D’Alembert Betting System

The D’Alembert is among the easiest betting systems applicable to the game of roulette. In fact, this system ranks second in popularity after the Martingale. It shares many characteristics with the Martingale, which is unsurprising considering that both systems are based on negative betting progressions. Therefore, the D’Alembert dictates that players should increase their stakes after a loss and decrease them after each win.

• How Does the D'Alembert Betting System Work
• The Reverse D'Alembert
• How to Tinker the D’Alembert Betting System
• Advantages of the D'Alembert Betting System
• Disadvantages of the D'Alembert Betting System
• Dangers of Using the D’Alembert System
• Conclusion

The origins of the D’Alembert system can be traced back to the 18th century, when the French mathematician Jean le Rond D’Alembert began his work on a statement of the fundamental laws of motion. The mathematician concluded that the external forces acting on a body and the inertial forces form a system that exists in equilibrium. This conclusion laid the foundations of Newton’s Second Law and became known as the D’Alembert Principle.

How Does the D’Alembert Betting System Work?

When applied to games of chance such as roulette, D’Alembert’s law of equilibrium leads to the idea that future outcomes of wheel spins can balance out less likely results from the past. According to D’Alembert, the chances of a coin landing on tails increase if it has already landed on heads several consecutive times.

In other words, if the ball lands in red pockets several times in a row, black is “due” to appear and becomes a more likely outcome. This concept is also known as the Gambler’s Fallacy. However, this indicates that the D’Alembert system is based on the idea that players who place even-money bets will generate a profit provided they win at least as often as they lose.

When a coin is flipped, 50% of the time the result will be tails and 50% of the time it will be heads. Although these are the figures, probabilities are not the same in the gambling realm.

What gambling enthusiasts should remember is that when they place any of the roulette bets that pay even money, the chances of winning are not the same as with the flip of a coin. This is due to the presence of the zero and, in American-style roulette, the double-zero pockets.

The D’Alembert system is quite simple to master even for roulette novices, which explains why it is so popular among casino enthusiasts. If you are keen to give the betting system a trial run, the first thing you need to do is set a base betting unit depending on the overall size of your bankroll. It is important to mention that your betting unit should not exceed 5% of your bankroll for the session. A betting unit of 2% is considered the safest option, especially for gambling aficionados who are reluctant to take risks or do not have such a bountiful bankroll.

Some experienced roulette players advise opting for a base bet unit that does not exceed the 1% threshold. Others go even further and recommend staking an amount that is 0.50% of the funds you intend to use during your betting session.

Since the base bet unit you settle on will be the backbone of this roulette betting method, it is crucial to pick it wisely, as it will determine the net profit you are expected to accumulate during your session.

The D’Alembert system dictates that you should start by placing an even-money bet of precisely one betting unit. If luck is not on your side on the first spin and you lose, you need to increase your next wager by one betting unit. You must keep increasing your wagers by a single unit after each loss.

After each winning bet, you are required to reduce your next stake by one betting unit. If your first bet is a winning one, you continue wagering with the same base unit until you lose. The idea here is that if a player wins and loses roughly the same number of times, they will eventually turn a profit.

It would be best to demonstrate how the D’Alembert betting method works in practice by providing an example. Let’s assume your bankroll is £250 and your betting unit is £5, or 2% of the overall sum you intend to take to the roulette table. You bet £5 on Red and lose. You increase your next wager by one betting unit, so you bet £10 on Red and lose again. At this point, you have lost £15.

You increase your next wager on Red to £15 and win this time, collecting £15 in net profit. After this success, you are supposed to reduce the next wager by one betting unit to £10. You bet on Black and win again, generating a net profit of another £10. It becomes clear you have won £25 with your last two bets and lost only £15 with your two losing wagers, so your net profit for this betting session is £10.

As you can see, the D’Alembert system works efficiently as long as the number of winning bets coincides with or exceeds that of losing bets. Of course, there is the option to set a limit at which you will stop increasing the stakes after a loss and reduce the betting unit to its initial size. This modification can help you minimise your losses if you happen to enter a longer losing streak.

The Reverse D’Alembert

As expected from its name, it functions in the opposite way and is suitable for even-money bets in roulette.

Players are again recommended to choose a base betting unit which should range between 2% and 5% of their overall bankrolls. Their first even-money bet should be one betting unit. According to the Reverse D’Alembert, players should increase their stakes by one betting unit after each winning bet and decrease them after a loss.

So, if your first bet of £5 on Red wins, your second bet should be £10. If you succeed in predicting the winning colour again, your next wager needs to be £15, and so on. When players lose a bet, they are required to decrease their next stake by one betting unit. Thus, if you lose your third bet of £15, you reduce the next wager to £10.

One major advantage of the Reverse D’Alembert is that it enables players to minimise their losses. Those who implement the Reverse D’Alembert are less likely to exhaust their bankrolls when they experience a lengthy losing streak. Besides, implementing this variation may prove rather profitable if the player wins several bets in a row.

What gambling aficionados should take into account is that, while employing the Reverse D’Alembert betting system, the results they ultimately enjoy might not be as bountiful as those delivered by its original version.

