Roulette neighbor bets and call bets on the racetrack

Roulette neighbor bets and the racetrack

On the felt, numbers climb neatly from 1 up to 36. The numbers on the wheel do not. That is why many single zero tables have a racetrack. The roulette racetrack layout is an oval drawn beside the betting grid that shows the pockets in true wheel order. You point at a spot on the racetrack, or say the bet out loud, and the dealer turns it into chips on the layout or keeps the chips on the racetrack and pays from there.

Bets made this way are called call bets. Strictly speaking, they are announced bets: you say the bet and put down the chips to cover it at the same moment. A true call bet, made on credit with no chips down, is not allowed in many places, including the UK, so expect to hand over the full stake as you announce it.

The wheel below shows the three big sectors. Together, voisins, tiers and orphelins cover all 37 pockets exactly once.

Neighbors: a number and two each side

Ask for "17 and the neighbors" and you get five straight up chips: 17 plus the two pockets on each side of it on the wheel. On a single zero wheel those are 2 and 25 on one side, 34 and 6 on the other. Each chip is a normal straight up at 35 to 1.

• Cost: 5 units at 1 unit a chip.
• If any of the five lands: that chip returns 36, the other four lose, so you net plus 31.
• Chance per spin: five pockets of 37, which is 13.51%.
• Edge: 2.70%, the same as one straight up.

On an American wheel the neighbors are different, because the pocket order is different. There, 00 has 13 and 1 on one side and 27 and 10 on the other. Some double zero tables and many game screens show a racetrack for neighbor bets, but the classic French slices below are drawn for the single zero wheel.

Voisins du zero: 17 numbers, 9 chips

Voisins du zero means "neighbors of zero". It covers the 17 pockets from 22 round to 25, with zero in the middle: 0, 2, 3, 4, 7, 12, 15, 18, 19, 21, 22, 25, 26, 28, 29, 32 and 35. The dealer places 9 chips like this:

How the net works: the trio pays 11 to 1 on 2 chips, so 24 come back against 9 staked. A split returns 18 on 1 chip. The corner pays 8 to 1 on 2 chips, also 18 back. Your chance of a hit is 17 in 37, about 45.95%.

Jeu zero: the zero game with 4 chips

Jeu zero, also called zero spiel, is a smaller version of voisins. It covers the 7 pockets closest to zero: 0, 3, 12, 15, 26, 32 and 35.

• 1 chip on the split 0 and 3
• 1 chip on the split 12 and 15
• 1 chip on the split 32 and 35
• 1 chip straight up on 26

With 4 units down, a hit on any split number returns 18, a net of plus 14. A hit on 26 returns 36, a net of plus 32. You win on 7 numbers out of 37, about 18.92% of spins.

Tiers du cylindre: 6 splits opposite zero

Tiers du cylindre means "third of the wheel". It covers the 12 pockets on the far side from zero, from 27 round to 33: 5, 8, 10, 11, 13, 16, 23, 24, 27, 30, 33 and 36. All six chips are splits:

With 6 units staked, whichever number lands returns 18, so the net is always plus 12. Chance per spin: 12 in 37, about 32.43%. Some tables also offer a variant of tiers with different placements, so if the dealer offers one, ask how it is built.

Orphelins: the 8 orphan numbers

Roulette orphelins means "orphans": the numbers not in voisins or tiers. They sit in two pieces on the wheel, 17, 34 and 6 on one side and 1, 20, 14, 31 and 9 on the other. The bet uses 5 chips:

• 1 chip straight up on 1
• 1 chip on the split 6 and 9
• 1 chip on the split 14 and 17
• 1 chip on the split 17 and 20
• 1 chip on the split 31 and 34

Notice 17 is in two splits. If 17 lands, both pay: 36 back against 5 staked, plus 31. If 1 lands, the straight up returns 36, also plus 31. Any of the other six numbers returns 18, a net of plus 13. The bet connects on eight pockets of 37, or 21.62% of spins.

Every call bet side by side

None of these beats the wheel. Each chip inside them is an ordinary bet, so the whole bundle keeps the 2.70% edge: a 9 unit voisins costs about 0.24 units per spin over time. Slices of the wheel feel smart because the ball has to land somewhere physical, but every pocket still has the same 1 in 37 chance. The roulette prediction page explains why guessing a sector does not work, and you can rehearse these bundles chip by chip on the roulette simulator.

Roulette neighbours list for the single zero wheel

Use these roulette wheel neighbours to call a neighbor bet on any number. It lists the two pockets on each side on a European or French wheel. Left and right depend on which way you face the wheel, so dealers just say "and the neighbors".

For the full pocket order of both wheels, see our roulette wheel numbers guide, and for how French tables handle these bets, the French roulette page.