“At that point I ought to have gone away, but a strange sensation rose up in me, a sort of defiance of fate, a desire to challenge it, to put out my tongue at it. I laid down the largest stake allowe-four thousand gulden-and lost it. Then, getting hot, I pulled out all I had left, staked it on the same number, and lost again, after which I walked away from the table as though I were stunned. I could not even grasp what had happened to me.” – Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Gambler
Successful play at Blackjack is dependent upon you developing two key strategies. We looked at the first one, the playing strategy, in the last chapter. Now we come to the second – the betting strategy.
No fortune has been won or lost quicker than by someone using a betting strategy or system! They are a double-edged sword for when they work they can be brilliant – when they fail the results can be disasterous!
The mistake that most people make when it comes to using them, and this covers all types of gambler, is to assume that there is one betting strategy that will guarantee a player a winning game time after time. This is not the case for different approaches to the game are required at different levels of play.
Betting Systems
In order to become successful you are going to need to develop several betting strategies and to learn how to apply the correct one at the right time. Whilst the Perfect Blackjack Playing Strategy generally covers all playing situations this is not the case with Betting Strategies. Some games and playing conditions require one style of strategy whilst another might call for another quite different approach.
In time you will intuitively know which approach is the best one but for the moment you will have to make a valued judgment as to the method that suits you best. Here are a few of the more popular betting systems that have been used by players over the years.
The Martingale System
This Martingale Method (named after the creator of the same name) was invented some 200 years ago. In a sense it is a damage limitation exercise in that it protects any wins – but at a great risk. It is simple to apply. Each time that you lose a hand you then double your bet for the next one until such time that you win a hand. Then you return to your initial bet level.
For example, with an opening bet of $5.00 and doubling on each loss you would then bet $10 next time and $20 the next. Thus you will follow the pattern $5, $10, $20, $40, $80, $160 etc. If you have a win at any point you then return to your basic $5.00 wagers.
At first glance this seems a good system however it fails in two regards. Firstly casinos place a betting limit – a maximum amount that you are allowed to wager. Whilst it is set at several hundred dollars it would not seem very restrictive however using the Martingale System it would not take very long to reach that limit and you run the risk of losing a very substantial amount of money indeed after a prolonged losing streak. The second problem with this system is that you need a sizeable bankroll to start with. For these reasons the Martingale System is not recommended for general play unless you are playing a `stable’ game – i.e. one with few fluctuations.
Reverse Martingale System
This system is the same as the Martingale above but reversed – which means that as a player you increase your bet value after a win and not after a loss. This is based upon the assumption that winning streaks will bring you profits even if you lose a greater number of hands than the casino.
Progressive Betting System – 2 Levels
This is a slightly less-risky system than the Martingale. It is based around a player deciding upon a maximum and minimum betting level. After a losing hand the lower amount is bet and after a win a larger amount is placed.
For example, with a minimum bet level set at $5 and with a determined upper limit set at $15, you would start playing with a $5 dollar bet. If you win that hand then bet $15 for the next hand. You would then continue to bet $15 until you lose. After any loss you then return to your minimum bet level of $5.
This seems simple and straightforward but I do not use it for to me. It works on the assumption that the outcome of one hand pre-determines the probable outcome of another. This is not so for the opposite is the case. The chances of winning a hand just because you won a previous one are diminished and not increased – which makes the system a little unreliable to my mind.
Progressive Betting System – 5 Levels
This system is based on a 1-2-3-5 back to 1 progression. For example, with a basic $5 bet the player’s betting levels would be then be $5,10,15, and 25. Starting with a $5 bet you then progress to the next level ($10) when you win a hand. If you lose it then you return to an original $5 wager. If you are fortunate to win four hands in a row then you should return to your original $5 wager.
1-3-2-6 Betting Progression
This is an attractive system for the reason that you risk only two betting units for a chance to win ten units.
This is how it works.
