[mothmandan]

Here is a bit of a long story but it may get the point across.

A while back I had an emergency shift as a stacker at a roulette table. The dealer I was working with had extensive experience and only dealt roulette (6 days a week, 10 hours a day). During one of my downs he hit two numbers in a row by chance then said "better bet that one again" and then shot me a look. He set the wheel, spun the ball and hit one off the number he was shooting for.

We talked after and he said the highest number of hits he had in a row was 5. He said it is pretty easy to hit one section a wheel if you try. However there are several things that prevent anyone from getting rich.

1- Despite the best efforts of any croupier it is almost impossible to avoid unexpected bounces off ball deflectors or other parts of the wheel. This will help keep some of the play random and prevents any scheme from working a large percentage of the time.

2- The number tree - If the floor supervisors have any idea of number distributions they will recognize when a croupier is pulling towards even one specific quarter of the wheel.

In croupier courses new dealers are taught to vary the speed of the wheel, and change the speed of the spin to prevent players from getting any edge.

If you want more info about this read Chris Pawlicki's book "Get the Edge at Roulette" which is part of Frank Scoblete's series of literary hopes and prayers. It isn't as easy as it is portrayed but you will get the idea.

The truth is if it was that easy to have a player come in, place a few bets, get the croupier to hit the numbers, and then split the winnings after then everyone would want to deal roulette. I don't know too many dealers who would risk going to jail over something that isn't a 100% lock.

Dan's 2 cents