Explaining the odds on video dice | Casino Answer Man – Atlantic City Weekly

Q. At a double-zero roulette table, I saw someone playing the five-number bet on 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3 on almost every spin. It was a $5 table, and she was using $1 chips to bet $1 on the five-number, then spread $4 on other numbers.

Can you think of a good reason to always make the highest house edge bet?

A. Maybe 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3 are her lucky numbers but she didnt want to risk more than $1 on the combination.

The house edge on double-zero roulette is 7.89 percent on that combo, sometimes called the basket, and 5.26 percent on every other wager.

You can bet the same numbers and get the lower edge. A two-number split on 0 and 00 and a three-number street on 1, 2 and 3 would do it. So would single-number bets on each of the five. There are other possible combos using three or four bets.

However, each of those combos require multiple bets. The average result when betting $1 on the basket is a 7.89-cent loss. If you bet $1 on the 0-00 split and $1 on the 1-2-3 street, average losses are 5.26 cents on each loss, or 10.52 cents overall.

For someone who is dead set on betting those five numbers, then the basket might be the lowest-loss way to go.

Theres a flaw, of course. Shed be better off with the split and the street while reducing to three bets on other numbers instead of four. That would keep the edge at 5.26 percent. But if shes bound and determined to bet 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3 while still making four other bets and staying at table minimum, thats her choice.

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Explaining the odds on video dice | Casino Answer Man - Atlantic City Weekly