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the four major table games (which include craps,
blackjack, and baccarat), roulette offers the poorest
odds to the gambler. In blackjack, players are even
with the house at the outset and sometimes have
an advantage over the casino if they know what they're
doing; in craps they buck less than a 1 percent
advantage by the casino if they make correct bets;
and in baccarat, which is a static and controlled
games in which odds and play remain rigid, the house
has no more than a 1.36 percent advantage.
It is no wonder then that of all these games, roulette
gets the least play. Many times I've passed the
one or two roulette wheels at major casinos in Nevada
and watched the croupier or dealer (as he is called
in America) idly spinning the wheel or standing
at an empty table with his arms crossed over his
chest, waiting for some players to appear.
Other times, he may be occupied with a few gamblers,
who are making minimum 25¢ or $1 bets on the
layout. It is rare to see the roulette games table
pulsing with action. Occasionally, a group of Europeans,
familiar with no other games, find their way to
the roulette table and give it real action.
And sometimes a stray systems player wanders over
with a surefire system for beating the wheel and
plays it heavily for a while. Generally, in this
situation, the action is small till the system goes
haywire, and then the bets increase with rapidity,
and usually the systems player staggers away, poorer
but not necessarily wiser.
This discussion of roulette will cover not only
the games as played in Nevada and Atlantic City,
but the European games as well, including the terms
used in that games, so that readers can play it
as intelligently as possible whenever they find
themselves in a foreign casino.
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