What are the betting strategies or systems in online casino games like Blackjack, Roulette, or Baccarat?

Anyone with slightest exposure to blackjack, or other casino games like Roulette or Baccarat, knows that these are skill games. Whether you are playing online casino games, say Blackjack, in a club, in house, or even on online casino, they have to be played with certain strategy. The strategy is not always about to beat the dealer and win, but also win big and lose less. So, it’s imperative to learn betting strategy in order to either minimise the loss or maximise the win.

There are some betting systems or betting strategies, in the casino games (Please note that strategy and system are used interchangeably in this context). Although they don’t give a guarantee of making you win huge, but those systems help you keep the things in control while ensuring minimising loss and maximising win. The systems tell you when to stop even if you are winning or when to stop when you are losing. Here we have a look at those systems:

Manhattan system or 2-1-2 betting strategy

It tells the player to reduce the bet once one win happens, then win again and then increase the bet.
However, if the dealer wins, then it tells player to return to initial stake.

Let’s understand this by an example.
Assume there is no side bet, no insurance. It’s just regular hands going on. The initial bet of the player is £4.

Although the assumptions here are not similar to what happens in a real casino, but we can safely assume that in a long game, the stake and return will be almost same, but if players win more hands, he may end up being in profit.

In this illustration we can see the total bet was £61 and total return was £71 resulting £10 profit.

The main advantage of this system is that it safeguards the profits and returns to initial bet after winning. The disadvantage is that it restricts your winning on your lucky day. Also, it does not tell you when to stop when you keep losing even returning to the initial bet.

Martingale system:

In this betting strategy or system, a player always doubles the bet amount in case of loss and, in case of win, the player is expected to place the same bet as winning one. The underlying assumption is that the player will win at least once and when he wins, he should be able to recover all his losses. While being on win streak he must subside profit, and bet the same amount as winning bet.

In this system, a player is required to set the bankroll and base unit amount. Normally base unit is 5% of the bankroll amount.

When a player loses his base unit, say, £x. His next bet, as per this strategy, should be 2x. If he loses again, the next bet should be 4x. If he loses again, the next bet should be 8x and so on unless the player wins. If the player wins, say at 8x in above example, he gets back all his lost amount plus he will be in profit equals to the base unit.

Advantage of Martingale System

• This system can get back your lost amount in single winning hand provided the player kept playing.
• It Focuses not losing in the game and always winning in the long run.

Disadvantage of Martingale System

• One needs really deep pocket/ big bankroll to keep betting during losses. It takes huge risk for small profit.
• Online casinos have limit in how much a player can increase the bet. A player may not always be allowed double the bet. The player has to decide on the total amount, called bank roll.

d'Alembert system

This betting strategy uses negative progression. This strategy talks about increasing the bet on losing and lowering the bet on winning. However, the player is not allowed to increase the bet by more than one unit after a loss. The player is also required to lower the bet by one unit on win.

In this system, the player has to set a bank roll and base unit (just like martingale system)

When a player loses his base unit, say, £x. His next bet, as per this strategy, should be x+x=2x. If he loses again, then the next bet should be 2x+x=3x. If he loses again, the next bet should be 3x+x=4x and so on unless the player wins. If the player wins, say at 4x in above example, his next bet would be of 4x-x=3x.

Advantage of d'Alembert System

• The loss happens gradually and not exponentially unlike other negative progression systems.

Disadvantage of d'Alembert System

• A player may have difficult in recovering the lost bet amount fully as the bet increases by just one unit.
• It relies on the dealer’s losing the bet. No skill here only luck.

Fibonacci System

Do you know the Fibonacci series (from mathematics)? It is like 0, 1, 1, 2, 3,5,8,13,21 and so on
i.e. it starts from 0 and 1; and the next number comes by summing the immediate preceding two numbers.

This series is followed by casino players while playing blackjack or any other games. Of course, they ignore 0, and starts from 1 (or any base unit). For example, when the base unit is £5, the series would be like:
5,5,10,15,25,40,65 and so on

Betting Strategy

When Win- Go back by two positions in the series. If the player has not moved on by two position in the series, then restart the sequence.

When Lose- Follow the series.

A player is also expected to restart the series when he is on a winning cycle.

Advantage of Fibonacci system

• It’s a simple sequence to follow and each winning lead to securing profit and minimising loss.

Disadvantage of Fibonacci system

• Need deep pocket to save the game when on losing streak.
• Player happens to increase bet even if he is losing.
• System does not give a chance to recover all the losses. A player may be in loss even after long session in the game.

Paroli System

This system is based on the assumption that both win and loss in blackjack, or similar games, happen in pair. So, it follows the simple strategy:

• On winning streak – Increase the bet
• On Losing streak – Lower the bet.

A player is prepared to lose if the loss happens, but can also win big as he increases the bet on winning streak.

This strategy is particularly loved by risk takers.

Advantage of Paroli system

• If on winning streak it can win good amount.

Disadvantage of Paroli system

• It relies on an assumption which seems not related to the game at all.
• Relies on winning streak which may not be the case always.

Labouchere system

This is also known as cancellation system or split martingale. It is again a negative progression system which means increase the bet when losing. But like any other negative progression it does not offers opportunity to recover all the losses in single win (like martingale system), but it tries to recover all the losses in multiple wins.

Although developed by an avid Roulette player, this betting strategy is used in all casino games like Blackjack Roulette, or baccarat.

The system asks the player to choose a bet sequence of his choice. For the sake of example let’s see the sequence chosen is 1-2-3. Now the system asks to bet equals to first and last number of the sequence. Here the bet amount would be £1+3 = £4
Now if you win, omit the 1st two numbers, so the new sequence is:
2
Since there is only one number left, you are expected to bet this number. If you win, start over with the initial sequence.
If you lose add the last bet amount in the sequence, so the new sequence would be:
1-2-3-4

Advantage of Labouchere system

• This is simple and flexible. You can start with any sequence.

Disadvantage of Labouchere system

• The sequence can grow bigger and amount can grow big in case of few losses.

In this article, we saw many betting system which can be followed. The negative progression system assume that they would at some point in time and recover all the losses, but for that one needs to have really big amount. A player is advised to adopt betting strategy based on his risk-taking capacity. On a particular day, may be that the player does not simply at all. So, use the discretion while playing online casino games