What are the Roulette Call Bets
Playing roulette with a European wheel does have certain advantages over ones that have American wheels. European roulette wheels are those that have only one zero whereas the American roulette wheel has a double zero. The first advantage you get out of playing a European wheel is a huge cut in the house edge from a high 5.26% to about half of that totaling to 2.7%.
Other than the generous cut in the house advantage for the European wheel, there is another advantage you might want to know about. There is a set of bets you can make with a European wheel known in roulette as call bets. You won't see these wagers on the roulette table layout. What you need to do instead is to verbally request that the wager be made. The dealer will then handle your request and place the bet you called.
Looking into the details of the different call bets, you'll immediately notice that these roulette wagers are more like a combination of bets. However, though the call bets are combination bets by nature, they pay as much as single number bets. Don't worry about the foreign names of each of the call bets in roulette. They are French since this is their country of origin.
Our first call bet is the neighbors of zero or in French as voisins du zero. This roulette wager covers the numbers from 22 to 25 as they are arranged on the roulette wheel, which makes a total of 17 numbers.
Our next call bet is called one-third of the cylinder or in French as tiers du cylindre. This roulette wager covers the numbers from 27 to 33 as they are arranged on the roulette wheel, which makes a total of 12 numbers in all.
The remaining numbers on the roulette wheel are called orphelins in French or orphans. They cover the numbers one to nine and six to 17 as they are arranged on the roulette wheel, which are actually two separate arcs.
The voisins du zero will cost you nine chips and you cover numbers zero, two, and three with two chips, and the rest of the numbers are covered by seven chips. You will win a total of 15 chips if the ball lands on zero, two, or three. You get nine chips if the ball lands on any other number covered in this bet.
The tiers du cylindre will cost you six chips and will pay you two to one. You can bet on each number in the orphelins (i.e. orphelins en plein), which will cost you a total of eight chips but pays seven to two. Orphelins de cheval will cover orphelins one chip on one, another on 17, and three chips on the rest. This call bet pays 31 chips if the ball lands on one or 17 but pays only 13 chips if it lands on the other numbers. At any rate, the call bets add flavor and opportunity whenever you play French roulette.
