roulette table

Posted Jun 26th 2006 3:55PM by Ross Miller
Filed under: First Person Shooters, Business

Alex Seropian has a resume no one can scoff at. As the co-found of Bungie studios, and co-creator of Halo (we all know how well that game turned out), Seropian branched off in 2003 to form Wideload Games. The studio went on to make the humorous and underrated Stubbs the Zombie.

In an interview with Gamasutra, Seropian discusses the business model of his company, noting that many development houses have difficult times getting proper funding, and those who focus on only one project at a time are taking big risks for their company's future. Seropian likens perpetually it to gambling at the roulette table -- "and the minimum bet goes up each time." Wideload Games, he explains, is a small team of full-time employees that constantly come up with gaming ideas, and later hire independent contractors when development gets underway on a project. Seropian notes that what sets Wideload apart is its insistence on bringing humor back into games.

The interview if a fascinating read, particularily Seropian's love for food (a discussion that spawned from a piece in Wired). Hypothetically, if someone were to offer Seropian a cooking show on G4, "with guests like Keita Takahashi rolling meatballs, or CliffyB microwaving Hot Pockets," he would "do that in a second." Might we also suggest other food-loving industry veterans like Kojima, Kutaragi, and Iwata.

The game of Roulette has a long and elegant history. Created over 300 years ago, Roulette remains one of the most popular casino games the world over. Roulette is also one of the simplest games to play for the novice gamer. American Roulette is the modern game of Roulette found in most casinos ...

by J Finney

The game of Roulette has a long and elegant history. Created over 300 years ago, Roulette remains one of the most popular casino games the world over. Roulette is also one of the simplest games to play for the novice gamer. American Roulette is the modern game of Roulette found in most casinos, especially those in Las Vegas. The game of American Roulette consists of a wheel with 38 stops, and a ball that can land with equal chance in any of those stops. The American version differs from European Roulette due to the addition of the 38th stop, the double zero. Players make wagers by placing chips in the betting areas of the Roulette table. After all bets are placed, the ball is spun and eventually lands on a number. Wagers placed on the winning number or on groups that include the winning number are paid a multiple of the bet. The house collects all other wagers.

To play the game of Roulette, place your bets by placing chips on the Roulette table. Click the casino chip icons to add chips to your hand. Click the chips in your hand to remove them. To place a bet, click on the region of the table for the type of bet you wish to place. The chips in your hand will be placed on the table. To remove a bet from the table, right click on the bet. The amount of chips in your hand will be removed from the stack on the table. When you have finished placing bets on the table, click the Spin button or click the wheel to start the ball spinning. After the ball lands on a number, losing bets are removed from the table, and winning bets are paid. If you wish to bet on the same numbers again for the next spin, press the Repeat Bet button and all of your previous bets will be placed again.

There are 16 types of bets in American Roulette. By placing the chips differently, you can bet on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12 or 18 numbers.

The following is a list of the types of bets and the corresponding payouts for a winning bet.

Even 1:1
Odd 1:1
Red 1:1
Black 1:1
1-18 1:1
19-36 1:1
1-12 2:1
13-24 2:1
25-36 2:1
Any Column 2:1
Any Number 35:1
Two-number combination 17:1
Three-number combination 11:1
Four-number combination 8:1
Five-number combination 6:1
Six-number combination 5:1

About The Author:
To learn more about online roulette games and strategy, please visit http://www.online-gambling-system.com and http://www.online-gambling-system.com/roulette.html

Copyright J Finney - http://www.online-gambling-system.com

S'poreans will be eyeing jobs in our first casino, the Marina Bay Sands. What does it take to be a croupier? ESTHER AU YONG finds out

June 19, 2006


IF you think you have what it takes to roll the dice or deal the cards at a gaming table just because you watch TV shows like Las Vegas and The Unbeatables, think again.

Picking up casino skills is no walk in the park.
The job isn't as glamorous as the TV dramas make it out to be.

Indeed, it's hard work training to be a croupier who manages a game at a table and collects and pays out bets.

Just ask Mr Ramachandar Siva, the operations director of the International Club Games Training Centre (ICGTC) at Bukit Timah's Turf City.

Before you can be a certified croupier, or a card dealer at a casino table, you have to go through hours of training in just handling the cards alone, he told The New Paper on Sunday.

ICGTC was launched earlier this month to teach specialised casino skills such as baccarat dealing. It claims to be the first such hands-on institution in the region.

Built like a real casino, the school has three roulette tables and 19 tables for card games like baccarat, blackjack and poker.

NOT EASY

Mr Ramachandar, the former vice-president of casino training at Star Cruises, said: 'We simulate a real casino environment so that students will be better prepared for their jobs in the future.'


The centre's Certificate in Dealing Casino Games programme will start next month, and it is expecting about 300 students for the first cohort. As of Tuesday, 30 students have signed up for the $4,500 course.

Mr Ramachandar said: 'Many people think card-dealing easy, but it's not.

'Our course is a full-time six-month course. So you can imagine the time and amount of practice you need in order to become a skilled croupier.

'Even then, you start out as a junior croupier or an apprentice.

'The first skill any student must learn is to pick chips and stack them up neatly,' Mr Ramachandar said.

Sounds simple? Wait until you try your hand at it.

I did. Mr Ramachandar invited me to take part in a one-hour basic introduction to the course.

First, he messed up a few stacks of chips on the roulette table and said to me: 'Okay, you try.'


I had to make 11 stacks of 20 chips a minute. I failed miserably, managing only five stacks a minute.

Next, Mr Ramachandar asked me to cut a stack of 20 chips into a few smaller stacks of four or five chips.

Croupiers do this so that it is easier to count and distribute winnings to players.

Mr Ramachandar said: 'You must do it by feeling with your hands. When there are customers around, it's important to do it fast and accurately. You cannot keep on looking and counting the chips as if you're counting coins.'

I fared a little better in this task as it did not involve too many hand movements. Just cut the stack and use the previous stack as an estimate for the next cut.

But the chips sure are slippery.

'Everything in the casino is slippery,' Mr Ramachandar said with a laugh.

Like the cards at the baccarat table.

'Okay, before the game starts, the croupier would display the cards so that players can see that they are legitimate cards and are presented as a full set,' Mr Ramachandar explained, as he skilfully fans out the cards in an evenly-spaced row.


'Your turn,' he beckoned to me.

I was clumsy. The cards first bunched up in batches. Then, some flew off the table. But after several tries, I finally nailed it and the cards fanned out perfectly.

Still, I needed more practice, Mr Ramachandar said.

I also tried to present the cards on a spatula-like device at the high-stakes baccarat table as skilfully as I could manage.

Here, players usually play for a minimum of $10,000 per bet and a maximum of $250,000 per bet.

As I picked up a few chips, I gasped when I saw that each had a marking of '$100,000'. Noticing my expression, he laughed and said: 'Yes, this is no ordinary game.

'You've got to be someone who's worth a lot of money to play at this table.'

The player is likely to be the casino's 'whale'.

'Whale' is casino lingo for high-rollers who think nothing of splurging a few million dollars in one night.


So, while everything about the croupier's job sounds simple, in reality, I felt awkward and incompetent.

Even getting the little ball to turn properly on the roulette wheel took me some time.

A good croupier has to master all the tasks I attempted, and more, Mr Ramachandar said.

'He will also have to do everything with style, and customer satisfaction must be taken into consideration,' he added.

'Not easy, especially when you've got to stand and do all these for eight hours every day.

'Usually, croupiers get a 20-minute break for every 80 minutes of work.'

PAYS QUITE WELL
But the job pays fairly well. Croupiers in the Singapore integrated resorts (IRs) can look forward to earning up to $2,500 a month, Mr Ramachandar said.

He feels that casino jobs will be a new challenge for many Singaporeans.

Besides ICGTC, other educational institutions have also been introducing new courses in tourism and hospitality management, in anticipation of the estimated 30,000 or more new jobs to be generated from the IRs.

Mr Ramachandar said: 'If you are gunning for a job in the IR, it's best to start preparing yourself now.

'Since it's a new concept to many people here, those with some knowledge will be in a better position.'

Betting is very simple in roulette if you follow these simple rules.
Be sure to ask about the minimum bet amounts. If you're playing at a $5 minimum table,
this means you must bet at least $5 on the outside bets (odd, even, black, red, etc). O...

by Tom McBroom

Betting is very simple in roulette if you follow these simple rules.

Be sure to ask about the minimum bet amounts. If you're playing at a $5 minimum table,
this means you must bet at least $5 on the outside bets (odd, even, black, red, etc). On
the inside (number) bets, you can satisfy the minimum by betting $5 on one number, or
$1 each on 5 different numbers.

You'll notice that roulette chips are different from those used at other table games. In
American roulette, each player is given a specific colored chip, so that the dealer can tell
the different player's chips apart.

Also, you will have to tell the dealer the value that you want your chips to have. If
you're at a $5 minimum table, you should use $1 as your chip value so that you can place
several $1 number bets if you wish. These chips can only be used at that roulette table
and must be exchanged for normal chips when you leave the table.

To make a bet, simply place however many chips you wish on that number, or on the
outside bets. If someone else already has a bet on your number, simply place your chip
on top. You can place bets even while the wheel is spinning, up until the time the dealer
calls "no more bets" or waves his hand over the table.

Once the ball has landed in a slot, the dealer calls out the number and color, places a
marker on that number on the betting table, and pays off the winners. Be sure to take
your winning chips off the table if you don't want to let them ride on the next spin.

That's all there is to it! There is no thinking required, other than deciding which bet you
want to make, and you can place your bets with your eyes closed and still have the same
odds of winning.

Good Luck!



About the Author

Tom is the webmaster at BlackjackForEveryone.com,
which is a website dedicated to turning beginning Blackjack
players into serious recreational players.


Copyright Tom McBroom - http://www.blackjack-for-everyone.com

James bond plays it and so does a large part of America. A table a wheel which has about 37-38 pockets many pockets where the ball must land after it is spun by the croupier. The scene is really comm...

by Mansi Gupta

James bond plays it and so does a large part of America. A table a wheel which has about 37-38 pockets many pockets where the ball must land after it is spun by the croupier. The scene is really common at the casino setups across America. The players with high adrenaline pumping and high risk bearing capacity are expected to be seen around the roulette table trying their luck with spinning dolly. The croupier, or the dealer representing the house, takes the wagers and pays out all bets at the table. The croupier has no personal stake in the roulette game. The game has seen its popularity grow due to the reason that as the wheel slows down the people are more and more betting on the numbers.

Beginners bet on up to 8 numbers with smaller stakes. The champions however take greater risks. The bets are allowed on the table till the croupier gives a signal to the players regarding the bets to be stopped. The people are allowed to take a pick of 8 numbers and any of the tem winning gets a share of the other stakes and thus he gets the chips to be converted into money at the counter. As the wheel is slowing down the accuracy of the number where the dolly stops increases. And thus the stakes sky rocket at the end of the wheel spin. The bigger bets include the betting on the number along with color of its base. If they are matched then the prize too is multiplied. Thus the players prefer to take different combinations of colors and numbers and thus increasing the probability of win.


What makes the game nerve wrecking is that there is no rule of winning it. So there is no trick or system of betting that maximizes your chances of a win. So if one fine morning if one feels lucky then he can try his hand at the roulette table that evening. It's just as simple. All you need is a load of luck and some amount of experience to understand a particular roulette table. This fact also repels some people from the game as it attracts. Bu the game has not lost its charisma among the fortunate ones. The roulette tables are the ones with the most visitors lined up for the bet. The game is played with utmost etiquette and the winners are expected not to over react as there is no big trick or tact to win the game. The simple rule is that if you are winning it its sheer luck and if you are loosing it's just the same.


