Betting systems are old hat in the gambling business, but they require diligence, patience and practice. But much more important than the systems themselves is knowing about them, when to use them, whether they make any sense at all, and how best to combine them!
But what are betting systems? A betting system accompanies you in the game. You can control your losses and winnings as well as possible with the help of certain game methods – independent of the game itself. A betting system tells you specifically when to bet and how much money to bet. This is especially helpful in games like roulette online or even slot machines online, where the outcome of the game is very unpredictable.
There are many betting systems, and they all have different characteristics and can be used in different ways. Some of them have advantages or disadvantages over others; others are more suitable for certain games than others. In order not to confuse you with too much information, we have broken down all betting systems in detail.
- Betting systems with negative progression: These betting systems can rake in a lot of winnings, but they also hurt because they require you to double your bet if you lose money. However, this way you also get your losses capped faster when you finally win.
- Betting systems with positive progression: These betting systems are more pleasant to play, but they can also cause heavy losses. Here you double your bets as soon as you win. This means that if you have a lucky streak, you can really win.
Betting systems have different odds and vary in complexity, although they are generally based on a relatively simple mathematical series. However, all betting systems have one thing in common: they do not guarantee a win.
If there were a system that guaranteed winnings, then there would be no more casinos. Nevertheless, it is possible to gamble well or badly, or at least let’s say clumsily and uncontrollably.
Betting systems are there to give you a more “systematic” game, so that you have better control over your bets and turnovers. They also give you better odds than betting randomly on numbers and rows, and they work partly round-based, meaning that you stop playing when a round is over. Thus, betting systems also prevent uncontrolled, too-long play.
Paroli system – application and calculation
The term Paroli is known even to people who do not deal with gambling. There is a saying “to parry someone”. According to the dictionary, it means “to oppose someone or something equally strongly and thus to put a stop to it, to resist effectively; originally, in the card game, to double the stakes”.
In the card game “Pharo” the term Paroli has its origin. Here, after each win, bending up the corner of a card indicated that the player was foregoing the payout and wished to wager the winnings again. That’s why it’s very rare to still hear the phrase “bending someone’s paroli” (instead of bidding). From this renunciation of the winnings developed the Paroli system.
How to play the Paroli system?
Before applying the Paroli system, it is important to inform the croupier (in live casinos or stationary casinos) that you want to play Paroli and how often.
Let’s go through a Paroli series using a concrete example in roulette: A player wants to play a double paroli on the single chance “black”. In roulette, in this case, 18 numbers mean a win and 18 numbers mean a loss. With zero, the bet is either blocked or the bet is lost – how this is done depends on the roulette variant or also the concrete rules in the casino.
So the player wants to bet $5 on black. If he wins, he places his bet and winnings back on black. That is, the bet is doubled and the player now bets $10. If he now wins again, he has won $10 and can now bet $20 again (bet from the previous round plus winnings). If the player sticks to his decision to play a double parlay, he would start the system all over again with $5 after a win in the next round.
If the player were to lose after the second round, he would have lost only his original bet of $5, the other bets having come “from the bank”, so to speak. That is why it is said that with the Paroli system you “stand up to the bank”. That is why losses are easier to bear with the Paroli system.
Calculation – the mathematics behind the Paroli system
Mathematically, behind the Paroli system is a winning progression and how often the player wants to play a progression. The bigger the number, the less likely success will be, but in case of success, the bigger the win will be.
For example, those who like to take risks could go for a five-fold progression, while those who prefer to play it safe should go for a two-fold progression. In this case, the profit is significantly smaller, but a two-fold progression is much more likely. With a fivefold progression, it is also more likely that you will suffer a loss in between.
| Progression comparison 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x – the probability | |||
| 2x | 18/37 x 18/37 | = 0,236 | 23,6 % |
| 3x | 18/37 x 18/37 x 18/37 | = 0,115 | 11,5 % |
| 4x | 18/37 x 18/37 x 18/37 x18/37 | = 0,056 | 5,6 % |
| 5x | 18/37 x 18/37 x 18/37 x 18/37 x 18/37 | = 0,027 | 2,7 % |
Appendix of the roulette game, let’s take a closer look at the probabilities. With a single chance, the probability of winning is 18/37 (so it’s not quite a 50:50 chance, because roulette still has the zero or even the double zero). Now it is easy to calculate what the chance is to get a fivefold progression, i.e. to win five times in a row.
| Wins and probabilities at one to 5 times progression with $1 bet | |||
| Progression | Chance | Profit | % to $ ratio |
| 1x | 48,6 % | $2 | 0,972 |
| 2x | 23,6 % | $4 | 0,944 |
| 3x | 11,5 % | $8 | 0,92 |
| 4x | 5,6 % | $16 | 0,896 |
| 5x | 2,7 % | $32 | 0,864 |
The Paroli System in Blackjack and Slot Machines
If you want to use the Paroli system in blackjack, it works just like in roulette: you set yourself a win limit beforehand (i.e. the maximum number of progressions you want to play) and double your bet after each winning hand. It’s as simple as that.
