Sometimes a younger dealer will make such comments as a matter of personal opinion. Some of them gamble and it is a well known gambling adage that you push your winnings with the house money--NOT YOU OWN. Believe me, the casinos LOVE people who raise their bets on their own money rather than on the house money!
The basic raise up your losses is called the Martingale. It basically involves doubling up your money until you hit and win your unit. At a table limit of 1-500, the player reaches the house limit after 9 rolls of the dice or baccarat hands or whatever. He is then risking $256.00 to win ONE. NOT A GOOD IDEA! Of course, 99% of the time he will make a dollar, but in the end he will lose exactly what the percentage disadvantage of the game dictates.
Well, what about the D'Alembert system? In this system one increase their bet by one unit after every loss and decreases by one after every win. Therefore, in an even money (more or less) game, for every hand won and lost he actually wins a unit. GREAT! Except, you WILL fall behind and at some point be unable to catch up.
What about the Labouchere? Start with any number of numbers in a row--say 10 "Ones" as follows:
1111111111
Always bet the two numbers from either end of the line. If you win, stroke them off (or rearrange your chips, or just do it mentally). If you lose, add the total to the end of the row. Obviously, you are removing two numbers for every one you add. In an even money game (more or less) you should soon have stroked off all the units and these represent your winnings. In this case, TEN x whatever your unit was! As well, you could start with any series of numbers (1,5,3,7,4). That would be an attempt to win 20 units.
The latter two schemes (and there are many others) DO WORK short term AND OFTEN for the gambler who is not too dogged in following "rules" and is not unwilling to take a loss for the session.
If a D'Alembert is played only as high as a three number increase and then backed away from, it can often redeem itself a few plays later. Raising on the house winnings is termed a paroli or a parlay. Take a ten dollar bet on red in roulette. It wins, you ride the twenty, it wins you ride the forty. You've won 3 plays in a row (not uncommon, at all). In the third play you risked $10.00 of your own to make $80.00 of the house! A pretty damn good proposition!
In the long run, these systems tend to give the house more than their expected percentages because people seldom quit while ahead and because the chance of (say doubling) your float gets less and less the longer you play at a session and the likeihood of losing ALL your float increases.
Rule. Losing limit AND winning limit. Use something like a truncated D'alembert to the third number and straight back to the units. After you've won ten times your unit bet (or 5 times), then play a three hand parlay of their money, throw the dealer a tip win or lose and take your drink over to the sports bar and sit in a comfortable chair. |
