The non-losing strategies and how to choose a game

Jean D’Alembert

Jean le Rond D’Alembert was born in Paris in 1717. He was an all round scholar – philosopher, mathematician, physicist and mechanician. He became a member of Academy of Sciences of Paris (1740), French Academy of Sciences (1754), Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1764) and other academies. Together with Denis Diderot, he was engaged as a co-editor of the Encyclopedie. Being always skeptical about religion, Jean le Rond D’Alembert faced death in Paris in 1783 true to himself and refused the Last Sacrament. The Archbishop of Paris forbade the funeral service.  But his scientific works survived: D’Alembert’s principle, D’Alembert’s paradox, D’Alembert’s formula, D’Alembert’s system etc.

D’Alembert system

Place a bet of 1 dollar. If this bet wins, then the next game, leave its value unchanged.  Continue in this manner. If the bet loses, double it – place $ 2. If this bet loses, then you double it again – place $ 4, etc. In other words, when losing, double your last bet. Thus, in the case of consecutive losses your bets should be as follows – 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and so on until you win. Then again place a single bet of $ 1, and repeat the entire above mentioned scheme again and again. The idea of the system is very simple – when you are winning at any time during the game, you’ll win a single bet, in this case, $ 1. For example, if you lose three consecutive bets 1 +2 +4, after winning in the fourth one i.e.8 dollars, you will recover all your previous losses and have a profit of $ 1.

The Grand Martingale System

Place a one dollar bet. If the bet wins, place again a dollar bet. If the bet loses, double the bet and add to it your initial bet, which makes total $ 3. Continue the same way – when you lose, raise your bet twice and add the value of your initial bet. Thus, in the case of consecutive losses your bets should be as follows – 1, 3, 7, 15, 31 and so on. In this way if you win after series of losses, you’ll have $ 2 profit. As you can see, this system is more aggressive than the previous one – it gives you the opportunity to double your profit but also doubles the chances to lose as well.

If the previous explanation of the danger of such systems is still not very clear for you and you still do not believe in a huge speed increasing of avalanches and the inevitable collapse of any financial pyramid, you can experience all this with a simple example. Make a model of possible outcomes of 52 games in which gains and losses are alternating in no particular order. Shuffle a deck of 52 cards and put on the table all the cards face up one after the other. Assume that all your black suit cards are your losses, and the red ones are your wins. Pay attention only to the one-color cards that are one after another. Theoretically, after the first scenario, you should see a group consisting of 5-6 cards of the same color, i.e. 5-6 losses in a row, but bear in mind that these are only 52 hands! In other words, in front of you on the table you have a very real situation when you are playing according to this system with an initial bet of $ 5, and you have already lost about 500 dollars. How long did it take you to put all the cards on the table? Real 52 hands do not require much more time. Now think would you like just one more time to put the cards of the deck on the table and lose the next one thousand dollars?

Cancellation system

On a piece of paper write in a row the numbers from 1 to 10. The value of your first bet should be equal to the sum of the first and last number in the row i.e. 10 + 1 = 11 dollars. In case you win, cross off the first and the last numbers

1 2          3          4          5          6          7          8          9          10

and place a bet equal to the sum of the numbers in both ends i.e. 2 + 9 = 11 dollars. If you win again, repeat the same action i.e.

1 2 3          4          5          6          7          8          9 10

Your next bet should be equal to the sum of the numbers in both ends i.e. 8 + 3 =11 dollars. Continue playing the same way until there are no numbers left.

If at any stage of the game you lose, you double down your last bet and do not cross off any numbers. After crossing off all numbers, not exceeding the value of the maximum permissible bet and your own credit, you’ll win $ 55.
In fact, it is still D’Alembert system but with the condition that as soon as the player wins $ 55, he’ll stop playing. In case of a higher initial rate, the achieving of the maximum permitted rate and the total loss occurs even more rapidly. The only thing that somehow can compensate this danger is that a player, having played on this system once, will never dare to apply it again. But even if it is the first time you play applying this system, you never know – maybe exactly this time the Fortune decided to laugh at the fools looking for an easy game.

System 1-2-3-5

Start the game by placing a $ 1 bet. If you win, double your bet – place $ 2. If you win again, place 3 initial bets – $ 3. If you win again, place 5 bets – $ 5. Continue placing the last bet of $ 5 until you lose. Whenever at any stage of the game you lose, start the next game with an initial bet of $ 1.
This system increases your winnings when having a long streak of good luck and minimize your losses in case of series of losses. Ultimately in a long game, you’ll have the same results as in haphazard game. Any long run game with increased bets will always lead to bigger losses. Do not forget that if your plans are to stay in the game as long as possible with a certain amount of money.

System 1-3-2-6-1

Start the game by placing a $ 1 bet. If you win, place a bet of $ 3. If you win again, double your initial bet i.e. place $ 2. If you win again, increase 6 times your initial bet i.e. place $ 6. In case you win again, place again a bet of $ 1. If you continue wining, repeat the steps from the beginning. If you lose at any point in the game, then your next bet should be the $ 1.
The main idea of this system is that you have to win 4 times in a row. If so, you win 12 initial bets. If you win 3 times in a row, but lose the fourth time, you’ll have a zero result. Losing the third game, you gain 2 initial bets. If you lose after a single win, you lose 2 bets.

