D'Alembert System (Cancellation Betting)

This cancellation betting strategy is presented here in its most basic form. Many variations of it exist (and indeed are sold to unsuspecting gamblers). It is widely considered to be less risky than a basic martingale system since we are not doubling our risk on every loss. Nevertheless, this is what is called a "negative progression" strategy, in that bet sizes are increased after losses and is therefore still highly risky. This is one of the more fun strategies which i enjoy from time to time.


The system is suitable for any bets where even odds are presented (or as close as you can get!). Examples are Roulette, Blackjack, Craps.

Here is how the system works:-

1. Choose how many units you wish to win. For this example i will use a unit size of $10 and say that i wish to win $100 a session (10 wins). Bearing in mind that each of our units represents $10 then, we write out a line of each of our bets like this:-

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

2. We always bet the total of the first number and the last number in our line. In this case our first bet would be 2 units, or $20.

3. If you win your bet, you get to cross off the numbers you just bet since they are now banked. If you lose then we have to incorporate some method into the system in order to recover these losses. This is done by adding an extra number on to the end of the line - the number being the amount you just lost.

4. Repeat the above and keep betting until you have crossed off all your numbers. When all numbers are crossed out you will have gained your 10 units. Once you obtained this then QUIT.

Examples:-

Start Line:
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Trade 1 - bet 2 units ($20) - LOSE
Add 2 to the end of the line:
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2

Bet 2 - bet 3 units ($30) - WIN
Remove the first and last numbers which you had bet:
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Bet 3 & 4 - had two losses in a row...
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 3

Bet 5 - bet 4 units ($40) and WON ($80)
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2

What's the catch?

The problem with D'Alembert is that it DOES NOT beat casinos in the long run, over many hundreds of thousands, or even millions of bets. The reason for this is that the progression involved when you lose bets can result in having to trade ever increasing bet sizes. Many people simply do not have infinite funds available with which to bet with.

Having said that, D'Alembert is both fun and gives you a great start at making a few dollars here and there, especially in the short term. Cold hard mathematics says we won't win over the long term but I for one have taken a lot of money out of the casinos using this simple strategy alone. I have also lost a few bankrolls in the process.

Here are my pointers for making this strategy succeed for you:-

1. Know your available bankroll right from the 'get-go'. DO NOT alter this. Ideally, to give yourself the best chance of success, you need to have around 200 units of bankroll available to you (i.e. our $10 bets would require a bankroll of $2,000 - one reason why you may be better off accepting $1 bets to begin with!). You can do it with around 50 units as a bare minimum but realise that your chances of disaster are relatively high (well above 20% infact depending on the game).

2. If you reach a point where you do not have enough bankroll to place a bet, you can split your bet and not place the full amount, i.e. attempt just one number off your line instead of both the first and last. At this stage it would be what we call in the financial trading world a "hail mary" bet, in that pretty much all your remaining bankroll is on the line in the hopes of making a miraculous recovery (believe me, a lot more fun in betting than in financial trading!!!!).