Dropping Zeroes Drops the
House Edge
31 March 2006
By Mark Pilarski
Dear Mark,
For years I’ve been trying to convince my wife
that playing on a single zero roulette table,
which, by the way, our local casino offers, is a
much better play than on a double zero wheel.
She sort of believes me but it’s just that the
00 is her favorite number on the layout.
Besides, she believes that splitting the 0/00
reduces the house edge to that of a single wheel
game. I don’t believe she is correct and we have
dinner in the casino buffet riding on your
reply. Who wins? Eugene T.
The feeding frenzy at the trough is on your
wife, Eugene.
Placing a split bet on the 0 and 00 in roulette
makes zero difference to the house edge. The
casino advantage of 5.26% applies when splitting
the 0 and 00, just as it would on any other
split bet on the layout. All split wagers,
single-number bets, as well as all outside
wagers with the exception of one (the 1, 2, 3,
0, 00) carry that same steep 5.26% house edge.
What would drop the house edge would be dropping
zeroes.
Most players don’t realize this, but the casino
advantage of 5.26% in roulette comes from the
presence of the 0 and 00 on the layout. The
casino pays all wagers according to how the odds
would be if there were just 36 numbers on the
wheel, even though by adding the 0 and 00, there
are now 38 numbers. The true odds of hitting
your number are 1/38, yet winners are paid only
35-1. By playing on a single-zero game, which
when given the choice you and wife should always
do, you cut the house edge in half; the house
will still pay you 35-1, even though the true
odds are improved for you to 1/37.
Here’s a bit of roulette trivia your significant
other would probably appreciate. Originally, the
single-zero wheel began in America and the
double-zero wheel in Europe. But Europeans
eventually prized the single-zero wheel more,
while the double-zero wheel became more popular
in America, so they switched. Today, the
European wheel, also known as the French wheel,
and the single-zero wheel are synonymous, all
having 37 betting spots.
I can personally attest to this oddball lunacy
brightening the late 80’s. I dealt roulette at
Bill’s Lake Tahoe Casino, where at that time we
had the only single-zero wheel at South Lake
Tahoe -- the best deal for the customer, yet we
ended up yanking it after nine months, not
because management was whining about the house
edge being reduced to 2.63% across the layout,
but because of the drone of customer complaints
generated by uneducated players who couldn’t bet
the 00 anymore. Go figure, because those
misguided gamblers sure couldn’t.
Dear Mark,
A friend of mine and I were talking about the
maximum amount of players at Texas Hold'em. I
said 22 players and he said only 21 could be the
maximum because by tradition you can't use the
last card in the deck. Please settle this
argument. John M.
Unlike blackjack, John, in Texas Hold’em, you do
not discard the top card of the deck prior to
dealing a round. So, theoretically, Texas
Hold’em can be played by up to 22 players (44
player cards, three burn cards, and five
community cards).
As to some unwritten law of not using the last
card, I’ve never heard of it. Also, since
Hold'em is generally played among 2 to10 people,
you'll only see a spread larger than that late
at night when the poker room is short a dealer,
or in tournaments when they occasionally combine
two tables.
As for myself, I've never sat in on anything
larger than a 12-handed game.
Gambling Wisdom of the Week: "Even the most
cunning strategist is helpless in the face of an
ice-cold run of cards or someone else's idiotic
good fortune." --Phil Gordon
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