French Roulette

French roulette is actually rarely found outside of Monte Carlo casinos, however, if you are playing online French roulette, here is some information to help you on your way.

French Roulette is played in exactly the same way as European Roulette (with only a single zero), however, there are a few rule variations, such as the rule of La Partage.

The French roulette layout

The French style roulette table has the wheel in the centre and a layout on either side and the entire board is red. However, half of the numbers, 1 to 36, are still considered black even they do not appear in black. It seems that the French simply prefer an all-red table. The numbers on the French roulette wheel still alternate black and red (like on all other roulette wheels).

The Rule of La Partage

For example, if you place an even money bet on a single number and the result is zero, you lose only half of your bet, not all of it, which is referred to as ‘the of rule of La Partage’. This rule provides a significant statistical advantage to a French roulette gambler.

Call Bets

There are also a number of bets that can be placed according to the numbers as they appear on the roulette wheel, rather than the roulette table which are known as ‘Call Bets’ or ‘Called Bets’.

These are the call bets available in French roulette:

• Voisins du Zero (Neighbors of Zero): A bet on the 17 numbers on the wheel that surround zero (including the zero) which are 0, 2, 3, 4, 7, 12, 15, 18, 19, 21, 22, 25, 26, 28, 29, 32, and 35.
• Tiers du Cylindre (Third of the Wheel): A bet on the 12 numbers that reside on the opposite side of the wheel from the zero which are 5, 8, 10, 11, 13, 16, 23, 24, 26, 27, 30, and 33.
• Orphelins (Orphans): A bet on the remaining 8 numbers on the wheel that are not included in the previous two bets which are 1, 6, 9, 14, 17, 20, 31, and 34.
• Finales en Plein: A bet on all numbers that end in the same digit, for example, 3, 13, 23 and 33.
• Finales a Cheval: A bet on all numbers that end in any two chosen digits, for example, 3, 13, 23, 33, 4, 14, 24 and 34.

Dictionary of French roulette terms

Here is a glossary of the all the French terms you will need to play French roulette:

Pair: Even number

Impair: Odd numbers

Manqué: The low numbers 1 to 18

Passé: The high numbers 19 to 36

P-12 (Premiere 12): The first dozen (1-12)

M-12 (Moyenne 12): The middle dozen (13-24)

D-12 (Derniere 12): The last dozen (25-36)