I love writing about roulette betting systems because it gives me a chance to show off both my English skills and my math skills. And since no roulette betting system works in the long run, I get to educate and perform a public service — warning people off some of the slick system-sellers who make money from your naivete.

The Reverse Labouchere System If you've used the original version, then the Reverse Labouchere will seem familiar. Like its predecessor, it relies on even-money bets and creating a number series to select bets. This variation reverses key parts of the process to use positive bet progression instead of negative, making the most of winning streaks. Reverse Labouchere system. Similar to the regular system, a sequence of numbers is chosen, while the first bet represents the sum of the first and the last numbers in that sequence. From this point on, the rules of play are reversed. In case a win occurs, a player needs to.

You might be surprised to know, though, that I love to use roulette betting systems when I’m actually gambling.

Yeah, I know you can’t win in the long run with such a system.

The Reverse Labouchere Roulette System. Much like the original Labouchere Roulette System, this version makes use of lines of numbers and 50/50 roulette bets to make the magic happen. For demonstration purposes, we’ll use the same simple line that was used in the original Labouchere System article: 1 2 3 4. By following the line of wagers of a Reverse Labouchere, the player turns the original system into a winning progression, wagering more and more until a comfort level or the house/table maximum is reached. Again, a number of wagers are listed, this time totalling the amount of the player’s stake for a round of play. The Reverse Labouchere The Reverse variation of the system was introduced in an attempt to remove one major downside of the Labouchere – the possibility of depleting your entire bankroll on a lengthy losing streak, in which case there is no guarantee you will be able to offset the losses.

But I get bored playing roulette without some kind of system.

And sometimes, in the short run, these systems do work exactly as intended.

Here are my seven favorite roulette systems for you to try:

1 – The Martingale System

The most famous of all betting systems is the Martingale System, and it’s also one of the easiest systems to use. If you can double a number, you can use the Martingale System.

To use the system, you just place an outside bet at the roulette table – one of the bets that pays off at even money. This could be red or black, odd or even, or high or low.

If you win that bet, great!

If you lose, though, you bet again – doubling the size of your previous bet.

You continue with this progression even when you lose multiple times in a row, doubling your bet every time you lose.

If you start with a $5 bet, you’ll bet $10 after losing once, $20 after losing twice, and $40 after losing three times in a row.

Eventually, when you do have a win, you’ll win back the amount of all your previous losses and show a $5 profit.

The Martingale System sounds foolproof at first glance, and it would be foolproof except for two things.

• The first is that you don’t have an unlimited bankroll.
• The second is that the casino has a maximum betting limit.

And when you’re doubling the size of your bets, the bets can get so big so fast that you either can’t cover them because you’re out of money or because the casino won’t let you bet that much on the next spin.

Let’s say you’re playing in a game with a $5 minimum bet and a $500 maximum bet, which isn’t an unusual set of limits.

How many losses in a row do you need before you bang against the maximum bet?

1. $5
2. $10
3. $20
4. $40
5. $80
6. $160
7. $320

Lose seven times in a row, and you can’t make the next bet in the progression.

Plus, you’ve lost $495 up until this point.

Of course, in the short run, the Martingale System works a lot of the time, but you don’t usually show much profit.

In the long run, you’ll eventually hit a big enough losing streak to wipe you out.

2 – The Paroli System

The Paroli System is the opposite of the Martingale System. In fact, you’ll sometimes see it called the “Reverse Martingale.”

Instead of doubling the size of your bets after you lose, with the Paroli System, you double them after a win.

Once you’ve won a specific number of bets in a row (usually three), you return to your initial bet size.

The idea is that you’ll be taking advantage of the occasional winning streaks that are inevitable in a game of random chance like roulette.

You bet $5 on red, so you bet $10 on red on the next spin. You win again, and now you bet $20 on red.

If you win, you’ve won a total of $35 over three spins of the wheel.

And you start over again betting $5.

Of course, in the long run, the Paroli System works no better than the Martingale System, and for the same reason:

Changing the sizes of your bets does nothing to change the odds of winning or losing.

Also, you have no way of predicting when a color gets “hot.”

That’s only visible in retrospect.

3 – The Labouchere Betting System

The Labouochere betting system isn’t one of my favorites because it’s more complicated than I’d prefer.

But it’s not that complicated that you can’t master it.

Here’s how it works:

You start with a list of bets of varying sizes in order from smallest to largest.

For example, you might write 10, 20, 30, and 40 down on a notecard in a row.

You start by placing the lowest bet on the card. If you win that bet, you cross out the first and last numbers on the card.

If you lose that bet, though, you add the size of that bet to the last number in the series. 10 + 40 is 50, so your list would become 10, 20, 30, 40, 50.

You play until you run out of money or until all the bets are crossed off.

You could also eventually run into the same problem you have with the Martingale. You might hit a bet size that’s higher than the table limit or that your bankroll won’t accommodate.