And the Paroli system is just as easy to apply to online slots: Set a limit, make a bet, double the bet after each win, start over at the end of the progression or in case of a loss.
Advantages and Disadvantages of The Paroli System
Advantages
- no big losses
- very capital preserving
- low risk
Disadvantages
- not very effective in the long run
- Slow increase of the profit
The Paroli system is a capital-saving system and especially suitable for beginners. With a small stake at the beginning of the game, nice profits can be achieved with this system. The risk remains low, because the stake is relatively small. However, secure profits are not guaranteed even with this betting strategy.
In the long run, the Paroli system does not work, but it is quite reasonable to enter with it. This is because in the Paroli game, the player can usually expect many small losses, which are offset by only a few big wins. However, it is much easier to control than other systems and therefore perfect for beginners.
Markov system – application with example
It is a system that works with the so-called “Markov chains”. These chains were developed by the Russian mathematician Andrei Andreyevich Markov. With his work, he made significant contributions to probability theory and analysis. He is especially known for his theory of stochastic processes.
About the Markov Bet System
The Markov chain originated in Markov’s work with letter strings in Russian literature. The model he worked out is still used today for speech recognition software and handwriting software. The mathematician was not particularly interested in gambling. It was the gamblers themselves who came across his work in their search for working systems and tried to translate its workings to gambling.
In particular, Markov’s statement that “future developments can be determined on the basis of present knowledge” has tempted gamblers to apply the Markov chain to gambling. This is nonsense, of course, because gambling remains gambling; nothing can be predicted. Otherwise, casinos would have gone out of business long ago.
The Markov Chains
Let’s first look at how the Markov chains work. Markov’s thesis is that numbers from a chain of numbers often appear in succession. In simple terms, you can think of a Markov chain as a string of beads. The individual beads of the chain are labeled with numbers. Let’s take, for example, the sequence of numbers from 1 to 100. If you now try to bring disorder into this sequence of numbers, e.g. by kneading or twisting the chain, the numbers reshuffle.
They rearrange themselves so that, for example, the 10 could lie directly behind the 68. The original chain of numbers is thus interrupted by numbers that have knotted themselves into others. However, this does not happen at every position. Many numbers remain in the same order as before – only occasionally interrupted by “foreign” numbers. This insight is used in Markov chains.
Markov chains in roulette
When reading about the Markov system for roulette on the Internet, one very important factor is often forgotten: The system works on contiguous sequences of numbers, but in roulette each bet is independent of the one before and the one after. So you can’t work your way through the string of numbers from bet to bet, but actually have a completely new string of numbers in front of you each time. So you can’t actually discover the signal numbers. But we’ll neglect this point for now, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to explain the Markov system to you at all.
Because it works like this:
Players imagine a string of numbers – and now comes another mistake that many online publications make in connection with the Markov System in roulette: Many write “string of numbers from 0 to 36”, but in roulette the correct string of numbers looks like this:
0 – 32 – 15 – 19 – 4 – 21 – 2 – 25 – 17 – 34 – 6 – 27 – 13 – 36 – 11 – 30 – 8 – 23 – 10 – 5 – 24 – 16 – 33 – 1 – 20 – 14 – 31 – 9 – 22 – 18 – 29 – 7 – 28 – 12 – 35 – 3 – 26
So if you already want to play with the Markov chain, you should remember this sequence of numbers and not the numbers 0 to 36.
The player now tries to pay attention to signal numbers. These are numbers that indicate to him that he is in an unshuffled part of the number chain. For many players two signal numbers are enough, others wait for three numbers.
If a player remembers two numbers and, for example, 34 and 36 have fallen, then the numbers 6 – 27 – 13 would be interesting for the player playing according to Markov, because they lie exactly between the two numbers. Assuming that Markov is right, and many numbers continue to keep their order after shuffling, these three numbers would be the numbers on which the player should now bet.
Important: No bets are placed until the signal numbers have fallen. Only when the player thinks he has recognized a coherent sequence of numbers, a bet is made. And this is done on the numbers in between according to the sequence of numbers mentioned above.
