Roulette is, at heart, a simple game. So trust French casino-dwellers to develop some rather more intricate ways in which 馃挶 to play. If you're given the chance to play a French-style roulette table, then you should, as this will probably 馃挶 give you access to the punter-friendly En Prison/La Partage rules. Combine these with a single zero layout (unlike double-zero American-style 馃挶 tables), and the house edge falls to around 1.4%. However, if you are taking a spin on a true French 馃挶 table, you'll find much that's, erm, foreign. And most of this will be due to the existence of bet types 馃挶 like Voisins du Zero, Tiers du Cylindre, and Orphelins.
Whereas most roulette tables (in land casinos) assign coloured chips to the 馃挶 players, so that winning bets can be easily identified, the chips on French tables differ only in the numerical amounts 馃挶 they have printed on them. With nothing to distinguish one player from another, it becomes important not to have too 馃挶 many chips on the board at the same time. The need for space partly inspired the invention of an additional 馃挶 grid, called the 'Racetrack'. This oval-shaped section sits to the side of the main play area. it features all of 馃挶 the same numbers - 0 to 36 - but within a different layout. Its point is to act as an 馃挶 extension to the main grid, and to encourage some of the players to switch to exotic 'French Bets'. These French 馃挶 bets were traditionally referred to as 'Call Bets' or 'Announced Bets', as they were too specialist to be featured on 馃挶 the main tables, and players had to call out when they wanted to play them.
So what exactly are these bets, 馃挶 and what do they consist of?
The Ins and Outs of Call Bets
If you look at the main wheel for roulette, 馃挶 you'll see that it can be broken down into two large slices, along with a couple of smaller segments sitting 馃挶 between them in the middle. Each of these sections contains a set of numbers that make up one of the 馃挶 following bets:
