Sample Session – Played on American Roulette Wheel (Double 00) Example Session: Using 3rd Dozen (25-36) Bet Won/ Balance Rolls Result Min/Max Units Loss Units Diagram Cycle Comments 1 36 Min 4 5 5 A 2 32 Min 4 14 19 A 3 14 Min 4 -4 15 A 4 23 Min 8 -8 7 B. In the current article, we dedicate some time discussing the main components, which comprise a roulette wheel, and their specific features. The Bowl and the Wheelhead. Every wheel is comprised of two main elements, an external housing (known as a bowl), and a center piece that rotates, known as a wheelhead. 48.60% are the odds on a roulette table for a wide range of outside bets. For example, the bets including Even/Odd, Red/Black or Low/High offer the highest odds on roulette with European (48.60%) and American (47.40%) layout. These roulette betting odds mean that your chance to hit a win is almost 50:50. Roulette Wheel Selection. In a roulette wheel selection, the circular wheel is divided as described before. A fixed point is chosen on the wheel circumference as shown and the wheel is rotated. The region of the wheel which comes in front of the fixed point is chosen as the parent. For the second parent, the same process is repeated. Roulette Wheel Diagram fact sheet. Since you know that you are going to go into the casino to play Roulette you should also know that you should at least be aware of what the Roulette Wheel is going to look like and what it consists of.
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Parent Selection is the process of selecting parents which mate and recombine to create off-springs for the next generation. Parent selection is very crucial to the convergence rate of the GA as good parents drive individuals to a better and fitter solutions.
However, care should be taken to prevent one extremely fit solution from taking over the entire population in a few generations, as this leads to the solutions being close to one another in the solution space thereby leading to a loss of diversity. Maintaining good diversity in the population is extremely crucial for the success of a GA. This taking up of the entire population by one extremely fit solution is known as premature convergence and is an undesirable condition in a GA.
Fitness Proportionate Selection
Fitness Proportionate Selection is one of the most popular ways of parent selection. In this every individual can become a parent with a probability which is proportional to its fitness. Therefore, fitter individuals have a higher chance of mating and propagating their features to the next generation. Therefore, such a selection strategy applies a selection pressure to the more fit individuals in the population, evolving better individuals over time.
Consider a circular wheel. The wheel is divided into n pies, where n is the number of individuals in the population. Each individual gets a portion of the circle which is proportional to its fitness value.
Two implementations of fitness proportionate selection are possible −
Roulette Wheel Selection
In a roulette wheel selection, the circular wheel is divided as described before. A fixed point is chosen on the wheel circumference as shown and the wheel is rotated. The region of the wheel which comes in front of the fixed point is chosen as the parent. For the second parent, the same process is repeated.
It is clear that a fitter individual has a greater pie on the wheel and therefore a greater chance of landing in front of the fixed point when the wheel is rotated. Therefore, the probability of choosing an individual depends directly on its fitness.
Implementation wise, we use the following steps −
Calculate S = the sum of a finesses.
Generate a random number between 0 and S.
Starting from the top of the population, keep adding the finesses to the partial sum P, till P
The individual for which P exceeds S is the chosen individual.
Stochastic Universal Sampling (SUS)
Stochastic Universal Sampling is quite similar to Roulette wheel selection, however instead of having just one fixed point, we have multiple fixed points as shown in the following image. Therefore, all the parents are chosen in just one spin of the wheel. Also, such a setup encourages the highly fit individuals to be chosen at least once.
It is to be noted that fitness proportionate selection methods don't work for cases where the fitness can take a negative value.
Tournament Selection
In K-Way tournament selection, we select K individuals from the population at random and select the best out of these to become a parent. The same process is repeated for selecting the next parent. Tournament Selection is also extremely popular in literature as it can even work with negative fitness values.
Rank Selection
Rank Selection also works with negative fitness values and is mostly used when the individuals in the population have very close fitness values (this happens usually at the end of the run). This leads to each individual having an almost equal share of the pie (like in case of fitness proportionate selection) as shown in the following image and hence each individual no matter how fit relative to each other has an approximately same probability of getting selected as a parent. This in turn leads to a loss in the selection pressure towards fitter individuals, making the GA to make poor parent selections in such situations.
