Over
the years various 'betting systems' have been developed.
The ideal betting system is one which would have a lot of
money on the table when you have a winning hand and none
when a losing hand is drawn. Betting systems are either
multiplicative, additive, or linear (flat bets) Most systems
have you increase your bet when you win or (disastrously)
increase your bets as you lose. However, most systems do
not work on their own.
The Martingale System :
One of the most popular systems, the martingale seems like
a dream come true to the uninitiated. In the short run the
player has a good chance of making a few dollars using this
system. In the long run two things conspire to defeat you,
the table betting limits, and your bankroll.
The basic martingale system requires an initial bet of,
say, $2. If the player loses, he doubles his bet to $4.
Another loss puts your net loss at $6 and requires you to
be $8 to recoup your losses and show a profit. Let's say
you lose five hands in a row. The sixth bet requires $64.
You win $128 but you lost $124. Your net win is $4. Understand
that you ended up having to put up $124 to win ONLY $4.
If you can always be sure that you will never lose more
than 6 in a row, take you $200 bankroll to Vegas and get
rich.
Of course, we all know that many losing streaks run longer
than 6 or 8 or 10 in a row. The martingale quickly runs
into the table limits. If you started at a $2 table with
a $500 upper limit you are finished after 9 losses in a
row and you are down over $1000. It would take you another
500 winning hands to make up this loss. Basically, one losing
streak will put you in a hole you will never be able to
climb out of. This is not the way to fame and riches.
D'Alembert :
In the eighteenth century, Jean le Rond d'Alembert reasoned
that if a fair coin landed on one side for a long run, the
odds increased of it landing on the other side. To take
advantage of this theory he advocated increasing your bet
if you lose and decreasing your bet if you win, both by
a flat (fixed) amount. In practice you bet 1, lose, bet
2, lose, bet 3 lose, bet 4, win, bet 3 lose, etcetera. In
practise this is another sure road to financial oblivion.
Anti-Martingale :
This is simply the reverse of the Martingale. Instead of
increasing your bets when you lose, you increase your bets
when you win. The result is simply the reverse of the Martingale.
As soon as you lose a bet (a statistical certainty) you
have wiped out any winnings.
Anti-D'Alembert :
Exactly the opposite of the D'Alembert system described
above. You add a unit when you lose and subtract a unit
when you win.