People have been seen getting robbed off their whole money at the game of roulette and some times the person gets so crazy playing it that he just looses the track of his capabilities and there are examples where the player almost lost their homes at the roulette table.


A lot of attachments come with the thrill of the game. Allegations of rigging the wheel to tempering the dolly have been rampant across the 200 year old history of the game. But the game has not lost its following throughout the world. A casino without roulette tables is not imaginable at all. Roulette has seen people rise and fall and historians have seen it in the same manner. But for sure the game is here to stay in all its glory.


About The Author

Mansi Gupta writes about roulette topics. Learn more at http://www.guidetoroulette.com.


mansigup@gmail.com


Copyright Mansi Gupta - http://www.guidetoroulette.com

Analysts try to divine stock market's slide

By BROOKE A. MASTERS
Washington Post
6/11/2006

NEW YORK - Now that the Dow Jones industrial average has shed 6.3 percent since May 10, it's time to ask the question: How do you distinguish a short-term stock market correction from a full-blown bear market?
You wait awhile, of course. But already there are clues in technical market data, such as who is doing the buying and selling, the price of stocks relative to corporate earnings, inflation data, and the length of time since the last recession.

Corrections, defined as a drop of 5 percent over a few weeks or a month or two, are pretty common. Since 1900, the Dow has fallen at least that much more than 300 times, or an average of more than three times a year, according to Ned Davis Research Inc.

But nine out of 10 such slides bottom out and start rising again. It's the other 10 percent that scare the pants off investors. They turn into bear markets, in which the broad market indicators lose 20 percent or more and take their own sweet time coming back.

Even the professionals have trouble telling the two apart.

In 2005, the Dow dropped more than 800 points - 8 percent - in March and April before rallying, then dropped an additional 400 points in September and October before climbing some more. In both cases, investors who jumped out prematurely would have suffered losses and missed another good rise.

On the other hand, analysts were full of rosy predictions in 2000 and 2001 that the market was simply resting briefly and would soon resume its dizzying climb. None of the major indicators have ever returned to their early 2000 highs.

"Picking the short-term movement of the stock market is like standing at the roulette table and saying, "I think red is coming up next' and then congratulating yourself when you are right," said Andrew Smithers, a British economic consultant. Though he published a book in March 2000 that correctly predicted that stocks were overvalued and about to tank, he called the timing "pure luck."

Now, consider today's investing environment.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke spooked the equity markets last week with comments that suggested the central bank is concerned about inflation and is likely to continue to raise interest rates. That prospect in turn raises fears that a significantly tighter money supply could push the already slowing economy into recession.

"There's some panic in the street," said Al Goldman, chief equity strategist for brokerage firm A.G. Edwards & Sons, "but I don't feel it's justified. . . . We don't have any signs that a recession is at hand, and inflation, although it's up, is still pretty well contained."

George Feiger, who runs Contango Capital Advisors, a wealth-management business, looks at the same signals and sees trouble. "All the technical indicators are showing that we must be getting near the end. The economy is slowing down, the dollar is tanking, people are pulling their money out of equities and putting them in cash, huge amounts of debt have been issued by below-grade (high-risk) issuers," he said. "Where else can it go? The real question is not where will it go but how far."

Interviews with nearly a dozen economists and market analysts turned up widely varying views on whether this particular market correction will develop fur and claws. That's partly because each one looks at different signals to determine where the equity markets are going:

Charles Biderman, chief executive of TrimTabs Investment Research, argues that the real answers lie in mutual fund flows and in whether companies are spending money to buy their own stock or that of other companies as part of a merger.

He noted that at the market peak in early 2000, individual investors were piling into equity funds but that companies were net sellers of stock. By contrast, at the bottom of the last bear market from June 2002 to February 2003, individuals pulled $100 billion out of equity funds, while companies were net buyers by $30 billion.

"Typically, individual investors are always wrong," Biderman said, "and ever since the mid-1990s, for every year when companies were net buyers of their own shares, the market has gone up."

Right now, Biderman notes, companies are again net buyers - he calculated that in May, 135 companies announced a total of $63 billion in stock buybacks and $40 billion more in stock purchases as part of takeovers. Meanwhile, individuals pulled money out of equity funds in May. His conclusion: "The economy is doing very well, and the market is underperforming."

James W. Paulsen, chief investment strategist for Wells Capital Management, also predicts good times ahead for stock buyers. He argues that corporate profits and consumer spending are still relatively strong and notes that even though the Federal Reserve has repeatedly raised the benchmark short-term interest rate over the past two years, the current level of 5 percent is still low by historical standards.

"I think the odds favor us getting over this and going back up to where we were," Paulsen said. "My bet is that we have not shut down the speed of world growth yet."

Some analysts are far less sanguine. Many of them rely on the relationship between a company's share price and its earnings to determine whether it is over- or undervalued, and they say that rapidly rising corporate earnings were the crucial engine behind the stock market's long rise from late 2002 through the first part of this year. S&P 500 companies are trading around 15 times operating earnings, well below where they were at the last market peak in 2000.

But some analysts are worried that high energy prices and the possibility - also mentioned by Bernanke last week - of a cooling economy could combine to make it harder for companies to post strong earnings growth.

"Earnings are going to be a little harder from now on," said Peter Jankovskis, director of research for OakBrook Investments LLC. Though he thinks the current drop is a correction rather than a bear market, he said small investors with extra money in their pockets might do well to put it in a money market fund or high-interest bank account until the current trend becomes clearer.

"The market definitely has cycles: Sell in May, stay away. Markets are generally weak in the summer," he said. "It won't hurt you to stay on the sidelines for a while."