Markov chains in other games
The prerequisite for playing with Markov chains are number chains that you know. You can certainly think of the deck of cards in blackjack as a chain of numbers. With slot machines it becomes more difficult. The best place to work with Markov chains is actually roulette – but even there it is actually out of place, because as already written, in roulette each game is independent of the previous one.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Markov Bet System
Advantages
- interesting for math geeks
Disadvantages
- no real betting system
- unsuitable for beginners
The Markov system is like the others: the house advantage prevails – in the long run it is not successful. It can actually be a guide for players to shape their game, but usually needs to be combined with other systems to shape how bets are handled in the event of a win or loss. We think there are more exciting systems to deal with.
1-3-2-6 System – application with example
How the 1-3-2-6 system works
1-3-2-6 is a game system with positive progression.
You increase the bet when you win and when you lose you start all over again.
Now let’s see how the 1-3-2-6 system works: With this system, the player precisely determines his betting sequence. At the beginning he thinks about how high a unit of his bet should be, then he starts with this bet. A good idea here is to consider how much you can afford to invest in a game round and then set 2% to 5% as one unit.
In case of a win, the player goes one step further in the number sequence and bets three units, then two and then six – of course only in case of a win.
If he wins four times in a row, he has reached the end of the sequence and starts the game over again. So, just like the Paroli system, the 1-3-2-6 system is a betting sequence with a fixed end, which is played from the beginning after reaching it.
As soon as the player loses, the series starts over again with one unit – no matter which position in the series he has reached by then.
Thus, the player should take as a basic unit a value that he is able to bet at least 6 times. The system is therefore limited by both the table limits and the player’s budget, but allows for varied play even with smaller units.
Like many other betting systems, the 1-3-2-6 system is played only on 50:50 odds (which of course do not really exist, because the advantage is always with the bank!), so in roulette that would be either red or black, even or odd numbers, or the first or second half of the roulette numbers.
How is the 1-3-2-6 system played?
Enough of the preface, now let’s look at the 1-3-2-6 system with a concrete example. Our player goes to the casino with a budget of $500 and wants to set 2% of it as one unit. That would be $10, which he would like to play as a basic unit in roulette. He bets on red. The first bet is therefore $10, since the series is started with one unit. He wins his first bet, so he can bet three units ($30) the next time. This time the ball lands on red again, so he can bet two units ($20). Unfortunately, luck is not on his side this time, he loses and has to start the row over with one unit ($10) on the next bet.
Advantages and Disadvantages of 1-3-2-6 system
Advantages
- easy to use
- clear game rules
- little risky (with appropriate stakes)
- no complicated set of rules
Disadvantages
- very simple
- small high profits
D’Alembert system
D’Alembert – negative progression system.
One bets one unit higher in case of loss or one unit lower in case of profit.
The D’Alembert progression system is quite simple to use. With this system you bet only on simple chances, in roulette these would be red/black, even/odd or 1-18/19-36. After each loss the player increases his bet by one unit. Conversely, the player reduces his bet by one unit after each win.
Let’s look at the system with a concrete example: If the player starts with $10 ($10 = one unit) and loses, he must bet $20 the next time. If he then loses again, he must bet $30 the next time, and so on. But if he wins at the $30 bet, he reduces the next bet by one unit to $20.
Unlike other betting systems, in Progression D’Alembert there are no cycles that bring the player back to the initial $10 bet. Each bet is either one unit higher or lower than the one before it, depending on whether a game was won or lost.
Advantages and Disadvantages of D’Alembert system
Advantages
- The advantages of the D’Alembert progression are obvious: it is easy to remember and apply. One understands the rule quickly and can implement it immediately in any game. However, if you are confronted with a series of losses, you will quickly notice that the stakes skyrocket. This makes the system quite risky, although less risky than the popular Martingale system (where the bet is doubled after each loss).
- Compared to the Martingale system, which is based on a similar principle (but the stakes are doubled after each loss), the D’Alembert is less risky. This is because it uses a flatter progression than the Martingale system. This means that the stakes increase more slowly, giving you a chance to recoup your losses before the table limits or your own budget set limits on the system.
Disadvantages
- Although the flat progression of the D’Alembert system means that the stakes do not increase as rapidly as they do in the Martingale system, for example, it is often the case that not a single win is enough to make up for the losses. It may be mathematically correct that in the long run losses can be recovered, but in real life play sometimes things turn out differently. And then there is – at least in roulette – the zero or double zero: The house advantage of the bank. And even the D’Alembert system can’t beat that. So even with this system, the player’s chances are always a touch worse.
