Twenty-One (21)

The number 21 is a pretty special number in blackjack. But what about on the wheel? Does it hold any special significance as a number on a roulette wheel?

Twenty-One is one of the red roulette wheel numbers that sits between black 4 and black 2 on a European wheel (single-zero) and between black 6 and the number 33 on a double zero roulette wheel (American).

21 is a Fibonacci number, which will be of interest to you if you play the Fibonacci System. Interestingly, the numbers it contains are both Fibonacci numbers (1,2) and the sum of those (3) is a Fibonacci number. You could say that 21 is a Fibonacci Max number!

21 is also a triangular number (the number of objects that can be used to form an equilateral triangle -think of a rack of balls on a snooker table) and an octagonal number. Other triangular numbers include 2, 6, 10 and 15.

If you add up the first 6 natural numbers (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6) you get 21. These are all the numbers on a die, so you could say it has some significance in craps and sic-too.

Also, did you know that there are 21 letters in the Italian alphabet?

What´s So Great About 21?

21 holds a lot of significance in many cultures, it being the age of majority in many countries and the legal drinking age in the US, and in some countries it is the minimum voting age.

In some States and many countries, 21 is the minimum age for gambling or going into casinos.

What else? Well, we are in the 21st Century right now, of course and 21 is the highest-winning total in Blackjack. It´s also the number of shillings in a guinea.

21 in the World´s Religions

Twenty-one is seen as a pretty wicked number in many religions- in Judaism in particular. When the children of Israel left Egypt they held 21 big rebellious events as they travelled and wandered through the wilderness. In fact, 21 is up there with 13. The apostle Paul wrote about 21 sins which good people should strive to avoid including blaspheming and disobeying your parents.

Having said that, 21 is also seen as a number of perfection being the product of 2 other important numbers: 3 x 7. You can spin this number both ways, in other words- it´s either very wicked, or very holy. One group of numbers that is talked about is 13 (unlucky in the west), 8 (lucky in the east) and 21 (the sum of both). Of course, we are talking of properties that people have assigned to these numbers over the years- they have no basis in scientific fact, but we always fine it interesting to dig out these relationships.

How to Bet on the Number 21 in Roulette

You can just bet on the number – it sits in the middle 2 Streets of the betting layout. Many people like to cover these 2 columns with a 6 line bet covering the numbers 16 to 21 and including the ever popular number 17. Other inside bets you could use include a Split Bet on 2 numbers (say 18 & 21), a Street Bet covering 3 numbers or a Square Bet covering four numbers (say 17,18,20,21).

Or cover it with an Outside Bet on the red, odd, or high numbers with a 1:1 pay-out, or the middle dozen or the top column.

Other options include a Red Splits bet, a 007 bet and a Neighbors of Zero Bet, which is a quick way of covering 17 numbers on the wheel including the zero.

Famous People Born on the 21st

Brian O´Driscoll, one of Ireland´s best known rugby players was born on the 21st of January. As was Jack Nicklaus and Benny Hill. Nina Simone was born on the 21st of February (but then so was Robert Mugabe).

And guess who was born on October 21st? Dizzie Gillespie.

The image shows Brian O’Driscoll having been busted by his wife Amy Huberman for crowd-surfing in Lan Kwai Fong while on ‘business trip’ at the HK Sevens. Classic.

21- The Movie.

21 is a 2008 drama starring Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Bosworth, Liza Lapira, Jacob Pitts, Aaron Yoo, and Kieu Chinh. It´s based on the MIT Blackjack Team – we´d recommend it.

What else is there to say about 21?

I know we don´t need to really remind you about this, but the bottom line is that the odds of 21 coming up on roulette wheel are the same as the odds of any other number coming up. It´s one in 37 on a European wheel, and one in 38 on an American.

We just think it´s fun to explore the myths and stories that surround this number.