Betting Systems

A betting system is intended to counter the casino advantage. A successful strategy should increase the odds of winning in order to produce long term profits from a game, which normally results in a long term loss.

Betting systems were developed on the basis of statistical analysis, seeking to exploit rare situations, when the winning probability is in favor of the player.

Betting systems categories

Generally, betting systems can be divided into four main categories:

Positive progression: You increase your bets each time you win. Such betting systems are popular since they do not require a large initial bankroll.
Insurance betting: You decrease your bets each time you lose. These systems are so far the safest.
Negative progression: You increase your bets each time you lose. Such systems require a large initial bankroll and nerves of steel, as they tend to be quite risky.
Fixed size betting: You do not change the bet size. Instead, you try to predict the outcome of a future event on the basis of historical results. Such systems are unreliable and should be avoided.

Paroli System

The Paroli system is a positive progression system. Whenever you win, you increase your bet. It substantially increases your winnings if you are on a winning streak. What is important, this system does not involve a big amount of money and can be very exciting.

1-3-2-6 System

The 1-3-2-6 system is a positive progression system. It assumes that you should be able to win four times in a row. Its name says it all – your first bet is 1 unit, second 3 units, third 2 units, and the last one 6 units. You can increase the number of units but the proportions between bet sizes should remain unchanged. If you manage to win four times in a row, your bankroll will substantially increase.

Parlay System

This system is a popular positive progression system used in horse racing. You take the winnings from one bet and invest them in the following bet. For example, your first bet is $1 and you win $2. You bet then $2. The Parlay system is reasonably safe as all you can lose is your winnings.

Martingale System

This is a negative progression system. Every time you lose, you double the bet size. Despite the fact that you lose regularly, there will be a moment when you finally win, allowing for winning back the bets you previously lost plus an extra profit. The system is very risky, because plenty of casinos have maximum bet limits and you may not be able to win before reaching those limits.

D`Alembert System

It is similar to the Martingale system but much safer. You increase your bet every time you lose and decrease the bet every time you win. Therefore, it combines negative progression with insurance betting, letting you recover from losses while on a losing streak and protect your winnings while on a winning streak.

Fibonacci System

This system combines a negative progression betting with insurance betting system. You use the following string of numbers – 1-2-3-5-8-13-21-34. You can easily expand it further. Each number is the sum of the previous two numbers in this string.

First bet 1 unit as long until you lose, then bet 2 units. Every time you lose, you move one step further in the string of numbers. Every time you win, you move back two steps. This way every win makes up for the previous two losses.

With the Fibonacci betting system you lose often and never win big. It can be very unsatisfactory for a player so we do not recommend using it.

Labouchere System

This is a negative progression system used in blackjack, also called Split Martingale. First you have to create a string of numbers. It can be, for example, 1-2-3-4-5-6. You start with betting the sum of the first and last number in the string (this time 7 units).

If you win, remove those numbers from the list (now it will be 2-3-4-5), so your second bet will be 7 units (2+5). If you lose, add the first bet size to the list (so it will be 1-2-3-4-5-6-7) and your next bet will be 8 units (1+7).

If you win long enough so the string is empty, start from the beginning. By using the Labouchere system, you always end up with profit when you win enough times to clear the string.

Gambling Fallacy

The gambling fallacy wrongly assumes that, because a certain random event has not happened recently, it will definitely occur in a near future. In fact, even if you receive an ace a thousand times in a row, the probability that the next card will be again an ace is exactly the same. Unless you bet on an event that is not purely random, you should avoid this betting system.