At a casino party, every guest gets a certain amount of casino chips to start the event, and the general goal is to have more chips by the end of casino play than everyone else to win – prizes are usually offered by the event hosts. You have a certain amount of time (2-4 hours, depending on event) to win as many chips as you can playing various games – blackjack, poker, craps and roulette are the standard event offerings. Right out of the gate, a few of the luckier guests will start winning right away. They’ll play blackjack and win. They’ll play craps and win. Back to blackjack and win some more. Then there are the unlucky players, for whom the chips they were given seems to magically vanish.
That leaves you and everyone else in the middle of the pack. You’re not winning big and not losing big, but you’ve got to do something to catch up to the leaders — but what?
Roulette might be your answer.
Virtually every casino game has some level of disadvantage to the player, either at a casino party or a ‘real’ casino. Roulette (at 5.26%) has the highest fixed house edge. Barring very good luck, your chips would slowly bleed away at an average rate of about 50 per 1,000 bet so it’s not a very good game to play for 4 hours straight. What makes roulette a great game, however, is that it offers some of the highest payouts of all the casino games. A single number bet in roulette, if hit, pays out 35 to 1 – which can work out perfectly for you!
With about 20 minutes left to play, head over to the roulette table and ask what the maximum ‘inside’ bet is (we offer 100 table max any way to the number). If you’re down a thousand or two, and a single bet would be enough for you to catch up, bet it and hope you get lucky! If you need more than 3,000 or so to catch up, instead, pick a single number and do this:
By our rules, you’re allowed 100 any way to the number so betting this way allows you to (1) get a huge payout if your number does hit, and (2) win even if your number doesn’t hit but at least comes close. Let’s say the event leader has about 10,000 in chips and you have about 2,000 – you’ll need to swing for the fences! Bet a single number (let’s say, number 17) and then all the numbers around it (sides and corners). One of 4 things will happen:
(1) You miss and lose 900
(2) 13, 15, 19 or 21 comes out and you break even, because a 4-number corner bet pays 8-1 (800) and you lose 800 on the others.
(3) 14, 16, 18 or 20 comes out and you win 2,700 in chips, because a 2-number bet pays 17-1 (1,700), the two 4-number corner bets pay 8-1 each (800 x 2 = 1,600) and you lose 600 on the others.
or (4) The 17 comes out, and…
Boom! You jump up and down, scream your head off, win 13,500 in chips (!) and (probably) take home the grand prize.
Best of luck – and have a great time!!
