Many of you who are residents of the U.S may not know that there are two separate versions of roulette. There is the very popular European roulette tables and the not so popular American roulette tables. This is because roulette is enjoyed by more people in Europe then in the United States. These tables have a number of differences, but these differences are not as radical as you think they are. A lot of the payouts are very close to each other, the wheels only have a few cosmetic differences and the layout of the tables look very similar to each other. There is only one major differences between the two tables.

The American roulette table has a single plus a double zero, and the European table only has a single zero. This is an important factor to consider when developing a European roulette strategy.

Let me highlight the differences between these two versions of roulette. Let’s begin by talking about how the American roulette table is set up. The American roulette wheel has thirty-eight numbers. All of these numbers, besides the zeros (which happen to be green), alternate between red and black. The numbers on the wheel are evenly divided between the odd numbers and equal numbers. As you can expect, exactly half of the numbers are odd, and half are even. And this can impact you European roulette strategy.

This difference between the two tables impact the odds in European roulette dramtically as compared to the American version. Since European roulette wheels have half the zeros that their American roulette cousins do, then the odds are effectively cut in half. The American version has a house advantage of 5.73%, while European roulette maintains a house advantage of 2.25%. This is because the zeros always reduce the chance that the ball will land on an even or odd number, or on a red and black number and if there weren’t any zeros, then the chances of winning would be equal to your odds of losing. That is why you have develop a separate European roulette strategy when you are playing the game.

Next I want to give you some tips that will enable you to develop your own European roulette strategy. The first thing that you will want to do is to place the even-money outside bets. These bets are red, black,even and odd. Statistically, these bets have the greatest chances of winning (hence the name even money bet). But if you combine these bets with the two special rules on the European table, then you will be able to work out a great European roulette strategy.

The two special rules are the En Prison rule and the La Partage rule. To understand the latter rule, then I am going to have to tell you about the former rule, so let’s take a moment to talk about “En Prison”. If you place an even money bet on a European table and the ball lands on zero, then the En Prison rule will be placed into effect. This rule will allow you to keep your bet on the table until the next spin without a penalty. On the next spin if the bet loses, then you lose the bet. But if you bet hits, then you win. Its like getting a free pass for a spin. The La Partage rule is very similar to this rule except you do lose half of the bet. But it’s still a great deal and cuts the house’s advantage down even further. These two rules combined with even money bets should be the foundation of any strong European roulette strategy.