4 – The Grand Martingale System

If you’re not afraid of risk, the Grand Martingale System might be just the ticket for you. It works just like the Martingale System but with one big difference.

Instead of doubling the size of your bet after each loss, you triple the size of your bet after each loss.

The advantage of the Grand Martingale System is that you’ll see bigger winning sessions when you do win.

The disadvantage is that the bet sizes will get much larger much faster, which means you’ll hit your bankroll or maximum bet limits sooner.

Here’s a Grand Martingale progression starting with $5:

1. $5
2. $15
3. $45
4. $135
5. $405

Notice after just five losses, you must place a bet higher than the table limits of $500 to continue with the progression?

It’s a fun way to play, but it’s still a loser in the long run.

5 – The Hollandish System

The Hollandish System is a gentler roulette system because you don’t raise or lower your bets as often as in other systems. Instead of raising your bet after your first one, you make three bets at a certain amount before raising the size.
The Hollandish System also takes it a little easier on you by not requiring you to raise your bets by as much. You use a specific progression, as follows:

• 1
• 3
• 5
• 7
• 9

So if you start by betting $5, when you get to the next level, you’ll bet $15. And then $25, and so on.

You only move up in levels if you’ve shown a net loss from the three previous bets.

For example, you start with a $5 bet. You win twice, but you lose once. You’re showing a net profit, so you stay at that level for another three-bet streak.

Your buddy, though, lost twice and won once. After three bets, he moves up to betting $15 per bet for the next three bets.

One of the big advantages to this system is that you don’t have to increase the size of your bets as much during an extended losing streak.

Here’s what a progression would look like with six losses in a row using the Martingale System:

1. $5
2. $10
3. $20
4. $40
5. $80
6. $160

Reverse Labouchere Roulette System Worksheets

But with the Hollandish System, your bets would look like this:

Labouchere Strategy

1. $5
2. $5
3. $5
4. $15
5. $15
6. $15

You’ve lost significantly less money on this losing streak using the Hollandish System.

6 – The Hot Number System

This isn’t even a betting system, really. It’s just an attempt to win some money by betting on the “hot” roulette numbers.

To put this system into action, just look at the board at the roulette table showing the numbers that have hit over the last 10 or 20 spins.

Find the number that’s been hit the most often.

Bet on it.

Keep betting on it until another number gets “hotter.” (That just means it’s won more times over the last 10 or 20 spins than your original hot number.

The idea is that you’ll catch a table that isn’t perfectly calibrated and win money based on the higher probability of catching that hot number.

7 – Orson’s Go Big or Go Home System

This one is a system of my own devising. I like the idea of stop-loss limits and win goals, even though I understand that they don’t improve my probability of winning.

With my go big or go home system, I want to win a 35 to 1 payout or go broke, whichever comes first.

I start with about 40 bets of $5, or $200. That’s my loss limit. (I’m not willing to lose more than $200 playing roulette in a single session, almost ever.)

I then choose a number, and I keep betting on that number until it hits, or I run out of money.

Depending on when it hits, I make a big profit or a small profit.

And here’s what I do if I really want to hit it big:

• I let my profits ride so that I can win two jackpots.
• So I bet $5 on 16 and win 35 to 1.
• Now I bet $180 on that number. That’s my winnings plus my original $5 bet.
• If I win this one, it’s time to call it quits, because I’ve hit the jackpot — a cool $6300.

It’s like playing a slot machine with a $6300 jackpot, but my odds of winning are better than they would be on a slot machine game.

What are the odds of winning?

The odds of winning that bet once are 1/38, or 37 to 1.

1/38 X 1/38 = 1/1444, or 1443 to 1.

I’m still trying to win using this system.

Conclusion

That’s basically just a list of my favorite seven roulette betting systems to use. I want to warn you again that none of these work in the long run.

Betting systems are not advantage systems.

Do you have a favorite roulette system that I didn’t cover here?

Leave a comment and let me know.

Introduction

The Labouchere (also known as the cancellation and split-Martingale) is a well-known betting system. It is generally played on even-money games. It entails writing a list of numbers and then crossing off two after a win and adding one after a loss. Like most betting systems, it usually results in a session win, but at the expense of huge losses when it doesn't.

The logic behind the Labouchere is that the player needs to only win 1/3 of the time (and not run out of money) for the system to work. Believers might say the Law of Large Numbers states that the more bets are made, the more the ratio of wins to bets will approach the expected ratio. While this is true, a bad string of losses can causes bets to increase quickly, sometimes exhausting the player's bankroll.

