French Roulette

French Roulette is a version of roulette that is offered by some online casinos. It is based on European Roulette in that it is played with a single zero. However the layout is a bit different and it also offers some additional bets and a rule that reduces the house edge considerably.

The wheel in French Roulette is the same as that in European Roulette. The layout however is completely in red. The black numbers are not indicated on the layout but only on the wheel. The other difference is that the text on the layout is in French. But for betting purposes the implication is the same. "Pair" stands for even numbers; "Impair" stands for odd numbers; "Manque" stands for the low numbers (1 to 18) and "Passe" stands for the high numbers (19 to 36). Red and black are usually denoted by colored diamonds.

One significant way in which French Roulette differs from European Roulette is that it allows for bets based on the wheel pattern in addition to the usual bets based on the layout pattern. These bets are known as call bets. "Voisins du Zero" or "Neighbors of Zero" is a bet on 17 numbers that covers 0 and seven numbers on right and nine numbers on left of zero. "Tiers du Cylindre" or "Third of the Wheel" is a bet that covers the twelve numbers that are on the opposite side of the wheel from the 0. "Orphelins" or "Orphans" is a bet that covers the remaining eight numbers, which are not covered by the earlier call bets. Together these three bets cover all 37 numbers. There are other call bets that cover numbers ending with specified digits. "Finales en Plein" wins if the called number ends with a specified digit whereas "Finales a Cheval" wins if the called number ends in one of the two specified digits. In online roulette these bets can be activated by clicking on the "Call Bet" button. These bets offer the same house edge as the other bets in roulette and therefore are not advantageous from the payout point of view. They only offer a change.

The advantage in French Roulette comes from the rule called "La Partage". Under this rule, players who have wagered on the even money bets like Pair/Impair, Manque/Passe and Red/Black get a unique advantage if zero is called. Under these circumstances half their wager is returned to them. Therefore the house edge for the even money bets is considerably reduced. Hence if you are a roulette player then you must do two things. The first is to seek out an online casino that offers French Roulette and then wager only on the even money bets.

French Roulette is available at Microgaming powered online casinos that can be found here.