In this, we remove the concept of a fitness value while selecting a parent. However, every individual in the population is ranked according to their fitness. The selection of the parents depends on the rank of each individual and not the fitness. The higher ranked individuals are preferred more than the lower ranked ones.
| Chromosome | Fitness Value | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| A | 8.1 | 1 |
| B | 8.0 | 4 |
| C | 8.05 | 2 |
| D | 7.95 | 6 |
| E | 8.02 | 3 |
| F | 7.99 | 5 |
Random Selection
In this strategy we randomly select parents from the existing population. There is no selection pressure towards fitter individuals and therefore this strategy is usually avoided.
What we're going to do here is take a detailed look at the roulette wheel and table for European, American and French roulette. We will start out with a brief look at the history and then get into some detailed diagrams and descriptions for each version of the game.
We will then get into various manufacturers and design differences, before rounding off with our opinion on the bold claims you read online about roulette wheels being predictable and easily beaten.
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Brief History of the Roulette Wheel
According to a French novel called 'La Roulette', the game has been played as it's known today since 1796. These early games included both a 0 and 00.
The earliest form of a roulette wheel dates all the way back to the 1600's from a French mathematician called Blaise Pascal, pictured right.
He inadvertently created a roulette wheel in his quest to create a perpetual motion machine. In simple terms, he wanted to create a wheel that could spin on its own indefinitely without an energy source. He failed in this endeavour.
It was roughly in the 1860's when the Monte Carlo casino began offering a single 0 roulette wheel and this is the version of the game that spread across the world with the exception of the USA. American roulette games still retain the original concept of 0 and 00 slots to this day which increases the house advantage. More information on the house advantage can be found lower down.
European Roulette Wheel and Table
The most popular version of the game across the world, both online and in real casinos. One of the first things that you need to understand about roulette is that the table is not representative of the wheel. If you place a bet on the first Dozen, you are betting on numbers 1 through to 12 but those numbers are evenly spread across the wheel. Here's the order of the numbers on a European roulette wheel starting with 0:
0 – 32 – 15 – 19 – 4 – 21 – 2 – 25 – 17 – 34 – 6 – 27 – 13 – 36 – 11 – 30 – 8 – 23 – 10 – 5 – 24 – 16 – 33 – 1 – 20 – 14 – 31 – 9 – 22 – 18 – 29 – 7 – 28 – 12 – 35 – 3 – 26
The order of numbers may appear random, but they're purposely designed to confuse the player and conform to the golden rule that black and red numbers must alternate. From there, odd/even and 1-18/19-36 are evenly distributed across the wheel with no more than two numbers of the same type adjacent to each other on the wheel. In other words, at no point are there more than two consecutive odd numbers or two consecutive 1-18 numbers and so on.
European Specific Bets
| Chromosome | Fitness Value | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| A | 8.1 | 1 |
| B | 8.0 | 4 |
| C | 8.05 | 2 |
| D | 7.95 | 6 |
| E | 8.02 | 3 |
| F | 7.99 | 5 |
Random Selection
In this strategy we randomly select parents from the existing population. There is no selection pressure towards fitter individuals and therefore this strategy is usually avoided.
What we're going to do here is take a detailed look at the roulette wheel and table for European, American and French roulette. We will start out with a brief look at the history and then get into some detailed diagrams and descriptions for each version of the game.
We will then get into various manufacturers and design differences, before rounding off with our opinion on the bold claims you read online about roulette wheels being predictable and easily beaten.
Best Online Roulette Wheel– Royal Panda have numerous roulette games to choose from with €0.10 – €200,000 table limits. They pay out with 24 hours when you make a withdrawal. Play at Royal Panda
Brief History of the Roulette Wheel
According to a French novel called 'La Roulette', the game has been played as it's known today since 1796. These early games included both a 0 and 00.
The earliest form of a roulette wheel dates all the way back to the 1600's from a French mathematician called Blaise Pascal, pictured right.
He inadvertently created a roulette wheel in his quest to create a perpetual motion machine. In simple terms, he wanted to create a wheel that could spin on its own indefinitely without an energy source. He failed in this endeavour.