- Your initial bet is one unit (we will assume that it is $1 for simplicity sake).
- If you win you then make the second bet a total of three units.
- If you win this second bet you will have six units (unless you are lucky enough to get a Blackjack!). Take away four units and use the two that are left for your third bet.
- If you then win again on the third hand then make your fourth bet six units. If you win this hand you will collect twelve units of which 10 are profit.
The success of this system works on the assumption that you have a four hand winning streak – which is not unlikely at all.
- However if it all goes wrong and you lose the first bet: The loss is one unit.
- If you win the first hand but then go onto to lose the second bet: your net loss is two units.
- If you win the second hand but then lose the third bet, you have a profit of two units.
- If you win all of the first three bets but lose the fourth bet then you will break even.
The d’Alembert System
A French mathematician, Jean Le Rond d’Alembert, invented this system way back in the eighteenth century and this is how it works.
The player begins by betting one unit. Each time that he/she loses they increase this by one unit. Each time that they win they decrease the bet by one unit.
Whilst being similar to the Martingale System it is not quite as dangerous for becoming bankrupted. It does not work at many online casinos though where the betting options move from single to double units.
Fibonacci Series
Leonardo Fibonacci was a 12th century mathematician who discovered, and then gave his name to, a specific progression of numbers. Whilst the discovery was pretty unexciting in itself it has been re-assessed over the past couple of centuries as perhaps holding the key to life and all cycles of effect upon it.
The Fibonacci Series has been discovered hidden with the growth patterns of everything form plants and animals through to the Stock Market. Many players believe that it has an important place to play in gambling. Very simply the Fibonacci Progression is merely the development of a series of numbers formulated from the addition of the two previous digits. This therefore gives rise to the sequence; 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55 … and so on!
Many players have converted this progression into a betting system and are very pleased with its results.
This is how you would use it.
- Play your first hand
- If you lose step up one in the progression
- Each time you win repeat the current bet
- If you win again start the progression over again
- If you lose move up one step.
The Labouchere Betting System
The Labouchere system, or `Cancellation’ system, comes in several variations.
However this is it’s simplest form
Write down a series of numbers, such as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. The progression can be of any length and
does not have to be sequential.
Each number represents the amount in units or chips to bet and the idea is to bet the first and last of
these numbers. In the example above, that would be 1 and 6, totaling 7 units.
When you win cross off those two numbers and bet the next two outside numbers. In our example
the values 2 and 5.
If you win again you bet on the next two remaining numbers 3 and 4 and if you win that as well you
would have made a `coup’ or completed one game.
Restart the system.
If you lose, add that one number to the end of the series. For example, if you lost your first bet of 7 units (1+6) then add number 7 to the end of the series to look like this: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and your next bet would equal 8 units (1+7). If you won the first bet but lost the second 2 and 5, then the series of numbers would look like this: 2, 3, 4, 5, 7.
Thus when the series is completed or when you make a `coup’, there is always a profit. The negative side of this system is that you could end up betting large sums of money even if your initial bet is small.
The Best Betting System
So which is the best betting system? Well, as dumb as it sounds the best system is the one that works for you. Whilst that sounds a little trite and unhelpful as a statement is in fact quite true. I shall explain a little about this is subsequent publications but to put it briefly we each have a different `resonance’ as a player. You have to find out what your own is (at any particular time) and develop a betting system around it.
Personally I have severe misgivings about all of these betting systems on their own and therefore cannot recommend any of them under all laying conditions. The main reason that most of these fail is because the laws of luck and chance are not determined by pure mathematics – if they were then there would be some very rich mathematicians languishing about on their private yachts right now.
That being said there is a way of playing successful Blackjack that does not depend solely upon betting systems and mathematical criteria. It is in fact based upon an accumulation of all the various playing factors that we have looked at in the manual so far. I call it `The Goldhill Playing System’ (out of sheer immodesty and lack of imagination!) and an understanding of it forms the basis of the next chapter