French Roulette
French roulette is one of the best-paying table games out there today. It offers special rules with better payouts on major bets than the European or American versions. This game also allows for fun mixed strategies that give a lot of room for customizing your wagers.
Casinos with French Roulette
An Introduction to French Roulette
In the land of table games, French roulette is well-known for a number of good things. If we were going to recommend a non-card based table game for new players to start with, it would definitely be this one.
French roulette comes highly recommended for a variety of reasons.
First off, it’s a really easy game to learn. The rules are simple enough for the basic wagers that you can jump right in. Moreover, even the basic bets have really high payout rates compared to other table games. That puts you in a good position to learn the game without having to worry about being fleeced.
Second, it has a lot of depth of customization once you learn all of the wagers. Because the payout rates are high on every bet in this game, you don’t have to worry about making mistakes by choosing the wrong wagers. As a result, you can mix and match the wagers you want to create different strategies each time. Alternatively, you can stick with the same types of wagers if that’s what you prefer. In this way, you can customize your experience quite a bit.
The Basic Gameplay Procedure
We’re going to take a look now at how the game is actually played on each round. We’ll get more into the specifics of the bets and payouts further down below. However, here we’ll look at the actual flow of the play.
- The grid of numbers and adjacent areas are where you place your wagers. You’ll start the betting round by putting chips on the markers for your bets and choosing to spin.
- The wheel beside of the grid of numbers will spin with a ball bouncing around in it. When the ball lands on a specific number, that’s what determines the winning and losing wagers.
- Note that all wagers are placed on individual numbers or groups of numbers. Additionally, if the wheel turns up on a number that you’ve wagered on, individually or in a group, you win.
- This is actually all there is to the gameplay procedure for this title. Once the round is over, you can quickly wager again with the same bets, or you can switch things up. You get to play at your own pace in this title because you aren’t waiting around on other players.
Our advice when getting started is to simply pick one of the most basic wagers to play with. From there, play a few rounds to see how the wheel works. Additionally, you’ll want to get used to the pace of the game. That’s because it goes a bit more quickly than most others.
The Best Casinos for French Roulette
French roulette is known for being a high-paying table game. Therefore, it’s going to be a little harder to find good promotions and deals that allow you to play. Our recommendation is to look through reviews of high-casinos, like what we’ve reviewed ourselves. From there, you can find bonuses and other deals that will give you the best values.
This game has the potential to give a really low house advantage. That means that even with a small amount of value from promotions, you’ll narrow the house edge down tremendously.
Two Special Rules
French roulette has two special rules that set it apart from its single-zero cousin European roulette. They both provide better payouts on even money wagers. However, they do so in different ways. Depending on which software provider you’re playing with, you may have one or both of these available.
La Partage
The La Partage rule is pretty straightforward. If you make an even money wager, but you lose because the wheel landed on the green zero, then you get back half of your bet. The other half is still lost, but this is a significant improvement.
The end result is that the house edge is 1.35 percent in games with this rule on even money wagers. That’s one-half of the typical 2.7 percent found in European roulette. Therefore, if you’re playing even money wagers, this is the best roulette game available.
En Prison
With the En Prison rule, you get what’s essentially a second chance on even money wagers that lose to zero. A special marker is placed on the wager to note that it is “in prison,” and then two results can happen on the next spin. If your wager wins on the next spin, your bet is simply returned to you. However, if your wager loses on the next spin, then it’s lost normally.
While this may seem a little more complicated than the La Partage rule, it actually has the same effect. The house edge with the En Prison rule in effect is the same 1.35 percent. However, the volatility is somewhat increased, which is worth noting if you’re sensitive to bet-sizing issues.
Various Bets and Wagers
French roulette has a lot of places to put your bets. It can be really tricky to get started because there are so many options. To make this easier to get started with, we’re going to break things down from beginner to advanced. While the wagers in this game can get complicated, they’re pretty straightforward to learn if you learn them one thing at a time.
To begin, the first thing you should know is the difference between the inside and outside bets. The inside bets happen on the rectangular grid of numbers, and the outside bets happen on the other spaces adjacent. You can also place wagers on the racetrack display, which we’ll look at below.
Even Money Outside Bets
A really good place to start is with the even money outside bets. All of these wagers are subject to the La Partage and/or En Prison rules. As a result, they have the best payout rates in the entire game. Here is a summary of what’s available:
- Red or Black – The red and black spaces win if the wheel lands on a red or black spot.
- Even or Odd – Along similar lines, this wager wins if the wheel lands on an even or odd number, respectively.
- 1-18 or 19-36 – These are also sometimes called the low and high. Wagers on these ranges win if the spun number falls into the range, inclusively.
The key thing to keep in mind about these sets of wagers is that none of them win on a green zero. That includes the “even” wager, which does not count the zero for a win.
