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Atlassino Academy · First visit · Lesson 7

Which table for a first visit

Before you sit at anything, three questions: what this game keeps from each bet, how many bets your limit gives you here, and whether the game asks decisions you have not learned yet.

  • About 23 minutes
  • Illustrated hosts: Maya and Leo
  • Last checked 3 November 2026

The seventh lesson of the first-visit track. The money is decided, you are through the door and you can read a sign. This lesson is about which table to sit at the first time.

Before we start: two roulette tables both take your bet of 10 units on a dozen. One wheel has one zero, the other has two. Which keeps less of each bet, on average? Nothing is scored; the answer comes at the end.

The question above, drawn: the same bet at two wheels.

The short answer

Before you sit, ask three questions: how much of each bet the house keeps on average at this game — where a document says; how many bets your limit gives you at this table’s smallest bet; and whether the game asks decisions you have not learned yet. A wheel with one zero keeps less than a wheel with two. Roulette and punto y banca ask nothing of you after the bet; Black Jack asks at every hand.

Maya and Leo stand in the aisle between two empty tables, each with a sign showing two circles, a rule and two plain lines, the circles on one table plainly larger than on the other, and Maya holds an open hand out toward one of them.
Maya smiling, explaining with an open hand.

Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks

Nobody needs the “right” table on a first visit. You need a table you understand, at a bet your plan allows, and three questions get you there.

Three questions before you sit

  1. What does this game keep from each bet? Where a published document gives the figure.
  2. How many bets does my limit give me here? The limit divided by the table’s smallest bet.
  3. Does the game ask decisions I have not learned? Some ask none after the bet; one asks at every hand.

What the table keeps from each bet

Every bet at a casino table has a share built into it that the house keeps on average — what the player loses in relation to any bet, as an average. A university guide to casino mathematics gives that share for the roulette wheels, for a bet that a zero takes whole: 2.70% on a wheel with one zero, 5.26% on a wheel with two. In the catalogue of games for Chile, a zero takes the whole of a bet that does not cover it, such as a dozen, but only half of a bet on red, black, odd, even, 1–18 or 19–36. Those even-money bets cost half as much: 1.35% on a wheel with one zero and 2.63% on a wheel with two. That is our count from the catalogue’s rule; the catalogue prints no price. The bars below are for a dozen.

A dozen at 10 units on a wheel with one zero

kept on average: 0.27 units of each bet

A dozen at 10 units on a wheel with two zeros

kept on average: 0.53 units of each bet

The bet on 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3 at 10 units, on a wheel with two zeros

kept on average: 0.79 units of each bet

A share of each bet, not a price for the evening: what an hour costs depends on how fast the table plays, and we hold no published figure for that in Chile, so this page does not put a price on an hour. For punto y banca and Black Jack, the documents we read for Chile do not publish the house’s share, so this page gives none.

How many bets your limit gives you

The second question is division. Santi brings 120 units; at three tables with different smallest bets, the same money buys different numbers of bets.

At a table whose smallest bet is 5 units a round

the money Santi brought buys 24 bets

At a table whose smallest bet is 10 units a round

the money Santi brought buys 12 bets

At a table whose smallest bet is 25 units a round

the money Santi brought buys 4 bets

The smallest bet is on the table’s sign — the lesson before this one. Fewer bets is not a worse evening by itself, but it is a shorter one if luck runs the wrong way.

Does the game ask decisions?

Some games ask nothing of you once the bet is down; one asks at every hand.

  1. Roulette
    • YoursYou choose which bet to make and how much to put on it
    • The dealer calls «no más apuestas» and the wheel spins
    • The bet is paid or taken
  2. Punto y banca
    • YoursYou choose your bet
    • The cards are drawn by fixed rules nobody at the table can change
    • The bet is paid or taken
  3. Black Jack
    • YoursYou put the bet down
    • YoursYou stand, ask for a card, double or split, while the dealer waits
    • The dealer plays the hand out by a fixed rule
    • The bet is paid or taken

At punto y banca the drawing is written out in a table: with 0 to 4 after two cards the Punto hand must ask for a third card, and with 6 or 7 it must stand. That is why the game asks nothing of you once your bet is down.

A game that asks decisions is not a worse game for a first visit — but sitting at one without knowing the decisions is. The Black Jack track starts with them.