Flat Betting System – the simplest betting system
How the Flat Betting System works
Let’s take a closer look at flat betting. Like progressive betting systems, it is not dependent on previous wins or losses, but works with the probabilities of gambling. Freely according to the motto: At some point, a profit will occur and until then simply happens: Not much. However, friends of flat betting argue that the losses with this system are much less than with progressive systems. These are often riskier and – depending on whether they work with positive or negative progression – the risk of high losses or stakes is not to be scoffed at.
In betting systems with a progression, it can happen that incredibly high stakes have to be made in order to compensate for losses. With flat betting, everything simply goes its way: the stakes remain the same, no surprise for the player. At some point the ball will land on the right number.
How is the Flat Betting System played?
There is actually not much to explain, even complicated tables are not necessary for illustration. Probably the most important preparation for flat betting: The bet must be thought through! As a rule, a player should go to the table with a fixed budget. Let’s take the example of an inexperienced player who has yet to find his way in the world of gambling. He is excited and sits at the gaming table for the first time. He has a budget of $200 for the evening, which he wants to use on roulette.
So he chooses a stake that is one to two percent of his total budget, that is, 2 to 4 dollars. The player decides to bet two dollars. This means that he plays for the entire duration with the bet of two dollars, regardless of whether he loses or wins, and can thus make 100 bets before his budget is used up. In this way, he can familiarize himself with the game, learn to understand the mechanisms of gambling and observe how fellow players and dealers behave at the table.
More experienced players can then naturally choose higher stakes, up to 5% of the total budget is realistic.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Flat Betting System
Advantages
- reliable system
- no mathematical calculations required
- less high losses
- with a little luck there is a profit
Disadvantages
- no high expectation of profit
- in the long run the bank wins
- it can become boring
The Flat Betting System in other casino games
As mentioned briefly at the beginning, the Flat Betting System can be applied to all games of chance. Again, the big advantage for beginners is that they can get to know the game with small stakes, learn to master the rules and experience dealing in the casino before they have to deal with risky betting calculations. Flat betting is often used in roulette, but it can also be used in blackjack, baccarat, craps, slot machines and even sports betting. The principle is always the same: set a budget, calculate the percentage of the bet and keep it for the entire duration of the game.
Hollandish System
Functionality of the Hollandish system
However, compared to other game systems with negative progression, the Hollandish system is somewhat more relaxed. It is a lower risk system and is less aggressive than, for example, the Martingale system. The reason for this is the exact structure of the progression. Unlike the Martingale system, the Hollandish system does not change the bet after each round. In the Hollandish system, you divide your game into units of three. Let’s take a closer look at what this means:
First of all, the Hollandish system also works with a fixed sequence of numbers, but this in turn depends on what value you choose as a unit. To keep it simple, we start with 1 Euro as 1 unit. Then the sequence of numbers you use to place your bets looks like this:
1 – 3 – 5 – 7 – 9 – 11 etc.
So, in the Hollandish system, the bet is always increased by a factor of 2. As already mentioned, you can also start the number sequence with another unit, e.g. 2. Then the number sequence looks like this:
2 – 6 – 10 – 14 – 18 – 22 etc. In this case, the stakes are increased by 4 each time. So always by double the original bet. If you start at 3, the bet would be increased by 6 units each time.
The player determines this unit in advance for himself personally. It can be 1 or 2 euros, but in any case it must be as high as the minimum bet at the table.
Now we come to the point that makes the Hollandish system so different from the other systems with negative progression: You don’t work your way stubbornly through the sequence of numbers as in the other systems. The progression is divided into levels and on each level three bets are made. In other words, before you make your bet, the roulette ball must have landed in a pocket three times.
| Bet number | Progression level | Bet amount | Result | Bankroll |
| 1 | 1 | 1 $ | Loss | -1 $ |
| 2 | 1 | 1 $ | Profit | 0 $ |
| 3 | 1 | 1 $ | Loss | -1 $ |
| 4 | 2 | 3 $ | Profit | 2 $ |
| 5 | 2 | 3 $ | Profit | 5 $ |
| 6 | 2 | 3 $ | Loss | 2 $ |
| 7 | 3 | 1 $ | Loss | 1 $ |
| 8 | 3 | 1 $ | Loss | 0 $ |
| 9 | 3 | 1 $ | Profit | 1 $ |
Advantages
- less aggressive
- easy to use
Disadvantages
- can become tedious
