The Exotic Side of French Roulette - Neighbours Of Zero, Orphans And Neighbours And
Thirds Of The Wheel Of Tiers
Roulette ⚾️ is, at heart, a simple game. So trust French
casino-dwellers to develop some rather more intricate ways in which to ⚾️ play. If you're
given the chance to play a French-style roulette table, then you should, as this will
probably give ⚾️ you access to the punter-friendly En Prison/La Partage rules. Combine
these with a single zero layout (unlike double-zero American-style tables), ⚾️ and the
house edge falls to around 1.4%. However, if you are taking a spin on a true French
table, ⚾️ you'll find much that's, erm, foreign. And most of this will be due to the
existence of bet types like ⚾️ Voisins du Zero, Tiers du Cylindre, and Orphelins.
Whereas
most roulette tables (in land casinos) assign coloured chips to the players, ⚾️ so that
winning bets can be easily identified, the chips on French tables differ only in the
numerical amounts they ⚾️ have printed on them. With nothing to distinguish one player
from another, it becomes important not to have too many ⚾️ chips on the board at the same
time. The need for space partly inspired the invention of an additional grid, ⚾️ called
the 'Racetrack'. This oval-shaped section sits to the side of the main play area. it
features all of the ⚾️ same numbers - 0 to 36 - but within a different layout. Its point
is to act as an extension ⚾️ to the main grid, and to encourage some of the players to
switch to exotic 'French Bets'. These French bets ⚾️ were traditionally referred to as
'Call Bets' or 'Announced Bets', as they were too specialist to be featured on the ⚾️ main
tables, and players had to call out when they wanted to play them.
So what exactly are
these bets, and ⚾️ what do they consist of?
The Ins and Outs of Call Bets
If you look at
the main wheel for roulette, you'll ⚾️ see that it can be broken down into two large
slices, along with a couple of smaller segments sitting between ⚾️ them in the middle.
Each of these sections contains a set of numbers that make up one of the following
⚾️ bets:
Voisins du Zero - Meaning 'neighbours of zero', this bet refers to the 17 numbers
on the wheel that reach ⚾️ from 22, right round to 25. Slap-bang in the middle of this
grouping is the Zero. Hence, all of the ⚾️ numbers around it are its 'neighbours'.
Tiers
du Cylindre - Translating as 'thirds of the wheel', this bet-type corresponds to an
⚾️ exact third of the wheel, specifically the third at the bottom of the wheel. Its
numbers stretch from 33 right ⚾️ round to 27.
Orphelins - These 'orphans' are two small
segments that take in the eight numbers not associated with either ⚾️ the Voisins du Zero
or Tiers du Cylindre. The numbers covered by Orphelins are 9, 31, 14, 20 and 1 ⚾️ on one
side of the table, and 17, 34 and 6 on the other.
When you place one of these bets, ⚾️ you
effectively cover all of the numbers in the sequence. Some of the numbers, though, will
be covered more than ⚾️ once, or will have a different payout. In the next section, we'll
look at exactly which numbers are placed, and ⚾️ how this affects the payouts in each
case. Note, though, if you simply want to place the bet, you don't ⚾️ really need to know
exactly which numbers are involved - it'll simply be a matter of clicking on the
relevant ⚾️ option on the table. These exotic combinations may be found in a separate
section, such as the 'Call Bets' menu. ⚾️ If you're not interested in the exact details of
the bets themselves, you might want to skip the next section.
The ⚾️ Exact Numbers and
Maths Involved in Each Bet
Tiers du Cylindre is the simplest in practice. You take six
chips and ⚾️ place each of them on a different number combination: 5/8, 10/11, 13/16,
23/24, 27/30, and 33/36. Each of the six ⚾️ combinations gives you a 5.4% chance of
success (2 out of 37), and you have a 32.4% chance of winning ⚾️ overall. Each time you
won with a combination, you would end up with a profit of 12 chips - 17 ⚾️ chips for the
win, minus the five chips that you would have lost on the other combinations.
Orphelins
are also fairly ⚾️ straightforward. Here, you place a single chip on the number 1, and
four further chips on the following number combinations ⚾️ 6/9, 14/17, 17/20, and 31/34.
You obviously have only a 2.7% (1 out of 37) chance of winning with the ⚾️ 1, although you
would scoop a profit of 31 chips when successful - 35 chips for the win, minus the ⚾️ four
chips lost on the other combinations. The four two-number combinations, on the other
hand, would each give you a ⚾️ profit of only 13 chips (17 chips for the win, minus the
four losing chips), but would pay out 5.4% ⚾️ of the time. This works out as a total win
rate of 24.3%.
Most complex of all is Voisins du Zero. ⚾️ This takes in 17 different
numbers, and involves the placement of nine different bets. Five of those bets would
involve ⚾️ single chips being placed on five different number combinations: 4/7, 12/15,
18/21, 19/22, and 32/35. As before, these would each ⚾️ carry a 5.4% chance of success,
and would yield a 9 chip profit after deducting the eight chips lost on ⚾️ other bets.
However, Voisins du Zero also involves the placement of another four chips on slightly
more elaborate combinations. Two ⚾️ chips are used to cover 0, 2, and 3. If the ball lands
on one of these numbers, you win ⚾️ 15 chips overall - the double-payout of 22 chips,
minus the seven chips lost on the remaining combinations. The success ⚾️ rate here is a
healthy 8.11% (3 out of 37). You would also put two remaining chips on 25, 26, ⚾️ 28, and
29. These bets carry a win rate of 10.8% (4 out of 37). Voisins du Zero, then, has
⚾️ wildly differing payouts accoridng to which of the number combinations comes good.
Overall, though, it amounts to a 45.9% chance ⚾️ of success.
Do the Bets Work?
So are any
of these bets worth playing? Well, the success rate certainly differs, with Voisins ⚾️ du
Zero winning 45.9% of the time, Tiers du Cylindre 32.4% of the time, and the Orphelins
just 24.3%. On ⚾️ the other hand, the Voisins du Zero requires more chips (nine), and the
Orphelins fewer(five). In fact, the house edge ⚾️ for all three bets works out as exactly
the same - 2.7%. The same as the standard house edge, then. ⚾️ So, for all their
fanciness, these elaborate bet types give you no more chance of success than a standard
red/black ⚾️ play.
That's not to say there aren't some advantages. If you suspect there
may be some sort of defect (most likely ⚾️ an imbalance) in the equipment, causing numbers
in one section of the wheel to come up again and again, there's ⚾️ a good chance that the
affected numbers will be covered predominantly by one of the three French bets above.
In ⚾️ that case, playing one of these bets might be a good way to take advantage of the
bias, but without ⚾️ tipping off the dealer that a specific part of the wheel may be
defective. All in all, though, we suspect ⚾️ that most players will only want to use these
strategies if they wish to show off their in-depth knowledge of ⚾️ roulette bets.
The
Details
Voisins du Zero - 45.9% success. 9 chips needed.
Tiers du Cylindre - 32.4%
success. 6 chips needed.
Voisins du ⚾️ Zero - 24.3% success. 5 chips needed.
Bet
Placement
Voisins du Zero (nine chips):
One chip on: 4/7. 12/15, 18/21, 19/22,
32/35
Two chips ⚾️ on 0, 2, 3
Two chips on 25, 26, 28, 29
Tiers du Cylindre (six
chips):
One chip on: 5/8, 10/11, 13/16, 23/24, ⚾️ 27/30, 33/36
Orphelins (five chips):
One
chip on: 1
One chip on: 6/9, 14/17, 17/20, 31/34