Yet, one of the biggest benefits roulette lovers will enjoy if they decide to give this betting method a shot is that they will be able to put it through its paces even if their bankroll is rather humble. Furthermore, if fortune does not smile on you and you end up on a sustained losing streak, you will not find yourself compelled to risk a larger chunk of your funds to make up for previous losses.

As with the original version of the D’Alembert betting system, while making use of its reversed version gambling enthusiasts are advised to decide on a stopping point before they begin. The majority of gambling aficionados recommend starting the betting progression all over again as soon as you have increased the staked amount five times.

Although taking the betting progression further might seem alluring because the potential pay-offs will be more generous, players should bear in mind that the risk they need to take will increase significantly.

How to Tinker with the D’Alembert Betting System

If you plan on putting the D’Alembert betting system to the proof, you should be aware that there are a few more modifications that can be made to it. The results players might ultimately enjoy can turn out to be rather interesting if they do not increase the staked amount by one betting unit each time their wagers are settled as losses and instead bring the betting progression back to square one.

Many roulette mavens welcome this variant of the betting system because, even if they place several losing wagers, these will not have a major impact on their bankroll.

If gambling enthusiasts decide to take advantage of this modified version of the roulette betting method, the winnings they are expected to generate should make up for the losses incurred during their betting session.

One factor gambling enthusiasts should not forget is the edge the casino gains over them whenever they play. Although using this betting method will help players reduce their losses to a minimum, they should remember that ultimately they will invariably lose to the casino.

Still, the fact that the casino invariably holds the upper hand over players should not put you off the betting system. In essence, if luck is on your side on a given day, you might enjoy a long winning streak that can bring you a sizeable payoff.

Advantages of the D’Alembert Betting System

Without question, the biggest advantage the D’Alembert system offers is its simplicity. It does not require players to take notes like some other systems do. On the contrary, the system is easy to learn and incorporate at the roulette table.

Another advantage results from the fact that, while using this betting method, there is no steep increase in the bet size. As wagers are increased by a single betting unit after each loss, a longer losing streak is less likely to drain your bankroll completely. On some occasions, the D’Alembert system also enables those who follow it to generate a consistent profit.

Because the size of the wager after each loss is increased slowly, the system is suitable for players who do not have many funds to play with. Besides, the risk of reaching the table limit on a lengthy losing streak is much smaller if you implement the D’Alembert, which is not the case with some other betting methods.

Disadvantages of the D’Alembert Betting System

Like the other betting systems we have discussed so far, the D’Alembert has a few faults. The system is most effective when it comes to generating short-term profits. Though consistent, the winnings will be far from life-changing, which is to be expected from a system that involves a relatively low degree of risk.

Then again, to turn a profit at all, players are expected to win and lose roughly the same number of times. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that this will happen since the chances of winning and losing with even-money bets in roulette are not exactly 50%. The scales are tipped in favour of the casino because of the zero pocket on the wheel. This effect is even stronger in American roulette, where an additional double-zero pocket further increases the house edge. Statistically speaking, players lose more often than they win, which makes it more difficult for them to recover their losses.

Entering a longer losing streak is not unlikely, either. If a player suffers five or six losing bets in a row, there is no guarantee they will succeed in winning an equal number of times to offset the losses. Essentially, players need to remember that neither the D’Alembert nor any other betting system can reduce the house edge or influence the spins. This is because the outcome of each spin is not affected by the previous numbers that have been spun on the wheel.

Dangers of Using the D’Alembert Betting System

As we mentioned above, the D’Alembert betting system revolves around the idea that ultimately the number of losing and winning wagers laid will balance. Although this claim makes perfect sense to roulette lovers, what they fail to take into consideration is that, for the results to come out even, the period considered should be dramatically prolonged.

In essence, this is exactly where the main shortcoming of the betting system stems from, because the frequencies of opposite results are unlikely to balance during a typical betting session unless players spend a huge amount of time at the roulette table.

That is the reason why this idea is unworkable in the context of roulette. If the number of winning and losing wagers does not balance during the time casino enthusiasts play, they might end up with no winnings at all, which is certainly not a desirable scenario.

That being said, many roulette players give the betting system a chance because, unlike the Martingale betting method, which is exceptionally aggressive, this is not the case with the D’Alembert. Gambling aficionados will not be prompted to double the staked amount whenever a loss occurs.

As already mentioned, with the D’Alembert betting system the amount you need to put on the line following a loss will be increased by a single betting unit, which undoubtedly makes a significant difference.

Although the D’Alembert betting system appeals to gambling aficionados because of its inherent simplicity, roulette lovers should not forget that its use will not influence their chances of winning. The same applies to the house edge: whether you take advantage of the D’Alembert betting method or any other roulette betting system, losing to the house is ultimately unavoidable.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, many gambling aficionados are eager to try their hand at the D’Alembert betting system because there are no complex calculations required while adapting their stakes to the outcome of the previous round. Another reason the method is so popular among casino enthusiasts is that it is a much safer alternative compared with many other betting systems that can be applied to roulette, as the amount at risk will not soar.

With that in mind, gambling aficionados will not stand such a good chance of walking away with a hefty payout. In a similar vein, making up for the losses they have incurred might only be possible after placing several successful wagers, which can sometimes be difficult.

As you can see, using the D’Alembert betting system has its pros and cons that should be evaluated, but it is worth considering as an option if you are still not confident enough to make use of other, riskier roulette betting methods.