Three roulette wheels, three sets of maths

The European wheel is the cleanest mathematical version of roulette because the single green pocket is the only edge that the house owns. The shape of the wheel, the felt grid and the payouts are otherwise identical to every other variant. When a publication describes "roulette" without naming a variant, the European wheel is the implicit reference.

The standard European wheel sequence, read clockwise from zero, is 0, 32, 15, 19, 4, 21, 2, 25, 17, 34, 6, 27, 13, 36, 11, 30, 8, 23, 10, 5, 24, 16, 33, 1, 20, 14, 31, 9, 22, 18, 29, 7, 28, 12, 35, 3, 26. The numbers are not placed at random. They balance the high and low numbers, the red and black colours and the odd and even numbers as evenly as the geometry allows. The pocket sequence matters for two reasons: it makes neighbour bets meaningful, and it determines the spread of the named French sections.

European roulette does not require a French-style racetrack, but most felts include one anyway because it is the easiest way to place call bets cleanly. The call bets themselves are discussed in chapter 04 of the homepage; here it is enough to note that the racetrack is a French invention now printed on most European felts as a courtesy.

When to choose European

An adult player who has the choice will normally prefer the European wheel because the 2.70 percent edge is the lowest of the three standard variants. The preference is mathematical; it does not require an opinion about casinos or marketing. A session on a European wheel lasts longer than the same bankroll on an American wheel because the edge is smaller.

French roulette is a European wheel printed on a red baize with two named rules attached to even-money bets. The wheel itself is mechanically identical to the European wheel: 37 pockets, single zero, no double zero. The differences are in the rule book the dealer follows when the ball lands on zero.

La partage

La partage, French for "to share", halves the wager when the ball lands on zero and the player has placed an even-money bet. The croupier sweeps half the stake back to the player and removes the other half. The full stake is not recovered, but the loss is smaller than the alternative. On a single-zero wheel with la partage, the effective house edge on even-money bets falls from 2.70 percent to 1.35 percent. The edge on inside and dozens bets is unchanged.

En prison

En prison, French for "in prison", holds the wager on the felt when the player has placed an even-money bet and the ball has landed on zero. The croupier marks the wager with a small marker. On the next spin, if the bet wins, the stake is returned without winnings; if the bet loses, the stake is removed. The mathematics are equivalent to la partage over a long sample but the experience at the felt is different. Some felts use one rule, some the other; both can appear in the same casino from one table to the next.

Reading the felt before the bet

A French wheel without la partage or en prison is mechanically the same as a European wheel; the only visible difference is the colour of the baize. Players who care about the lower edge on even-money bets should read the rules page or ask the croupier before placing a chip. The rules page is the reliable place; the dealer's word is the friendly place; the felt's print is the cleanest place of all.

The racetrack is a French innovation now printed on most European felts and on many American felts as well. The oval outline mirrors the number sequence of the wheel and lets a croupier place a named section — voisins, tiers or orphelins — by positioning chips at the corresponding cells on the racetrack and sweeping them onto the main layout in one motion. The bet settles in the same way as a hand-placed bet; the racetrack is a convenience, not a separate bet.

Call bets are discussed in detail in chapter 04 of the homepage; here it is enough to note that a player who prefers the named sections will look for a racetrack on the felt and will confirm with the dealer that the croupier accepts call bets before naming one. Some felts include a racetrack but the dealer team places bets only by direct instruction. A short conversation at the table is faster than a long argument after the fact.