by Jerry "Jet" Whittaker

Dec 2, 2006

Roulette:

Roulette is a sort of gambling game. It is a small wheel, which is numbered from 1 through 36 and a single zero ‘0’ and a double zero ‘00’. The slots are alternately colored in red and black with 2 consecutive slots having the same color, as there is an extra slot with green color. A croupier or the dealer spins the wheel and a small ball is let onto the wheel. The winning number and the color on the wheel are read out loud after the ball as well as the roulette comes to rest. The Casinos as always have the winning benefit on all the odds. In American casinos, they hold a steady benefit of around 5% whereas in European Casinos they have it around 2.5%.

There are two types of bets in Roulette – the ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ bet. The bets made on the actual numbers from between 1 and 36 are called ‘inside’ bets whereas the bets made on the colors are called as the ‘outside’ bets. Though there are some variations on the payoffs, there are certain universal trends, which are accepted across the globe. A single number winner has a pay-off of 35:1 while for two number bets it’s 17:1. Some bets’ pay-offs are 11:1, 8:1, 2:1 or 1:1 depending on the type of bets placed.

Blackjack poker:

The Blackjack or the Twenty-one or pontoon is one of the most popular card games in casinos. It is a game in which the player has to aim to achieve a hand whose points total nearer to 21. The total should be greater than the dealer’s hand, but not exceeding 21. In Nevada casinos, this game is called 21 instead of Blackjack. "Blackjack" is the name of the same game played at home, with slightly different rules mostly as house dealer is absent.

Card values:

Ace (of any suite) has the 1 or 11(in case of soft hand) whereas 2 through 9 cards hold the face value and Jack, Queen, King all hold the value 10.

The suits do-not hold any importance in this game. It’s just the sum of the points of the cards. (Ace, Queen), (Ace, King) are considered as the 21s whereas (Ace, Jack) pair is said to be a “Blackjack” or a “natural”(by casino personnel).

The Game:

When all the players have finished, the dealer plays his hand. The play goes as follows:

If the dealer holds the blackjack and the player doesn’t, the dealer wins else the player wins. If both the player & dealer have blackjack then it's a draw or is also called as a push.

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