A successful gambling strategy

Winnings Probability

Casinos stay in business because, in the long term, all events happen as often as predicted. In other words, given enough spins of a single-zero roulette wheel, all the numbers will come out, on average, 2.7% (1/37) of the time.

• In the short term, this doesn’t happen. Given 37 spins, 37 different numbers will almost never come out.
• Some will come out more than once; some will not come out at all. Some may get out three or even four times.
• Test this theory yourself on Roulette, with this FREE Roulette game (courtesy of Miami Club Casino).
• You’ll get 3000 practice credits which are enough for hours of play. Keep spinning the wheel and see how often you can get the same number twice – if at all!

Winning and losing streaks

Results come in two ways: either alternately or consecutively.

However the results come, there is always a discrepancy between predicted probabilities and actual events. Unfortunately, there’s no way of knowing which games will be published ahead of probability and which behind, but it does give us the basis for a gambling strategy which, if applied correctly, can make you the edge over the house and ensure you lose small and, hopefully, win big.

The odds, winning streaks, and house edge pages explain in detail how results can occur in any game. (If you haven’t read those pages yet, it may be best to do so before you continue).

Don’t expect always to win

The first thing to understand is that we’re looking at a strategy over some sessions, large enough to offset freak results. This approach will result in some losing sessions, but most will be winners.

This is an important rule: Don’t expect to win every time – decide on your session limits (a winning target and a maximum loss) and stick to them.

Let’s say we start a session with a bankroll of £1000 and are making £20 bets on a 50-1 chance (0.02 probability, 2% luck.) We’re making 50 bets with a 50-1 chance, so according to long-term probability, we should end up equal. But 50 bets is not long term so that the long-term trends won’t apply.

The key to understanding this is to say that if a 50-1 chance comes up to the first event or in the first ten or twenty results, then at that point, you’re beating the long term odds, so that is the point to stop gambling (quit while you’re ahead).

Of course, it’s possible that the bet will come up two, three or even four times in the fifty. But in some sessions, it won’t arrive at all, so if you chase another occurrence, you’re just giving the probabilities time to even themselves out. Do that on every session, and you’ll lose – guaranteed.

• If you win on the first bet and stop, you’ve spent £20 and won £1000 – an overall profit of £1000.
• If you win on the tenth bet and stop, you’ve spent £200 and won £1000 – an overall profit of £800.
• If you win on the fiftieth bet, you’ve spent £1000 and won £1000 – an overall profit of £0.
• If you win on the first bet and keep betting, but don’t get any more wins, it’s the same as if you’d bet 50 times i.e., your overall profit is 0.

Gambling fever

The temptations to chase losses or keep gambling when you’re winning are adamant – some call it gambling fever.

If your bet comes up on the first chance, the temptation is very strong to keep betting, thinking that’s it’s bound to happen again. But you’re then gambling with your winnings – which is exactly what the casino wants – and needs – you to do.

It’s like the episode of South Park where the townsfolk get together $10,000 and bet it all on Roulette. They win $350,000 – enough to save the town. But then someone says ‘If we win again, we’ll save the town and be super-rich. Let it ride!’

This is what the casinos depend on. There’s no way to escape the golden rule (in the long term, the casinos always win) and, if you play long enough, the probabilities will always catch up with you.

It’s very simple: if you always bet until your bankroll is gone, you will be a loser overall. The key to this gambling strategy is to keep all sessions (losing and winning) short.

If you follow this strategy, keep your losses down and don’t gamble away your winnings, in the short term you could come out ahead.

Main 4 Rules for Success

1. Stop after a win (quit while you’re ahead!)
2. Change games frequently, especially when you’re winning.
3. Set a limit to your losing sessions
   (a maximum number of losing bets, or an amount of cash)
4. Don’t bet good money after bad i.e., when you’ve lost, quit.