10 per cent betting system

The first thing you need to do is to determine the amount you can spend on the game this evening. Let’s assume that it is the amount of $ 100. Your first bet then should be 10% of this amount i.e. $ 10. If you win, you’ll have 110 dollars and the next your bet should be also 10% of the money i.e. $ 11. If you lose, you’ll have 90 dollars and the next your bet should be $ 9 (10%). Continue the same way calculating your bets, adding or subtracting from your total money amount your winnings and losses and placing 10 % bets of the total amount.

This system is aimed at generating benefits in case of a lucky streak – you win and raise bets and at the same time you cut down your losses in case of series of losses – the more you lose, the less you bet. In order not to lose a lot of money, before you start playing you need to know when to stop. First – you stop playing when you lose all the money. Second – you finish playing, winning in this case $ 150.

How to select a game and the way to learn poker

Some said that poker is one of the simplest games in the world. In order to start playing, the only thing you need to know is the hand ranking, which hands beat which hands and the fact, that you need to bet only with strong hands and fold with the weak ones.

The first thing you need to do before start playing is to understand what types of poker are offered since you should begin learning the necessary rules and strategies, focusing on a specific game.  So, find out what types of poker are offered, what is the betting structure, the commission, and if there are some additional rules. The world’s most common poker game is stud, so it makes sense to pay more attention to this particular game. Texas Hold’em, because of its simple rules and strategies is not less popular. It is also important where exactly you intend to play. For instance, in Russia, five card stud is more common than the same game with seven cards. At the same time in the US, five card stud is played very rarely. In case you are not familiar with poker at all, you should start with a draw poker. In this game you will quickly understand the basic principles of poker – betting strategies, combinations, the possibilities to form a combination with drawing hands etc. In addition, the draw poker is well known and popular among the “home” players, and it will not be difficult for you to find partners among your acquaintances, friends and colleagues.

If you play in a casino, bear in mind that many casinos in the U.S. have poker tables for beginners. At these tables players either play entirely without money or they play very low. In some clubs, there are instructors that can give beginners some free tips and lessons. But do not play low for too long. In many cases, these low bets for beginners develop the habit to place a bet in every pot, to enter the game with any combination of cards, “just in order to play.” In addition, some of the unusually impressive and spectacular (when you play low) actions may lead to their unconscious repetition in future, in more serious games, which can cause huge losses.

The best way to explore all aspects of the game and acquire the necessary game skills is to attend a game with “normal” bets, but with low ante. Thus, in a standard draw poker a bet should be from 5 to10 dollars, and the ante should be just $ 1. Even if you play poker only for the second time in your life, you can spend at the gaming table quite a lot of time and virtually to lose nothing, or even get a small profit. At the same time, watching the game of the skilled players (the more players there are at the table, the better), you can learn game strategy and tactics, you can understand the game, but not join it for real. You should only place your ante of $ 1, and only when your cards are very strong indeed, you should place a bet or respond to the bets of your opponents. Then again, you should wait for your stroke of luck, losing very little, and when fortune smiles at you, returning part of your money.
Statistics show that by using this strategy, most beginners have mastered their playing skills just for $ 100! Do not forget that this strategy is a strategy of defeat! It is intended only to give you the opportunity to fully understand the game. After spending hours at the gaming table or a couple of hours, you must begin to apply more favorable to you strategic decisions. In case you notice that the players always fold after you place a bet or raise, because they know that you are playing very tight and, entering the game, you are absolutely going to win, take advantage of this and bluff – start playing with bad cards. Use the strategy of stealing the ante, check-raise and then you can say that you’ve played a real game. A little luck, a little common sense, and you’ll win.

If you are familiar with the basic principles and strategies of the game, then these low bets are unlikely to ruin you. The bets of $ 2- $ 4 or $ 5- $ 10 dollars are optimal for all beginners and intermediate players. These bets make the game balanced, and visible, with moderate losses and moderate profit. Moreover, as in any other gambling game, a stroke of luck is within the realm of possibility, which gives a fairly big chance even the novice player to win a professional.

Having learned how to play, do not stop on this level, you should constantly improve your strategy and tactics, and very soon you’ll be able to beat the house advantage and win against your opponents. Having achieved some success, move to the next category and start placing higher bets. There was a totally wrong conception that if the bets are higher, the class of the players is higher as well. In the real life, everything is just the opposite. In many cases high stake games are played not by those who are more familiar with the game, but just by more prosperous and gambling people who are too busy and have no time to study the complex strategies of the game. If your income is a few hundred or thousands per day, then it is not a big deal to place a bet of 5 -10 dollars, even if you are totally ignorant of the game.

That is why experienced players know that the higher the bets, the easier they are won by some and lost by others. Professionals have long observed that if they play with other strong players,(approximately their level of players), the very best that you can count on is winning a high stakes game for one hour i.e. in a game with bets of  5 – 10 dollars the best player wins about $ 10 per hour. Therefore, the main income professionals get not from the best, but from casual and completely illiterate players who in poker are called Fish. In this case, your winnings (with the same bets) may be 50, 100 and more dollars per hour, depending on the number and the species of the fish in your “aquarium”. If you make a living with playing poker, then “catching Fish” and high stake games should be your main tactic.