Additionally, these bets all have a house advantage of 1.35 percent. Every other wager in the game has a house edge of 2.7 percent. That’s worth keeping in mind.
Other Outside Bets
A few other outside bets are available. However, instead of paying at even money, they pay at 2:1. These are slightly trickier to some degree than the even money bets, so we’ll break them down here:
- 2 to 1 – Also known as the column bets, these are placed on the far right-hand end. They are wagers on any number in that particular column of 12 numbers.
- Third Wagers – You’ll see listings for “1st 12,” “2nd 12,” and “3rd 12” beside of the grid. These are wagers on the ranges 1-12, 13-24 and 25-36, inclusive.
Again, these all pay at a rate of 2:1, and they have a house advantage of 2.7 percent. This means players get a payout rate of 97.3 percent, which is still pretty high for a table game. They also have a slightly higher volatility than the even money bets.
Starting Inside Wagers
The inside wagers are where things start to get tricky. That’s because you place these bets by putting your chips on different places on the grid. However, that doesn’t just mean placing them on numbers. You’ll also place them in various places on the lines separating the numbers.
Here we’ll get you started out with the basic inside wagers that are fairly straightforward to learn:
- Straight Up – A straight up bet is a wager on just one number. It’s as simple as placing your chips on that number and hoping for the best. However, it has the highest volatility of any bet in the game. This wager pays out at 35:1 for a win.
- Split – If two numbers are horizontally or vertically adjacent, you can bet on both with a split wager. To do so, simply place your chips on the center of the line that separates the two spaces. The split bet pays at 17:1.
- Row – The rows on the French roulette tables are the groups of three numbers in a line. For example, 1-2-3 and 4-5-6 are rows. You can wager on a group of three numbers in the same row in this game. To make this bet, put your chips in the center of the line at the end of the row. A row bet gives a winning payout of 11:1.
- Corner – If four numbers come together to create a square, you can also wager on all four of them. This is called a corner bet, and it’s made by putting your chips on the corner joining the four numbers. Corner bets pay out at 8:1.
From here, we’ll go into more advanced inside bets and wagers.
More Complicated Inside Wagers
We have a few inside wagers that are a bit more complicated than the above. However, they’re not too difficult to learn once you try them a couple of times. Here’s what’s available:
- Double Row – A wager on two adjacent rows is available. This ends up being a bet on six consecutive numbers. Place this double row wager by putting your chips on the outside corner of the two rows you want to bet on. This wager has a pretty reasonable volatility and pays at 5:1.
- Trio – A trio wager is a bet on three numbers that includes the green zero. You can make a trio bet on the 0-1-2 combination or the 0-2-3 combination. To make it, just put your chips on the corner/intersection of those three numbers. This pays at a rate of 11:1, the same as the row bet.
- First Four – This is sometimes called a basket wager as well. However, it’s really straightforward because it’s always a bet on the 0-1-2-3 combination. Placing this bet involves putting your chips on the outside corner of the zero where it meets with either the one or the three. It has a payout of 8:1, the same as the corner bet.
These wagers are slightly more complicated to learn because they’re somewhat disjointed visually. However, once you see how they work, they’re just as easy to make as the other inside bets.
Betting on the Racetrack
The racetrack display allows for betting on individual numbers with the same odds as a regular straight up bet. However, it also allows for a few other group bets based on the way the wheel is laid out. You’ll notice that the numbers on the track do not go in numerical order. Instead, they go in order according to how they’re numbered on the wheel.
Depending on the software provider you’re playing with, other track bets may be available. This includes wagers with names like “Orphans” and “Neighbors of Zero.” All this means is that they are groups of numbers shown according to sections of the wheel. Hovering your mouse over them will show you which numbers are wagered on as well.
How to Win at French Roulette
Getting the best chances to win at this game can be seen in two ways. First, you can think in terms of limiting volatility. Second, you can think in terms of minimizing the house edge.
Because of the La Partage and En Prison rules, French roulette’s best wagers are the even money bets. They have a 1.35 percent house edge. Subsequently, all other wagers in the game have a 2.7 percent house advantage.
Also in this game, the lowest volatility titles have the lowest risk and lowest payouts. That means that the even money wagers also have the lowest volatility. In a vacuum, they’re the best bets to make because they check both of these criteria.
With that said, the house advantage is so low for the other wagers that they’re pretty reasonable as well. This allows for mixed strategies where you combine different types of bets to get tiers of payouts.
Overview
Overall, French roulette is generally seen as the best standard style of the game available. It plays like a typical single-zero game like European roulette, but with the special rules, it has a better payout rate in some of the key bets. However, if you’re only playing non-even money bets, then there’s no functional difference between the two games.
FAQ
Which online casinos have French Roulette?
Use the list of French Roulette casinos to see all online casinos that have French Roulette. We filter the casino top list to only show French Roulette casinos that accept players from your location.