Betting systems - do they work?

Question

http://www.betting-systems.net46.net

Has anyone ever used these systems? Do they work?

Answer 1

If the house has an edge in the game it doesn't matter what system you use. Longterm every bet will be -$ expected value.

Answer 2

This type of betting strategy is called a "positive progression" and is one of the better ways for a recreational gambler to play.

A positive progression is any betting pattern where the player increases their bet after each win. This type of play is as old as gambling itself and will not beat any casino game in the long run, but it is a safe way to play compared to negative progressions (increasing your bet after you lose) and can lead to some pretty large session winning in the right situations. When you hear people saying they won a large amount of money at the casino table game, this is usually what they were doing.

This biggest downside to a positive progression is that if the game isn't playing streaky, you'll get crushed. For example, let's say you were playing blackjack with a $10 base bet, and increased your bet $10 every time you won until you lost, at which point you would reset to $10. If you were to lose every other bet, you'd lose the same amount of money you would had you lost EVERY hand (First hand win $10, second hand lose $20, third hand win $10, fourth hand lose $20, etc), whereas if you had been betting $10 on every hand you'd be even.

BTW, the "Conclusion" on the page you linked to is 100% WRONG. None of the betting systems he describes will in any way increase you chances of winning. In fact, when you play positive progressions, you will actually have MORE losing sessions than with flat betting (betting the same amount every time).

Answer 3

betting systems can shift odds in a anor that i will explain, however they will never shift the odds into your favor.

All individual bets have house edges, so any combination of them will only result in a negetive EV for the player, however, this is not to say that combinations of bets will have no effect on the frequency of weather you win or lose NET between all of them.

Most betting systems aim to accomplish the goal of increasing the chances of a "net win" over the chances of a "net loss", the down side is that your net wins will be smaller and your net losses will be larger.  In the end what ends up happening is something liek this:

you bet 100 dollars and 97% of the time you win one dollar

3% of the time you lose a larger amount like 50 dollars (this is just an example  to present a concept not the results of an actual betting system)

in the sum of all wins and losses the house edge still prevails, but you can see how it, and im using quotes here "shifts the odds into your favor" in a sense.

And again to clarify, you will never win in the long term of all the times you play.