On the other hand, investors who are already invested in equities shouldn't run for the exits, market watchers said.

"The worst thing that can happen is that people panic at the bottom, and it takes them a year or two to get over that panic. By that time, you've missed most of the next bull market," said Ken Tower, chief market strategist for CyberTrader, a Charles Schwab Co. subsidiary that focuses on active traders.

Uniform No. 00, made sacred by Raiders legend Jim Otto, is staying safe on the shelf for another season. That's just the way Otto wants it. No, it's the way he demands it.

Cleveland Browns center LeCharles Bentley petitioned the NFL to change its strict policy on uniform numbers so he could bring "00" out of hibernation and pay homage to Otto. The NFL said no last month, opting not to alter its number system and consequently denying the fellow request of New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush to suit up in his USC No. 5.

Otto called Bentley's "00" pursuit "ridiculous." Then came stronger words from the Hall of Fame center, whose "00" became ingrained in Raiders lore via his 1960-74 playing career.

"To let him wear my number, that I built into a legacy, all it takes is one ounce of coke up his nose and that legacy is gone," Otto said last week in Livermore at a Raiders' golf tournament benefiting Special Olympics.

"I don't know who he is. I played 15 years with the Raiders. He's played, what, three or four years in New Orleans? What kind of legacy would he give double zero? I don't think he should wear it and I don't think anyone in the NFL should wear it."

Otto didn't seem to be implying that Bentley is a drug user, rather Otto was pointing out how a foolish act could damage the "00" image he worked so hard to build. Otto holds the franchise record with 210 consecutive starts and played in 308 games if you count preseason, playoff and all-star games.

Bentley is no slouch, though. He's made the Pro Bowl in two of his four seasons, all of which were with the Saints. A second-round draft pick out of Ohio State, Bentley played two seasons at right guard before returning to his natural spot at center.

"In terms of who LeCharles is, you can make a strong argument he's the best center in the NFL. I don't think he'd tarnish the image (of "00")," Bentley's agent, Neil Schwartz said. "He'd enhance the image and explain the story of 'OO' to kids. Kids today might not know who Jim Otto is. If anything, Charles would know the responsibility of what it would mean to wear 'OO.'"

Bentley, a Cleveland native, wore a "00" Browns jersey at his introductory press conference in March after signing a six-year, $36 million deal, touted as the richest ever for a center. He's also had "00" over his locker this offseason, even though he's No. 57 on the team's Web site.

Bentley turned down an interview request, as he's done with Cleveland-area reporters regarding the jersey issue.

An NFL spokesman said Bentley would not even be allowed to wear "00" in exhibition games because of the league's jersey-numbering system, which began in 1973. The system forbids anyone from wearing "00" or "0," so if you want those numbers, hit the roulette table. The last player to wear "00" was wide receiver Kenny Burrough, who played from 1970-81 and was grandfathered to wear the goose eggs since he had that number prior to 1973.

The NFL's competition committee recommended against number changes for this season but might look into it again in October, committee co-chair Rich McKay said at last month's owners' meeting in Denver.

"There's no real sentiment yet on the committee that there will ever be a change of the system or that there's any need to have a change," McKay said.

Offensive linemen are assigned numbers 50 to 79.

While Bush's quest -- or that of his marketers -- drew most of the attention regarding the jersey-number policy, the decision to keep "OO" out of reach shouldn't be forgotten, nor should Otto's legacy.

Otto, whose No. 00 reflected his palindromic name, relayed his strong feelings about his jersey number to Schwartz and declined to speak with Bentley about it.

Schwartz makes a strong case that Bentley has only the best intentions to wear "00," something Bentley conveyed before free agency.

Schwartz said Bentley told him: "One thing to negotiate is I want to wear '00' and I need management to support me on it. When I was younger, I was a huge Cleveland Browns fan. But I grew up watching NFL Films, and me being an offensive lineman, Jim Otto is who I wanted to represent."

Schwartz said the Browns backed Bentley, and he still holds out hope that Bentley someday will wear "00" so that another generation of fans can recognize Otto's body of work.

It's Otto's war-torn body, however, that gives him the right to fight for his number -- his "00" -- and defend it the way a Hall of Fame lineman protects a quarterback.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact Cam Inman at cinman@cctimes.com

One of the most popular gambling games in casinos –whether in online casinos or brick and mortar casinos – is roulette; and free roulette! From the looks of it, a game of roulette is quite simple. Even a person who has never gambled his whole life will be able to determine the rules of the game by j ...

by Steve Pavis

One of the most popular gambling games in casinos –whether in online casinos or brick and mortar casinos – is roulette; and free roulette! From the looks of it, a game of roulette is quite simple. Even a person who has never gambled his whole life will be able to determine the rules of the game by just watching the proceedings of a game for a few minutes. What could be simpler than a roulette wheel spinning and betting on a number (or numbers) or a color where you think the ball will land?

Of course, the center of the whole game of roulette revolves around the roulette wheel. The wheel measures about three feet in diameter and weighs almost 100 pounds.

Not very many people know this but there are actually two types of roulette – American roulette and European roulette.

First of all, the wheels used in American and European roulette are quite different. Let's look at the similarities first. The wheel is divided into numbered compartments or "pockets". These pockets are colored either red, black or green. Each pocket is numbered from 1 to 36 and is split among red and black.

There are also green pockets in the roulette wheel and this is where the first difference between American and European roulette is first seen. In American roulette, there are two green pockets that signify 0 and 00 (zero and double-zero). European roulette, on the other hand, only has one zero. The green pockets are considered the house advantage. American roulette has a house advantage of 5.3 per cent while European roulette has an advantage of 2.7 per cent.

