There really was a d’Alembert, Jean le Rond d’Alembert to be exact, who lived in 18th century France. He was a famous mathematician, philosopher, and physicist, but got it all wrong when it came to gambling. He argued that the probability of the next toss of a coin coming up heads would increase every time it came up tails. We know better. When you toss a coin, the coin obviously has no knowledge of what happened on any previous flips and is just as likely to come up heads as tails regardless of what came before. Each toss of the coin is an independent event, and the coin has no memory of the last result. Even though his analysis of coin tossing was way off base, the D’Alembert gambling strategy was named after him since he developed a theory of mathematical equilibrium, which provided the foundation for the strategy.
The D’Alembert system finds its application with the even money bets at craps, roulette or baccarat. In short it requires the gambler to decrease his bet size the more he wins and increase his bet size the more he loses. Players are able to keep bet size and losses to a minimum with this system, and with a run of luck will end up with dramatic winnings.
Before betting, set up a series of numbers one unit apart. The experts recommend using no more than nine or ten bets in the series to limit your losses. The starting bet is in the middle of the series; let’s assume 15 units. After each loss, add one unit to get the next bet, and after each win, subtracted one unit from the next bet. In our example here, if we lose the bet of 15 units the next bet would be 16 units. If this bet wins, the next bet would be 15 units. Another win would lower the next bet to 14 units.
One very interesting fact. Work this out on paper. Whenever the number of wins equals the number of losses, there will be a net gain equal to the number of wins. Your initial bet size doesn’t matter; if your wins and losses equal out, this will be true. Try it on paper.
There are many variations to the D’Alembert system such as playing it in reverse – increase your bet after a win and decrease it after a loss.
Visit my website to look at some systems you can use for your favorite casino game.
By Joseph Starr
Joseph Starr (pen name) completed his formal education when he earned a Ph.D. in Finance and Accounting. He taught business, economics, and computer subjects at the college level for thirty years and is now retired. Visit his website to read about popular gambler’s aids to help you win at the casinos.