Practice: pick a table

Example tables in betting units, drawn by our code. Level 1 is what the house keeps, level 2 how many bets the limit buys, level 3 which game asks decisions.

The practice table needs JavaScript. Here is one moment from it, with the answer.

Level 1 · What the table keeps

Example tables · in betting units · the figure is from UNLV Gaming Studies Research Center

LeftRouletteLive

One zero: 37 pockets

  • Bet ona dozen
  • A bet10 units a round

RightRouletteLive

Two zeros: 38 pockets

  • Bet ona dozen
  • A bet10 units a round

Example tables, drawn by our code, in betting units: what a real table asks is on its sign.

Two wheels, the same bet on a dozen. Which one keeps less of each bet, on average?

The answer: Left: the wheel with one zero.

On average the wheel with one zero keeps 2.70% of every bet and the wheel with two zeros 5.26% — nearly twice as much, for the same bet.

Roulette Single-zero 2.70%
UNLV Gaming Studies Research Center · Hannum, Casino Math Guide: A Guide to Casino Mathematics · read
Roulette Double-zero (except five-number) 5.26%
UNLV Gaming Studies Research Center · Hannum, Casino Math Guide: A Guide to Casino Mathematics · read
Si sale el cero (0) y el jugador ha apostado a otras apuestas que no cubren el cero (0), pierde su apuesta.

Free translation: If the zero (0) comes up and the player has placed other bets that do not cover the zero (0), they lose their bet.

Si sale el doble cero (00) y el jugador ha apostado a otras apuestas que no cubre el doble cero (00), pierde su apuesta.

Free translation: If the double zero (00) comes up and the player has placed other bets that do not cover the double zero (00), they lose their bet.

Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego (SCJ) · Catálogo de Juegos que podrán desarrollarse en los casinos de juego (texto de marzo 2023) · section I. Cuestiones generales; II.1 Ruleta francesa; II.2 Ruleta americana · read

Level 2 · How many bets

Example table · in betting units

An example plan

  • WhoseSanti
  • For the evening120 units
  • Time3 hours

An example, not a suggested amount.

LeftRouletteLive

One zero: 37 pockets

  • A bet5 units a round

Example tables, drawn by our code, in betting units: what a real table asks is on its sign.

Santi brings 120 units. This table’s smallest bet is 5 units. How many bets does the limit give him here?

The answer: 24 bets.

At a table whose smallest bet is 5 units, 120 units is 24 bets. That is division, not a forecast: how fast those bets go depends on the table.

Level 3 · Decisions

Example tables · in betting units · the figure is from Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego (SCJ)

LeftPunto y bancaLive

The cards follow fixed drawing rules

  • Bet onBanca
  • A bet10 units a round

RightBlack JackLive

You decide every hand

  • A bet10 units a round

Example tables, drawn by our code, in betting units: what a real table asks is on its sign.

Which of these two tables asks you for decisions after the cards come out?

The answer: Right: Black Jack.

At Black Jack the decisions about each hand are the player’s, while the dealer follows fixed rules. At punto y banca the drawing rules settle every hand on their own.

Un jugador no puede jugar la mano de otro.

Free translation: A player may not play another player's hand.

No pueden interferir en la decisión de otro jugador (plantarse, abrir, doblar, asegurarse o retirarse),

Free translation: They may not interfere in another player's decision (to stand, open, double down, take insurance or fold),

Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego (SCJ) · Catálogo de Juegos que podrán desarrollarse en los casinos de juego (texto de marzo 2023) · section III.1 Black Jack (modalidad Black Jack o Veintiuno); I. Cuestiones generales · read
0, 1, 2, 3, 4 Debe pedir una tercera carta.

Free translation: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 Must draw a third card.

6 ó 7 Debe plantarse, es decir, no pedir carta

Free translation: 6 or 7 Must stand, that is, not draw a card

Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego (SCJ) · Catálogo de Juegos que podrán desarrollarse en los casinos de juego (texto de marzo 2023) · section III.2 Punto y Banca · read

Every moment is worked out the same way: the share the house keeps from the published table of the wheel, the bets a limit buys by division, and the decisions from the rules of each game.

How the practice table works

Where the answers come from. The share the house keeps is the arithmetic of the wheel, the same as in the published table it is quoted from; the number of bets is division; the decisions come from the rules of each game, quoted with the date we read them.

The amounts are examples in betting units. Progress stays in this browser; nothing is sent anywhere.