The numbers in the wheel are not arranged randomly but in an order that tries to establish a good balance between black and red, the odds and evens and the highs and lows. If you will look closely at the wheel, you will immediately notice that every odd number is partnered with the next highest even number right opposite it. The black and red numbers also alternate, as well as pairs of even numbers alternating with pairs of odd numbers.

The two roulette types also use chips in different ways. In American roulette the player uses chips that have the same value determined when it is purchased. European roulette players are free to use standard casino chips that have different values, which makes it a bit more confusing to both the player and croupier. Of course, in online roulette, the online gambling site will indicate how the betting will be done.


Knowing the "geography" of the roulette wheel may not be an important aspect of playing roulette but the more knowledge you have about the game the more you will feel a free kinship to the action that happens at the roulette table. This will make the game more fun to play. This knowledge is also something that you can use when you play online roulette or even free roulette.


Steve Pavis is the owner of the http://www.roulette-1.com website, the premier website to find out the latest in the world of online roulette. Betting systems, analysis of the latest strategies, reviews, updates on which online casinos to avoid and a host of other free information for the interested roulette player. You can also subscribe to his cutting edge newsletter at
http://visitor.constantcontact.com/optin.jsp?m=1101229656523&ea= to catch the latest wheels and deals!

Copyright Steve Pavis - http://www.roulette-1.com

The term "Roulette" is derived from a French word meaning small wheel. The origin of Roulette is not very clear. while some sources state that Blaise Pascal, a 17th Century French mathematician invented the roulette wheel ...

by Adel Awwad

The term "Roulette" is derived from a French word meaning small wheel. The origin of Roulette is not very clear. while some sources state that Blaise Pascal, a 17th Century French mathematician invented the roulette wheel, other sources state that the game originated in China and was brought to Europe by Dominican monks who were trading with the Chinese.

During the late 18th century the Roulette wheel became very popular when Prince Charles (ruler of Monaco at the time introduced gambling to Monacco as a way of alleviating the financial problems of the region.

However, the modern version of the Roulette wheel did not appear until 1842 when Frenchmen Francois and Louis Blanc invented the single "0" roulette game. The game was eventually brought to America in the early 1800s.

However, the single "0" modification was rejected in America and the two zeros "00" where returned to the Roulette wheel. The Roulette wheel gained a great deal of popularity in America during the California Gold Rush.

There are two types of Roulette Games.

American Roulette Wheel

The American Roulette Wheel contains 38 numbers including 0, 00 and 1 to 36. Having two zeros (0, 00) gives the house a 5.26% advantage. In other words, for every $100 a gambler bets, the house will make $5.26 in profit.

European Roulette Wheel

The European Roulette Wheel contains 37 numbers including 0 and 1 to 36. Having one zero (0) gives the house a 2.70% advantage. In other words, for every $100 a gambler bets, the house will make $2.70 in profit.

Other differences between the two Roulette Games

One major difference pertains to the color of the gambling chips. While American casinos will give the players different colored chips which will allow the players to differentiate their chips/bets from other players, the European casinos will give the players the same coloured chips. Thus unlike the players at American casinos, gamblers at European casinos need to rely on memory to distinguish their chips/bets from those of other players.

Another difference between the two games includes the fact that in European casinos, croupiers use a long stick known as the Rake to sweep in all chips, while the American casino dealers will use their hands and arms to sweep the chips off the table.

The last major difference between the two types of Roulette games is that if the ball lands on the zero (0) in a European casino, then the gambler is offered the option of utilising the en prison rule, whereby he may choose to either surrender one half of his/her outside wagers or to leave them for the next game.

After purchasing the chips from the dealer, the player places them on the desired positions on the table in an attempt to predict where the ball will land after the wheel is spun and the ball comes to a stop.

Once the chips are placed on the table and the bets are made, the dealer spins the Roulette wheel while spinning the ball in the opposite direction inside the Roulette wheel. Players are allowed to continue placng their bets during the spin until the dealer says "No more bets".

When the wheel slows down and the ball drops into one of the numbered slots, the dealer places a marker on the winning number on the Roulette table. The players who bet on the winning number or color are rewarded while the players who bet on the losing number(s) lose their chips to the casino.

Today, Roulette continues to be one of the most popular classic casino games, especially in Europe. This is due to the fact that European Roulette has only one zero and as a result offers a more appealing house edge.

About The Author:
Adel Awwad is the webmaster of Free Casino Cash Guide Copyright © 2005 http://www.casinoguide.ws - Free Casino Cash Guide, All Rights Reserved. This document may be freely redistributed in its unedited form and on the condition that all copyright references are kept intact along with the hyperlinked URLs.

Copyright Adel Awwad - http://www.casinoguide.ws

The term "Roulette" is derived from a French word meaning small wheel. The origin of Roulette is not very clear. while some sources state that Blaise Pascal, a 17th Century French mathematician inven...

by Adel Awwad

The term "Roulette" is derived from a French word meaning small wheel. The origin of Roulette is not very clear. while some sources state that Blaise Pascal, a 17th Century French mathematician invented the roulette wheel, other sources state that the game originated in China and was brought to Europe by Dominican monks who were trading with the Chinese.

During the late 18th century the Roulette wheel became very popular when Prince Charles (ruler of Monaco at the time) introduced gambling to Monacco as a way of alleviating the financial problems of the region.


However, the modern version of the Roulette wheel did not appear until 1842 when Frenchmen Francois and Louis Blanc invented the single "0" roulette game. The game was eventually brought to America in the early 1800s.


However, the single "0" modification was rejected in America and the two zeros "00" where returned to the Roulette wheel. The Roulette wheel gained a great deal of popularity in America during the California Gold Rush.


There are two types of Roulette Games.


American Roulette Wheel: The American Roulette Wheel contains 38 numbers including 0, 00 and 1 to 36. Having two zeros (0, 00) gives the house a 5.26% advantage. In other words, for every $100 a gambler bets, the house will make $5.26 in profit.


