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How to Play Roulette in England and Europe
For tourists who want to spend a leisurely evening in an English or European casino and not tax their brains, I advise playing American- style roulette. But treat French roulette, which abounds in European and English casinos, as if it were fly paper and you were a fat, sluggish fly.
The percentages for American-style roulette are much better for the player in England than in most other world gambling centers. In Nevada, for example, “0” and “00” on the roulette table layouts increase the percentage for the club. But in England and in many European casinos, only “0” appears on the layout; the “00” has been eliminated. This practically cuts the percentage against the player in half, because most roulette wheels have thirty-eight numbers (Ito 36, plus 0 and 00). With the “00” gone, you have thirty-seven numbers, but you are paid the same odds (35 to 1) as if you were playing with thirty-eight numbers. There is one less number (00) on which you can lose your bet.
There is another important advantage in playing American-style roulette. Many players like to make wagers that pay even money if the right numeral or color shows. These “even money” bets include “odd” or “even,”“red” or “black,” and numbers “1 to 18” or “19 to 36.” In many other gambling centers, such as Nevada, the Caribbean, or the Bahamas, if the “0” or “00” shows on even money bets, the casino takes all your bet. But in many European casinos, the club only takes half your bet or puts your chips in prison and gives you another chance.
These extra bonuses on roulette odds fit right along with the percentage advantages English casinos give in 21 and craps. Some of you cynics must be wondering why our jolly English neighbors are being so generous. It’s simple. English casinos are trying to capture a bigger share of the global tourist gambling trade by advertising England as the best place in the world to gamble. But they aren’t being completely honest. You don’t hear foreign casinos announcing that some of their games, such as French roulette, aren’t such bargains.
Even if you’re an experienced American gambler, stay away from French roulette unless you have a photographic memory, can fluently speak the language where you are playing, and aren’t afraid to raise hell in the middle of the most sedate casino.
Here’s why. In American roulette, the dealers give you a chip colored differently from other players’ chips when you buy in to play the game. The chip color you get is yours as long as you are playing, and there cannot be any mistake as to who gets paid when a number is hit. If you have a red chip with a green dot in the middle and you put that chip on number 6, and 6 hits, there is no confusion about who owns the chip.
But in French roulette, many players generally will get the same color chip. This leads to problems, especially for the poor bumbling American in a foreign country, equipped with only his vest-pocket dictionary and the half-dozen words he remembers from some high school language course.
Imagine a foreign casino with several American tourists and local residents clustered around a table. Spread over the layout are piles of the same color chips belonging to a dozen different people. The chips are stacked everywhere, on top of each other, and spilling over each other. Then a number hits that’s covered with chips from a half-dozen bettors.
Chaos.
And who always gets the worst of the mad scramble that follows? The American tourist. He stands there fumbling through his dictionary trying to explain to the dealer that one of those winning bets was his.
But the dealer, who spoke English moments before, now can only mumble some words in his own lingo while he pushes the stacks of chips toward the locals. In my journeys through Europe, I’ve seen this happen over and over. Also, locals arguing with locals about who the chips belong to. I blame the French roulette croupiers and management. They are the creators of all arguments. Sitting on their buttocks must affect their brains.
If there is any action on the table, when a number hits the croupier will start pointing to the chips on the number with his rake and sort of look around like asking “Whose chips are these?” It seems that whoever raises his hand first has the best chance of receiving the bet. God forbid that two players should raise their hands at the same time. Then the argument starts.
Croupiers are given tips for the service they give to the players. They must have complete control of the game and have a good idea about who the bets belong to. But from what I have seen in my travels, all croupiers who deal French roulette should go back to school and be taught how to distinguish one player’s bet from another’s. Some acquaintances of mine, who would rather spend six months figuring out how to make $100 dishonestly, have used the American tourist and French roulette to make themselves a nice living.
One of the legendary masters, who has been bilking American tourists for years in Europe, is a man we shall call only “Kelly.”
Kelly worked for me as a dealer in Las Vegas several years ago. Then he decided to take a two-month leave of absence for a European vacation. When he returned, he began enrolling in correspondence courses to learn foreign languages. We didn’t see much of Kelly outside of working hours for about one year. Then one day he gave me two weeks notice and told me he was going to Europe with a “sure-fire money-making system.” That’s all he said. Then he vanished, until two years ago when he returned to Las Vegas and asked me to meet him for a drink. Instead of the pudgy, balding, pasty-faced dealer I had known for years, Kelly now was suntanned, svelte, with a beautiful mane of snowy white hair. His hair, of course, was a “rug,” but with today’s experts, you couldn’t tell the difference. He looked as if he were a judge or banker, and that is exactly what Kelly wanted. It was the key to his success.
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