If you’re a beginner or not very experienced at roulette, you might be confused by the myriad betting options available. The racetrack bet is one of them and, while the concept is seemingly simple enough, newbies can find it somewhat tricky at first.
How Does the Roulette Racetrack Work?
The racetrack is a portion of the roulette table meant exclusively for call bets, also known as “announced bets” and “called bets.” It is similar to a racing circuit, hence the name “racetrack.” A roulette racetrack allows you to place specific wagers on groups of numbers without needing to put chips on all of them one by one.
The conventional method of placing a racetrack wager involves verbally calling out the bet to the dealer/croupier. This saves the trouble of having to reach across the table and putting multiple single-number bets. Racetrack bets are also sometimes referred to as “French bets,” since they’re more common in French and European roulette.
Types of Roulette Racetrack Bets
Inspired by French roulette, the racetrack typically includes the following types of bets.
Orphelins (Orphans)
Also sometimes called “Les Orphelins,” this bet involves the numbers 1, 6, 9, 14, 17, 20, 31, and 34. They’re named “orphans” because these values are placed in the middle of the board on their own, with the “Voisins” bet on one side and the “Le Tiers du Cylindre” on the other.
Les Orphelins generally gives you a 21.6% probability (8/37) of winning. However, 1 and 17 are likely to offer bigger wins than the other values. The latter is a part of two split bets in this case.
Le Tiers du Cylindre (Third of the Wheel)
Often simply referred to as “Tier,” this is one of the classic bets in French roulette. It’s also an ever-present wager on a roulette racetrack covering just a third of the wheel. When placing a “Tier” bet, players cover 12 values with six chips. The involved numbers are the 12 opposite to the zero, from 27 to 33. These include 5, 8, 10, 11, 13, 16, 23, 24, 27, 30, 33, and 36.
Each of the six chips covers one of the relevant split bets, which are 5/8, 10/11, 13/16, 23/24, 27/30, and 33/36. If you win, it will be at 17/1 with an overall profit of 12. However, you’ll have to give up the other five chips. The 12 covered values give you an overall success probability of 32.4% (12/37).
Jeu Zero (Zero Game)
Commonly referred to as “Zero,” this bet covers the zero along with six numbers nearby. Two of them are on one side with four on the other. Therefore, to come out a winner with this bet, you’ll need to hit one value out of 0, 26, 32, 15, 3, 35, and 12. You’ll need to cover these seven numbers with four chips. One of them will take care of the straight bet on 26 while the other three will cover the splits on 0/3, 12/15, and 32/35.
The best possible result would be that you hit 26. This will give you a 35/1 payout, although your overall stake would make it 35/4. Moreover, any number can deliver a win at the split odds of 17/1 (17/4 because of your overall stake). Since you’ve covered 7 values, your win probability is just below 19% for 7/37.
Voisins du Zero (Neighbors of Zero)
Also simply known as “Voisins,” the “neighbors of zero” bet is primarily an extension of Jeu Zero. The only difference is that it covers a bigger set of values around the zero. From 22 to 25, it covers 17 numbers. These include 22, 18, 29, 7, 28, 12, 35, 3, 26, 0, 32, 15, 19, 4, 21, 2, and 25. As a result, you have a massive 17 options to win, giving you a success probability of 45.9%. This means that you can expect a win once every 2 to 3 spins of the roulette wheel.
The Voisins du Zero is comprised of seven separate bets. It will cost you nine chips, which are used to cover 17 numbers. Two of them cover the trio of 0, 2, and 3 (giving you an 11/1 payout), as well as the corner of 25, 26, 28, and 29 (an 8/1 payout). The five remaining chips will cover split bets that all offer a 17/1 payout. These include 4/7, 12/15, 18/21, 19/22, and 32/35.
Roulette Racetrack House Edge
In general, roulette racetrack bets are just composite wagers created out of other standard bets. The house edge remains the same irrespective of your bets. In other words, whatever main call bets you use to place a racetrack wager, the house edge will be the same that you face by betting on black, red, or the lucky number 7.
While the house edge remains consistent at 2.7% in standard, single-zero French and European roulette, the variance can change sometimes. This is the same as having better odds of winning if you bet on red or black compared to a single number. For instance, a Voisins bet is 3 times more likely to hit compared to a simple “Neighbors” wager.
Conclusion
The roulette racetrack is a popular bet among seasoned players of the game. Its mechanism is quite simple and there’s no rocket science behind it. So, don’t worry or feel overwhelmed if you’re new to roulette. After all, everyone starts somewhere!
However, as with anything new, you’ll need a bit of time to understand and practice these moves. Nevertheless, once you’ve gotten the hang of it, you can easily use its multiple variations to your advantage in a game.
Keep following this space on Full Roulette to know more about this exciting casino game. Lots of interesting content is in the pipeline for the coming weeks!
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