European Roulette Wheel: The European Roulette Wheel contains 37 numbers including 0 and 1 to 36. Having one zero (0) gives the house a 2.70% advantage. In other words, for every $100 a gambler bets, the house will make $2.70 in profit.


Other differences between the two Roulette Games


One major difference pertains to the color of the gambling chips. While American casinos will give the players different colored chips which will allow the players to differentiate their chips/bets from other players, the European casinos will give the players the same coloured chips. Thus unlike the players at American casinos, gamblers at European casinos need to rely on memory to distinguish their chips/bets from those of other players.


Another difference between the two games includes the fact that in European casinos, croupiers use a long stick known as the Rake to sweep in all chips, while the American casino dealers will use their hands and arms to sweep the chips off the table.


The last major difference between the two types of Roulette games is that if the ball lands on the zero (0) in a European casino, then the gambler is offered the option of utilising the en prison rule, whereby he may choose to either surrender one half of his/her outside wagers or to leave them for the next game.


How to play the game


After purchasing the chips from the dealer, the player places them on the desired positions on the table in an attempt to predict where the ball will land after the wheel is spun and the ball comes to a stop.


Once the chips are placed on the table and the bets are made, the dealer spins the Roulette wheel while spinning the ball in the opposite direction inside the Roulette wheel. Players are allowed to continue placng their bets during the spin until the dealer says "No more bets".


When the wheel slows down and the ball drops into one of the numbered slots, the dealer places a marker on the winning number on the Roulette table. The players who bet on the winning number or color are rewarded while the players who bet on the losing number(s) lose their chips to the casino.


Today, Roulette continues to be one of the most popular classic casino games, especially in Europe. This is due to the fact that European Roulette has only one zero and as a result offers a more appealing house edge.






About The Author




Adel Awwad is the webmaster of http://www.casinoguide.ws


Copyright © 2005 www.casinoguide.ws - Free Casino Cash Guide, All Rights Reserved. This document may be freely redistributed in its unedited form and on the condition that all copyright references are kept intact along with the hyperlinked URLs.

Learning the "lingo" used in American Roulette will help make you familiar with the game and therefore give you a more comfortable level of play. Here is a basic glossary for terms used in American Roulette ...

by J Finney


Learning the "lingo" used in American Roulette will help make you familiar with the game and therefore give you a more comfortable level of play. Here is a basic glossary for terms used in American Roulette:

Black: An even-money bet on the ball to land on any black number.

Block bet: A type of bet where you place your chips on the intersection of four different numbers, therefore betting on all four numbers at once.

Column bet: A type of bet in roulette where you are betting on one of the bets within a particular column to win. The payout varies according to which bet won.

Double zero: Bet placed on the green 00 number. It is quite hard to win, but pays 35:1 if you do hit on it.

Dozens bet: Bet where you predict that the ball will fall on one of a dozen numbers in a sequential column- 1 to 12, 13 to 24 or 25 to 36. The odds are 2:1 if you win.

Evens: An even-money bet on the ball to land on any one of the even numbers on the table.

Green: Refers to one of two numbers on the wheel that are green- either the 0 or 00.

High: A bet on one of the 'high' numbers on the table to win. High numbers are 19-36.

Inside bet: Name for a particular set of bets. All inside bets are located on the inside of the table that include the boxes for the number bets. The odds vary according to which bet ultimately wins.

Line bet: A 5:1 odds bet that the ball will land on any set of six neighboring numbers on the table.

Low: A roulette bet on all of the 'low' numbers on the table. The word 'low' refers to the numbers 1-28 on the table.

Odd: Name for a bet that the ball will land on any one of the odd numbers on the wheel.

Outside bet: Opposite of the inside bet, this means that you predict that one of the bets on the outside of the table will win. The bets vary and therefore so do the payouts.

Red: A bet that the ball will land on any one of the numbers in red on the wheel.

Six-line bet: A bet for a set of six particular numbers on the table all at once.

Special line bet: A bet on either zero, one two or three to win. It involves putting your chips on the intersecting line of these numbers so that you can bet on all of them at once.

Split bet: A bet on two neighboring numbers on the table. You put your chips on the line between the two so that you can bet on both at once.

Wheel checks: The chips that are used specifically for roulette tables only. There is a different color for each player at the table. They have a value according to what the player wants, and must be bough and cashed out right at the table.

About The Author:
To learn more about online roulette strategy, please visit http://www.online-gambling-system.com and http://www.online-gambling-system.com/roulette.html

Copyright J Finney - http://www.online-gambling-system.com

Have you ever been drawn to a roulette table because of the display board? The one that says black has come up 6 times in a row? Ever have the urge to put your money on the table in that situation? I...

by Shawn Tinling

Have you ever been drawn to a roulette table because of the display board? The one that says black has come up 6 times in a row? Ever have the urge to put your money on the table in that situation? If so, what do you do?

"Bet red, because it's due to hit this time!"


That answer, while it is a very popular one, is absolutely wrong! You should always bet with the streak, or not at all.


Betting red in this situation is wrong for two reasons. The first reason's mathematical: no matter how many times a color comes up in roulette, there's still (roughly) a 50/50 chance that red or black will come up on the next spin. It doesn't matter if black came up 5 times in a row, 500 times in a row or 5 million times in a row. Every spin in roulette is an independent event; what happened before or after the spin doesn't change the probability of a certain outcome. The idea that an event can become 'due' over time is known as 'the gambler's fallacy', and has contributed to the demise of many a player's bankroll.


The second reason's psychological. What happens if you bet red, and black comes up again? Do you increase your bet on red? After all, it's even more due now, right? Sure, you may luck out and red comes up on that next spin, but if black comes up once more, how would you deal with it? If you bet against the streak and lose, and get in the trap of pressing up your bet hoping the streak stops, the casino's got you right where they want you! If the streak keeps going you'll be broke, wondering to yourself "what're the odds of THAT happening?"