Check yourself

Maya with a finger raised and a knowing look.

Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks

Five quick ones. Pick an answer, then check it. No timer, no points: just whether it stuck.

A question marked “New situation” asks you to use the lesson on a case it did not show.

1Two roulette tables take your bet on a dozen: one wheel has one zero, the other two. Which keeps less of each bet, on average?

Show the answer

Answer: The wheel with one zero. On average the house keeps 2.70% of each bet on a single-zero wheel and 5.26% on a double-zero one.

  • Neither: a wheel is a wheel The number of zeros changes the share the house keeps.
  • The wheel with one zero 2.70% against 5.26%.
  • The wheel with two zeros The second zero is one more pocket where a dozen loses.
2At 10 units a spin on a dozen, on a single-zero wheel, how much of each bet does the house keep, on average?

Show the answer

Answer: 0.27 units. The house’s share is what the player loses in relation to a bet, on average — over many bets, not on any one of them.

  • 0.27 units 2.70% of 10 units.
  • Nothing, if the bet comes in The share is an average over many bets, not the result of one.
  • 0.53 units That is the figure for a wheel with two zeros.
3Santi brings 120 units and the table’s smallest bet is 25 units. How many bets is that?

Show the answer

Answer: 4. Division, not a forecast: the limit buys that many bets at that table, and a smaller smallest bet buys more.

  • It depends on luck How long they last does; how many there are does not.
  • 4 The limit divided by the smallest bet, whole bets only.
  • 12 That is at a table whose smallest bet is ten units.
4Which game asks you for decisions once the cards are out?

Show the answer

Answer: Black Jack. At Black Jack the decisions about each hand are the player’s.

  • Roulette At roulette every decision is the bet itself.
  • Punto y banca There the cards are drawn by fixed rules.
  • Black Jack You decide each hand; the dealer follows a fixed rule.
5A friend says the bigger your bet, the bigger the share of it the house keeps. True? new situation

Show the answer

Answer: No: the share is the same; a bigger bet loses more of the same share. The share is what the player loses in relation to any bet, on average: the same share of a small bet and of a large one.

  • Yes: casinos take more from big bets The share does not depend on the size of the bet.
  • No: a bigger bet keeps a smaller share It is the same share, of a bigger amount.
  • No: the share is the same; a bigger bet loses more of the same share The share is a share of whatever you bet.

The question we opened with. The wheel with one zero: on average it keeps 2.70% of each bet, against 5.26% at the wheel with two.

Where this leads

18+ across Chile · Play responsibly · self-exclusion and the regulator are at the end of this page

Further reading

Leo smiling, explaining with an open hand.

Leoformer dealer · rules and maths

Pick the table you understand, at the bet your plan says. Everything else on the floor will still be there next time.

If it stops being fun

If gambling stops being fun, the SCJ self-exclusion applies in every casino in the country. Minimum entry age: 18 (age of majority under Law 19.221; Law 19.995 bars minors from gaming rooms). The casino may ask for an official ID. More on responsible gaming.

Show all regions
+56 2 2589 3000All regions · Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego — Central Telefónica

How it’s worked out

Numbers, sources and hosts

Numbers. The share the house keeps is the arithmetic of the wheel — one zero pocket out of 37, two out of 38, and the five-number bet on a wheel with two zeros — and it agrees with the published table it is quoted from. That table counts a zero as taking the whole bet, which in the catalogue is true of a dozen; for red, black and the other even-money bets, where a zero takes half, the share is half the share of the wheel — our count from the catalogue’s rule. The bets a limit buys are division. Nothing here is worked out from how fast a table plays: we hold no published source for that in Chile.

Sources. The house’s share is quoted from the table UNLV Gaming Studies Research Center publishes; the decisions from the Black Jack and punto y banca rules of the catalogue of games Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego (SCJ) publishes for every casino in Chile; the rest of the evening from the earlier lessons of this track. The catalogue allows a wheel with one zero and a wheel with two; which one stands in a given room, this page does not say.

Hosts. Maya and Leo are illustrated characters. Their backstories, a former floor supervisor and a former dealer, are written for the course: neither is a real person, and neither speaks for any casino. The rules and numbers on this page come from the sources it cites, not from their experience.

No promise. No table makes an evening cheaper than its own figures. Nothing on this page says an evening at a casino is a good idea for you.

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