It was roughly in the 1860's when the Monte Carlo casino began offering a single 0 roulette wheel and this is the version of the game that spread across the world with the exception of the USA. American roulette games still retain the original concept of 0 and 00 slots to this day which increases the house advantage. More information on the house advantage can be found lower down.
European Roulette Wheel and Table
The most popular version of the game across the world, both online and in real casinos. One of the first things that you need to understand about roulette is that the table is not representative of the wheel. If you place a bet on the first Dozen, you are betting on numbers 1 through to 12 but those numbers are evenly spread across the wheel. Here's the order of the numbers on a European roulette wheel starting with 0:
0 – 32 – 15 – 19 – 4 – 21 – 2 – 25 – 17 – 34 – 6 – 27 – 13 – 36 – 11 – 30 – 8 – 23 – 10 – 5 – 24 – 16 – 33 – 1 – 20 – 14 – 31 – 9 – 22 – 18 – 29 – 7 – 28 – 12 – 35 – 3 – 26
The order of numbers may appear random, but they're purposely designed to confuse the player and conform to the golden rule that black and red numbers must alternate. From there, odd/even and 1-18/19-36 are evenly distributed across the wheel with no more than two numbers of the same type adjacent to each other on the wheel. In other words, at no point are there more than two consecutive odd numbers or two consecutive 1-18 numbers and so on.
European Specific Bets
European roulette has 4 bet types that you won't find in the American game known as Call or Announce bets. They're named this way because in real casino conditions, the player will say the bet out loud and the dealer will place the bet for them.
The image to the right shows which numbers each of them covers. We've already discussed these bets in detail on our page on roulette bets but here are the descriptions again.
Jeu 0 – One chip is placed on each of the following Splits: 0-3, 12-15, 32-35 and then the number 26 with a Straight Up bet. In total, 4 chips are placed and 7 numbers are covered.
Voisins du Zero – One chip is placed on the following Splits: 4-7, 12-15, 18-21, 19-22, 32-35. Then there are 2 chips on 0-2-3 Street and 2 chips on 25-26-28-29 Corner. In total, 9 chips are placed and 17 different numbers are covered.
Orphelins – One chip is placed on the following Splits: 6-9, 14-17, 17-20, 31-34 and then the number 1 with a Straight Up bet. In total, 5 chips are placed that cover 8 numbers (17 is covered twice).
Tiers du Cylindre – One chip is placed on the following Splits: 5-8, 10-11, 13-16, 23-24, 27-30, 33-36. In total, 6 chips are placed and 12 numbers are covered.
American Roulette Wheel and Table
The American version of the game features an extra slot but the payouts remain the same, pushing the house edge up to 5.26% from the 2.7% you get with the European game. When it comes to real casinos, you'll only find this table in the USA, Canada and high end casinos in places like London.
What's curious about the design of the American roulette wheel is that the numbers are in a completely different order to the European game while following the same design principles. Here's the order of the numbers starting with the 0:
0 – 28 – 9 – 26 – 30 – 11 – 7 – 20 – 32 – 17 – 5 – 22 – 34 – 15 – 3 – 24 – 36 – 13 – 1 – 00 – 27 – 10 – 25 – 29 – 12 – 8 – 19 – 31 – 18 – 6 – 21 – 33 – 16 – 4 – 23 – 35 – 14 – 2
French Roulette Table
It's also worth giving a quick mention to the French roulette table which you can see to the right. The wheel is exactly the same as the European game but the table has a different layout.
The biggest difference is that the Dozens are no longer marked as 1st 12, 2nd 12 and 3rd 12. Instead, they're marked as P12, M12 and D12 which you will see in the bottom left and right corners of the table.
La partage rule – In terms of actual game play, the French game has the most advantageous rules because when the 0 hits, losing bets on Red/Black, Odd/Even and Low/High pay back half. So a £10 bet on Red would pay back £5 if the 0 hits.
