers the areas of the wheel between tier and voisins on either side. The stakes are a single chip on 1 and four splits on the other eight orphans. These are paid at the same rate as a normal, straight-up bet or spilt. The house again has a 2.7% advantage and you win 24.7% of orphelins bets.
ZERO SPIEL
One chip on zero, 3 spilt
One chip on 12, 15 split
One chip on 26
One chip on 32, 35 split
Zero spiel (from the German ‘zero game’) is a four-chip bet covering zero and the three numbers either side of it. All have half a chip on them except 26, which is straight-up. You win 18.9% of the time with this bet.
NEIGHBOURS
Neighbours is the most common French bet. You call a number and an amount to bet – ’20 by ten’, for instance. This means you will bet £10 on each of the numbers next to 20, next-but-one to 20, and 20 itself. If one of those numbers comes up, you win £350. The chance of that happening is 13.5%.