Rules

1. The player will define his winning goal and bankroll.
2. The player will divide his winning goal by 10.
3. The player will write down the quotient from step 2 ten times, horizontally.
4. The player will bet the sum of the left and right numbers in the list on an even money bet*.
5. If the player wins the bet in step 4, then he will cross off the left and right numbers on the list.
6. If the player loses the bet in step 4, then he will add a new element to the right end of the list consisting of the amount just lost.
7. Go back to step 4, unless every element has been crossed off the list (success) or the player's bankroll is exhausted (failure)

*: Exceptions

• If there is only one element in the list, bet that.
• If the player's bankroll is greater than zero, but not enough to cover the the sum of left and right elements in the list, then bet the remaining bankroll. If this bet wins and the bet amount is less than the element on the right end of the list, then subtract the amount bet from the right element. If this bet wins and is greater than the element on the right end of the list, then cross off the element on the right side and deduct the amount bet less the right element from the left element.

Example

• In this example, the player's goal is to win $50 and his bankroll is $1,000. He starts by dividing $50 by 10 and writing the quotient ten times: 5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5.
• The player's first bet is $10 ($5 + $5), which he wins, and crosses off the right and left elements: 5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5.
• The player's second bet is $10 ($5 + $5), which he wins, and crosses off the right and left elements: 5-5-5-5-5-5.
• The player's third bet is $10 ($5 + $5), which he wins, and crosses off the right and left elements: 5-5-5-5.
• The player's fourth bet is $10 ($5 + $5), which he loses, and adds to the right end of the list, leaving: 5-5-5-5-10.
• The player's fifth bet is $15 ($5 + $10), which he loses, and adds to the right end of the list, leaving: 5-5-5-5-10-15.
• The player's sixth bet is $20 ($5 + $15), which he wins, and crosses off the right and left elements: 5-5-5-10.
• The player's seventh bet is $15 ($5 + $10), which he loses, and adds to the right end of the list, leaving: 5-5-5-10-15.
• The player's eight bet is $20 ($5 + $15), which he loses, and adds to the right end of the list, leaving: 5-5-5-10-15-20.
• The player's ninth bet is $25 ($5 + $20), which he loses, and adds to the right end of the list, leaving: 5-5-5-10-15-20-25.
• The player's tenth bet is $30 ($5 + $25), which he wins, and crosses off the right and left elements: 5-5-10-15-20.
• The player's 11th bet is $25 ($5 + $20), which he wins, and crosses off the right and left elements: 5-10-15.
• The player's 12th bet is $20 ($5 + $15), which he loses, and adds to the right end of the list, leaving: 5-10-15-20.
• The player's 13th bet is $25 ($5 + $20), which he loses, and adds to the right end of the list, leaving: 5-10-15-20-25.
• The player's 14th bet is $30 ($5 + $25), which he wins, crossing off the left and right elements, leaving: 10-15-20.
• The player's 15th bet is $30 ($10 + $20), which he wins, crossing off the left and right elements, leaving: 15.
• The player's 16th bet is $15 (the only element left), which he loses, adding to the right end of the list: 15-15.
• The player's 17th bet is $30 ($15+$15), which he loses, adding to the right end of the list: 15-15-30.
• The player's 18th bet is $45 ($15+$30), which he loses, adding to the right end of the list: 15-15-30-45.
• The player's 19th bet is $60 ($15+$45), which he loses, adding to the right end of the list: 15-15-30-45-60.
• The player's 20th bet is $75 ($15 + $60), which he wins, crossing off the left and right elements, leaving: 15-30-45.
• The player's 21st bet is $60 ($15 + $45), which he wins, crossing off the left and right elements, leaving: 30.
• The player's 22nd bet is $30 (the only element left), which he wins, declaring victory and walks out with $50 in winnings.

Simulation Results

To show what to expect from using the Labouchere, I wrote a simulation that followed the rules above, based on various bets and games. The simulation used a Mersenne Twister random number generator. For each simulation, the winning goal was ten units. I tested the simulation on the following bankrolls: 50, 100, 250, 500, 1000, and 2500 units.

The first simulation is based on betting the Player bet in baccarat. The simulation size is over 6 billion sessions. As a reminder, the theoretical house edge on the Player bet is 1.235%.

Baccarat Simulation — Player Bet

Labouchere Betting System

The next simulation is on the pass bet in craps. As a reminder, the house edge on the pass bet is 7/495 = 1.411%. The simulation size is 8.7 billion sessions.

Craps Simulation — Pass Bet

The next simulation is based on the don't pass bet in craps. The simulation size was over 6 billion sessions. As a reminder, the house edge on the don't pass bet is 1.364%.

Craps Simulation — Don't Pass

The next simulation is based on any even money bet in single-zero roulette. The simulation size was over 6.9 billion sessions. The theoretical house edge in single-zero roulette is 1/37 = 2.703%.

Roulette Simulation — Single Zero

The next simulation is based on any even money bet in double-zero roulette. The simulation size was over 8 billion sessions.

Roulette Simulation — Double Zero

Video

Please enjoy my video explaining the Labouchere and what you can expect if you play it.

Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FdbVeNX59A