If you bet with the streak, worst case is you lose your base bet as the streak comes to an end, universal balance and order is restored and you can play your game as normal.


Until next time, take care and best of luck in the casino.


About The Author


Shawn Tinling runs 21 Nights Entertainment (www.21nights.com), a casino entertainment and events company in New York City. (c) 2004-2005 Shawn Tinling


casinostories@21nights.com

Copyright Shawn Tinling - http://www.21nights.com

When the anti-capitalist movement began to emblazon its banners with the slogan “Another World is Possible”, it signalled the revival of a utopianism that had been furled up and forgotten for at least a couple of decades.

Utopianism – the attempt to envisage a different, better world – was one victim of the right wing onslaught led by Margaret Thatcher in Britain and Ronald Reagan in the US. From 1979, when Thatcher took office, utopianism seemed unacceptable. “There is no alternative” was the slogan associated with the neo-liberal ideology she helped engineer.

It took the mass protests that shut down the World Trade Organisation summit in the US city of Seattle in 1999 to begin to tear apart this consensus.

Before then, according to many of the “postmodernist” thinkers who passed for radical intellectuals, anti-capitalist politics of any kind were tainted by their association with outdated totalitarian fantasies hatched in the 19th century.

Michel Foucault, one of the patron saints of postmodernism, mused that “to imagine another system is to extend our participation in the present system”. Many of the postmodernists still suffered from the hangover that they had acquired when the euphoria of the late 1960s dissipated in the succeeding decades of reaction and retrenchment.

Cold War ideologues

Propagandists for Western capitalism could point to Russia, which they argued was the nightmarish and inevitable outcome of the left’s dreams of a socialist society. “We told you so!” the Cold War ideologues of the 1950s and 1960s taunted in infantile tones. For them, Stalinism confirmed that there could be no viable alternative to free market capitalism.

A number of liberal and left wing thinkers felt chastened by these taunts, not least because the dominance of the Communist parties in the European labour movement made it so difficult to maintain a Marxist critique of the Russian model. Even those Marxist intellectuals who remained independent of Stalinism submitted to the gloomy climate that prevailed.

In 1948 one such intellectual, Theodor Adorno, lamented that “the mere idea of humanity, or of a better world, no longer has any sway over mankind”. Instead he glimpsed a damaged, fragmentary image of utopia in works of art, literature and music that offered a fleeting escape from the tyranny of market capitalism.

The idea that the free market is the only game in town, and that everybody has to sit it out at the roulette table rigged by the capitalist companies that own the casino, is central to the logic of capitalism.

As Karl Marx and Frederick Engels wrote in their 1848 Communist Manifesto, the capitalists “create a world after their own image”. Pro-capitalist thinkers deny the possibility of fundamental historical change, presenting their system as eternal. The future will supposedly be the same as the present – but a little better.

The capitalists have obliterated the traces of their system’s origin in the messy and often bloody abolition of feudalism. To admit that capitalism might have a historical origin at all, let alone a violent one, is to concede that this system might, one day, face an equally violent demise.

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 appeared to reinforce the assumption that free market capitalism is the “end of history”, as one postmodernist thinker dubbed it.

Some disillusioned leftists seemed to agree, though naturally they were more reluctant to admit that socialism had been comprehensively defeated by its ancient antagonist.

But there was an alternative to pro-capitalist triumphalism and left wing pessimism. A minority of those on the left, including those in Trotskyist organisations such as the Socialist Workers Party, had sought to rigorously dissociate Marxism and communism from its Stalinist deformations.

They argued the regimes of Eastern Europe and Russia functioned not as the opposite of Western capitalism, but its mirror image. For these socialists, the onset of the 1990s represented a unique historical opportunity to reclaim a revolutionary vision of an alternative to capitalism.

The rise of the anti-capitalist movement meant that debates about this vision were not simply theoretical possibilities – the argument was played out in the realm of practice.

Principle of hope

Utopianism is almost by definition poised awkwardly between theory and practice. According to the narrowest definition, utopias are those political schemes that remain as blueprints that are practically impossible to implement.

But according to a broader definition, utopianism is a “principle of hope” that, as the Marxist philosopher Ernst Bloch insisted, is woven into everyday activities as mundane as day dreaming in the classroom. Such activities represent semi-conscious attempts to undermine the demeaning alienation of life in a capitalist society.

The more compelling utopias have tended to be presented not through abstract philosophy or concrete political practice, but through novels. However, there are not many exceptional examples of this, because the visions that are politically convincing often fail to inspire the reader’s imagination and those that are imaginatively inspiring often seem politically unconvincing.

The most compelling vision, in my opinion, is that presented by William Morris in News from Nowhere, written in the 1890s. This is an attempt by an active Marxist to articulate his dream of a society that has superseded capitalism.

This utopia was written at a time when hundreds of utopian fictions were published. Most of these however make mind numbingly dull reading because their politics are dogmatic and they are imaginatively impoverished.

The sheer volume of such publications in the late 19th century, the last period in which utopia was the dominant expression of the Western political imagination, is nonetheless instructive. The form was popular because of people’s political uncertainty.

It was a time when capitalism seemed to be on its deathbed, but the adolescent socialist movement ultimately lacked coordination and the sense of direction needed to pose a coherent alternative. Books and pamphlets about the future were a vital forum for debating the present.

More than a century later, the historical situation is of course quite different. But there is once more a pervasive sense that capitalism is undergoing a prolonged crisis, the environmental and social consequences of which might be little short of apocalyptic. And there is, in addition, an emerging conviction that another world is possible.

Post-capitalist future

In this climate, the question of the future has forced itself back into political consciousness. It necessarily remains a question, though the hypothetical answers to this question need not be as hopelessly vague as the banner on a May Day demonstration in London a few years ago which urged that we “overthrow capitalism and replace it with something nicer”.

