Betting Systems Betting Systems

You double your bet after every loss and return to the starting amount after a win. The moment you win, you recover all your earlier losses and gain a profit equal to your starting bet. But as a losing streak grows, bets explode in size. If you start at 1 unit and lose 10 times in a row, your 11th bet is 1,024 units, and you have lost 1,023 units so far. On even-money bets in European roulette, the chance of 10 straight losses is low at about 0.13%, but if you play long enough you will eventually hit one, and then all your profits and your bankroll are gone. Table maximum bet limits also block this method.

Like the Martingale, you double your bet, but add one extra unit. Wins bring a bigger profit, but bets grow even faster than in the Martingale, so the risk of going broke is greater too.

Named after the 18th-century French mathematician Jean le Rond d’Alembert. You raise your bet by 1 unit after a loss and lower it by 1 unit after a win. Bets grow more slowly than in the Martingale, so it looks less risky, but losses still pile up steadily during a losing streak.

You bet along the Fibonacci sequence (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13…), where each number is the sum of the previous two. After a loss you move one step forward, and after a win you move two steps back. It grows more slowly than the Martingale, but the principle is the same, so it is weak against long losing streaks.

You write a list of numbers like 1-2-3-4 and bet the sum of the two end numbers (1+4=5). If you win, you cross off both end numbers; if you lose, you add the amount you bet to the end of the list. When the whole list is crossed off, you have reached your target profit. As you lose, the list grows longer and your bets get bigger.

The opposite of the Martingale: you double your bet after every win. Usually, after 3 wins in a row you go back to the starting amount and take the profit. When you lose, you only lose the starting amount, so losses are small, but 3 wins in a row is rare, so most of the time you slowly lose small starting amounts.

You bet 1 unit first, then 3 units after a win, 2 units after another win, and 6 units after another. Four wins in a row gives a 12-unit profit, and if you lose midway you go back to the start. Like the Paroli, it aims to grow profit during winning streaks.

You set a 1-unit profit as the goal of each cycle and raise your bet by 1 unit only after a win, adjusting bets so you don’t overshoot the goal. It moves slowly, but in a long losing streak the cycle never finishes and losses pile up.

You always bet the same amount, win or lose. It is the simplest approach, and since the speed of your losses is predictable, it is good for bankroll management. In slots, most players are effectively flat betting. As with other methods, you still lose steadily at the rate of the house edge.

You bet only a fixed percentage of your current bankroll, for example 1% each time. When your bankroll shrinks, your bets shrink too, so it takes a long time to hit zero. It helps lower the risk of ruin, but it doesn’t change the expected value.

A formula published in 1956 by John Kelly of Bell Labs in the US. For bets with a positive expected value, it gives the bet size that grows your bankroll fastest. For example, with a 55% chance of winning at 1x odds, it tells you to bet 10% of your bankroll. But if you apply the Kelly formula to a game with a negative expected value, like a slot, the answer is “don’t bet (0%).”