En prison rule – In real casinos, they may opt to use the en prison rule instead of la partage. Every online game we've ever played has used la partage so you will only find en prison in real casinos. When the 0 hits, losing bets on Red/Black, Odd/Even and Low/High are marked as 'en prison' by the croupier and neither win nor lose. Instead, they're left on the table for the following spin and treated as any other bet.
Manufacturers and Design Differences
There are numerous manufactures of roulette wheels, each of which offer various designs and we aren't talking about mere colours and textures. The major design difference between different wheels are the pockets. Each number has a pocket where the ball will eventually fall and the design around the pocket affects the bounce and scatter of the ball which impacts on the final result. Here are three different designs, click on them to see a larger version.
Huxley Stardust
The low fret design to the left is the most common design of wheel in real casinos. The low pockets allow the ball to bounce around from one pocket to another before finally losing momentum and coming to rest, resulting in unpredictability which is what the casinos obviously want.
The scalloped design has deeper pockets, resulting in less bounce and a slightly more predictable result so they are much rarer. The scalloped design could be described as 'old and outdated' because most manufacturers have ceased making them. You aren't likely to see one in a real casino.
The Huxley stardust design uses triangular pockets which can deflect the ball in either direction, creating even more unpredictability. For example, the ball can go from spinning anti clockwise around the track to going clockwise once it hits the rotor. Such movement is much less common on low fret and scalloped designs.
While there are many manufacturers of wheels, here are the two largest that we're aware of:
TCS John Huxley – Their head office is based in London and they have offices around the world. They've won numerous industry awards for their craftsmanship of casino equipment and they supply casinos across the globe. Designing a new roulette wheel on their website is like designing a new car with multiple design and colour options available. Their website is www.tcsjohnhuxley.com
Cammegh – Another company based in the UK, Cammegh are a huge supplier to casinos across Europe and the USA. They have supplied roulette wheels to numerous huge casino brands including Caesars, Grosvenor, Gala and Ladbrokes. Their website is www.cammegh.com
Neither of these manufacturers have a 'buy now' button on their website. Instead, you need to request a quote and the wheel will be built for you. You can expect the price of a new roulette wheel to be well over £1000. You can also buy them second hand on ebay which will cost roughly £400-£700 for a clean, undamaged, second hand model.
Roulette Wheels Can Be Beaten?
The majority of roulette systems are based on the table. This includes all of the mathematical strategies that we've written about. What this means is that they don't influence the odds which stay at 2.7% and 5.26% respectively. They are based on progressions and in many cases, betting big to win small.
However, there are other systems, based on the wheel, that we haven't written about. The aim of these systems, often called 'visual ballistics' or 'visual roulette system' is to forget about the table and focus entirely on the wheel by increasing the accuracy of predictions to get an edge over the casino.
Printable Roulette Wheel Diagram
Think of it this way: the house edge is 2.7% on European roulette. If you can increase the accuracy of your predictions enough to overcome this edge, the odds will be in your favour. The cheating (and in many cases illegal) way to do this is via a roulette computer which measures the speed of the wheel and ball to give a prediction. Visual systems work in much the same way, only they're much less effective because you're using your mind to make predictions.
The reason we haven't written about them is simple; we don't know anywhere near enough about them to give an accurate description. They involve monitoring the diamonds (8 of them around the outside of the wheel) and then studying the wheel, learning its tendencies and being able to make a prediction accurate enough to overcome the edge. From there, you would bet on approximately half of the wheel via Straight Up bets to accommodate your prediction.
Real information about visual roulette systems is hard to come by which is why we've been unable to learn about them. We haven't found a single website that's written about visual roulette systems for free with simple instructions on how it all works with step by step instructions. It always comes with an asking price that we aren't prepared to pay.
Do we think it's actually possible to predict the wheel without a computer? Yes, but we don't believe its anywhere near as easy or practical as the websites that sell this information make out. It's our belief that you would need to be very experienced in real casino conditions and well versed in the deceleration of the ball to even have a chance of making this work.
We also believe that a lot of the information sold online will be outdated and some of it will be nothing more than a scam. We aren't prepared to buy all the rubbish information about visual systems to find the good one and that's assuming a good one even exists. For all we know, they're all scams.
Roulette Wheel Diagram Layout
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