It is imperative that Marxists debate the post-capitalist future. They must do so both in practical terms – in relation to the mechanics of a planned economy for example – and in frankly impractical terms – in relation for instance to the ordinary details of lives distorted by capitalism.

The mission of Morris’s utopia, as the socialist historian EP Thompson argued, was to “educate desire”. This is once more an urgent task for socialists.

The Mexican poet Octavio Paz once complained that in the 20th century humanity had made the mistake of dreaming with its eyes open. He insisted that we “begin to dream once more with our eyes closed”. Both kinds of dreaming need to be integrated into our attempts as socialists to negotiate the space between political theory and political practice.

Matthew Beaumont is the author of Utopia Ltd – Ideologies of Social Dreaming in England 1870-1900. To order copies contact Bookmarks, the socialist bookshop. Phone 020 7637 1848.

© Copyright Socialist Worker (unless otherwise stated). You may republish if you include an active link to the original and leave this notice in place.

Gayle King is definitely angling for a spot on "The View" despite her claims to the contrary, our spies swear.
"Gayle really wants the job in a big way," says one source. "It's her absolute dream situation. She thinks it's perfect, because there are others to share the spotlight with and she wouldn't have to deal as much with the 'Oprah's Best Friend' label that follows her everywhere. She just wants to be 'Gayle King, television personality.'"

King is already at ABC as a correspondent on Oprah Winfrey's show, she's girlie-stylish, has years of experience and a reputation for good ethics. So what's the trouble?

"The problem for her," a cognoscento confides, "is that she's friends with [current 'View' co-host] Star [Jones].

"She can't publicly lobby for the job in any way. Star would certainly get upset about her friend trying to get a job she's not technically done with yet."

Still, an insider adds, "You can bet Gayle has every back-channel entity she can get working to lock up the position for her. The last thing she'd want is to make it look like she lobbied for the job and that Oprah's influence had anything to do with her getting it."

A spokesman for "The View" would only say, "We are not auditioning right now."


Surveillance...

The "Entourage" crew wasn't getting any high-roller freebies the other night at Las Vegas' Bellagio. Jeremy Piven, Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara, Kevin Connolly and Seth Green looked startled when a bill for $1,650 arrived at their table at Fix. Hoping to come up with some fast bucks, the crew hit the roulette table. "They bet on black, but the wheel hit green," says a spy. They still managed to pool enough cash to pay up...

Top NFL draft choice Mario (40 Million) Williams and pals popping Perrier Jouet corks at Home on W. 27th over his pick by the Houston Texans, as Trudie Styler and gal pals sipped appropriately pink Moet Rosé nearby ...

David Schwimmer, celebrating his new life on Broadway in "The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial" at Bond 45, the oak-and-mosaic former men's clothier (and '80s disco) on W. 45th that has its own new life as a restaurant...

"Jersey Boys" cast members, having such a good time at the Drama Desk nominations party at Arte Cafe on Columbus Ave. that they missed their 7 p.m. curtain. It's okay: the audience gave them big love with a standing ovation anyway.

Side Dish

Julia Roberts' odds of getting a Best Actress Tony nod for "Three Days of Rain" just went up: The Antoinette Perry Awards committee just decided that the great stage actress Cherry Jones, if nominated, will be in the Supporting Actress category for "Faith Healer"...

Josh Lucas gave Entertainment Weekly a bit too much info on shooting "Poseidon": "Anytime you put a lot of grips and special-effects people in water, there's going to be urine ... And you got comfortable to the point where you were drinking it"...

Charlie Rose is back in New York and looking great after undergoing emergency heart surgery in Europe. He hopes to be back on the air next month...

ABC News star Cynthia McFadden arrived at the Waldorf to host the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America benefit - and realized she'd left her speech in a cab. A frantic call to the Taxi and Limousine Commission summoned her driver in time for McFadden to salute Martha Stewart, Vera Wang and Madeline Boyd...

Fertility specialist Dr. Niels Lauersen, who helped Celine Dion and Liv Ullmann have babies, is optimistic after doing a hard 5 years for insurance irregularities: "It's a new beginning. And, I can now press 250 pounds"...

Just in time for sweeps, Dennis Rivera's 250,000 members of Local 1199 members will tune in to "60 Minutes" to hear the union's international prez Andy Stern talk honestly about labor's current power...

Seven-year-old Memorial Sloan Kettering cancer patient Dylan Hartung has had visits from Nicole Kidman and Angelina Jolie, but he misses Grandma, who lives in Australia. Thanks to the Select Comfort company, which supplies beds to Ronald McDonald House, where Dylan's family stays during his treatments, Dylan's grandmother flew in last night and will be at his surprise birthday party today at the House.


13th Precinct bounty: Hunter

At least one New York cop wanted to put his cuffs on Rachel Hunter Wednesday night.

The cantilevered Kiwi and her divorce lawyer Mike Heller were headed to Bungalow 8 when Heller, who recently won Hunter a whopping settlement from Rod Stewart, got a call. It was from a client who'd been rounded up in a major raid on a poker hall.

Just back from Washington on a serious criminal case, Heller politely offered Hunter the option of continuing on to Bungalow 8 alone, but the supermodel wanted to go with him to the 13th Precinct on E. 21st.

The 5-foot-11 pinup poured it on for the police, purring that she finds men in uniform sexy, saying she wants to be a bounty hunter and signing autographs. One officer offered the actress his number; another, his cuffs. Thankfully, nobody was robbing anyone near Gramercy Park at the time. Then it was on to Bungalow, where Heller and his sexy sidekick hooked up with owner Amy Sacco and Victoria's Secret models Ana Beatriz Barros and Alessandra Ambrosia.


With Jo Piazza and Chris Rovzar



Originally published on May 12, 2006