Single Numbers

The first thing to say is that Pogo uses a European roulette wheel which has 36 red and black numbers and one green zero. This means that if you bet on 20 black as shown here, and the ball lands on your choice, you will be paid out at 35:1. But because of the green zero there are actually 37 outcomes in total on the wheel, which means the true odds are 36:1 giving the house a 2.70% advantage, or edge on every spin.. If you choose to play roulette online for real you should note that American wheels have a second zero, the double-zero, and this increases the house edge and reduces your chances of winning. So, if you are playing online be sure to choose to play roulette at an online casino that provides the European roulette wheel. You would only deviate from that obvious choice if you are playing a specific roulette system or the house rules or sign-on bonus make the additional double-zero an annoyance to be tolerated. If in doubt, always play on a wheel with a single zero!

Pairs & Corners

The game of roulette offers many betting variations which appear to give you a better chance of winning than the single number bet. However, bettors beware! Here we have placed a $50 chip between numbers 32 and 33. This bet is known as a pair. If the ball lands on either of these two numbers you win. Twice the chance of a single number bet isn't it? Well, no. If the ball lands on one of your numbers the payout odds are rounded down so you are only paid 17:1 (17+17=34:1) not the 35:1 you get for your single number bet. Similarly the $25 corner bet we have placed here to cover numbers 16,17,19 and 20, the payout is actually 8:1 (total 32:1) if the ball lands on any of those 4 numbers. See how the house edge grows all the time? Luckily for us Pogo has a special case where bets are occasionally multiplied for free, so paying out many times the usual odds. It is with such devices Pogo gives back the house edge to Club Pogo players - but you should be aware of it should you decide to play roulette for real.

Streets

In this example we have placed two street bets. The $25 chip covers a street or row of 3 numbers, in this case 22, 23 and 24. Hitting any of these numbers on this bet will payout 11:1 (total 33:1). Note that this is slightly better than the corner bet above which covers 4 numbers. Remember! The fewer numbers covered the better your odds. Now look at the $50 chip. This is a two-way street bet covering the numbers 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15, 6 in total. Hitting one of these will pay you odds of 5:1 (5+5+5+5+5+5 or a total 30:1). Now your odds are really slipping proving our rule of thumb above. But hey, you're more likely to get the fun of a payout each spin! Note that you can place a two-way street bet that covers 1, 2, 3 and the Zero. This bet covers 4 numbers and thus pays 8:1 just like the corner bet. You can bet on the zero as a single number bet or include it in any multiple number bets with your chip placed on the lines with the top row of numbers giving the equiavalent of pair, street or corner bets.

Dozens

Dozen bets are pretty self-explanatory. With a single bet you can cover 12 numbers together in a block or column and if you win the payout is 2:1. There are 6 dozen bet options: 3 are betting on each column of numbers on the table in their entirety. Here we have placed our $100 chip on the l2-1 marker at the bottom of the left hand column. If any number in that column comes in on the next spin, we get back $300 in total. The 3 other dozen bets are marked on the table as as the 1st 12, 2nd 12 and 3rd 12 and cover the number 1-12, 13-24 and 25-36 respectively. They too pay 2:1 for a win. This is good value relative to many bets on the roulette table and many people like to play progressive systems using these options. Needless to say, no dozen bet wins if the dreaded zero comes in. In real life casino situations dozen and even money bets (see below) have a much larger minimum bet than do single numbers, streets or pairs.

Even Money Bets

House Rules

We have mentioned the existence of House Rules in casinos a number of times already. They vary from casino to casino and if you are going to play with real money at an internet casino you should be aware of them. Typical variations are how even money bets are treated when a zero lands, how many zeroes are on the wheel and maximum and minimum values for the various bet types. Importantly, online casinos offers deposit bonuses and these vary from site to site and in how they are applied to your account. Read the small print on any offer!. Offers in some online casinos might be generous enough for you to venture onto a double-zero wheel, for example, when normally any sane person with so much choice would never go near one.

Hot Shot Roulette on Pogo also has its house rules. The maximum total you may bet on any one spin is $100 (100 tokens really of course). The major difference with Pogo casino games though, is that they always give you, the punter, the edge. After all, without the thrill of real money involved, it would be pretty boring to slowly lose your tokens over a period of time whether playing roulette, blackjack, slots, lost temple poker or lotto. So, in Hot Shot Roulette Pogo gives us a wheel that has six blue exclamation mark slots. When the ball falls in one of these, all wins are multiplied by a random factor (up to x10 tho x4 is shown here) and the the wheel spins again. If the ball then hits one of your bets your winnings are multiplied accordingly. If not, then you lose the amount you bet initially. This is how Pogo ensures the edge goes to the Club Pogo player.