The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-02-07
SEASON IS LIVELY
 AT MONTE CARLO Greatest Crop of Victims on
 Record Promised ABOUT THE SYSTEMS Man Who Bets All Over the Board Has No Earthly Chance to
 Win-ouet Reigns in
 Midst of Tragedies.
ABOUT THE SYSTEMS

| honte carlo The regulars are here al- ways. Summer heat has no terrors for them and even in the Christmas holi- days when all the world that owns fire side seeks it, they will be found priclking holes in the black and red cards furn- lshed by the management, and evidently | studying their system says Robert T. Carter in the Cincinnati Times-Star.
 But the professionals are being rein forced this month by an exceptionally large number of pleasure-seeking men and women, who have fled from the severe winter that seems to hold all Europe, except this lovely haven of gambling and continual spring. This season is fully six weeks ahead of time Every incoming train de luxe" | from Vie1na, Berlin or Paris has every seat filled. It is March in January, as l the hotel-keepers put it. Probably nine-tenths of those who follow the sea- son leave some money at the Casino, just as they take their mineral water at Aix-lesB Rains later in the season-as a matter of form. Even the frightened Mary Wilkins. New England's old maid, in whose inner consciousness gambling 1 is about the worst of the cardinal sins. will leave a few fve-franc pieces under the croupiers rake, just to see how it Is done" The harvest of 1905 vii! there- fore be heavy one.
 Monte Carlo guide books tell you the relation between players and bank is as | SO to 61, and the winnings of the latter about $5,O00000 a year. This would mean l cf to ha Cac brip 900 with them, but bet it and win back $S00, ,000,000. But Sir Hiram Maxim, who has studied roulette scientifically for years, makes the astounding assertion that he can prove only $5,5O0,0OO is bet on the tables during a year, and of this | the bank instead of taking the modest commission of 11a per cent, actually wins more than 90 per cent, thus the banks advantage is about 10 to l, Instead Of | 61 to GO.
 Chances to Win.
 1 How is it possible asks the layman, 1 that on tables in which the chances are mathematicaly even save for the zero, l which should average an appearance once in every thirty-seven whirs, such an enormous advantage remains with the bank? In America, in New York; where a half dozen splendidly equipped roulette l wheels spin every night, the bank has more than twice the odds it has at Monte | Carlo In America, with two zeroes on the board, a bet on black or red is lost | if zero turns up, at Monte Carlo it is | halved.
 If then Monte Carlo wins as Sir Hiram is willing to prove, 90 per cent of all money bet, what are the profits in Amer | lea on a square whee?" The police of 1 New York alone know perhapS. | Something besides mathematics is nec- | essary to account for the enormous wip- nings of the bank Foolish systems" 1 insufficient capital, and throwing small ] bets all over the board are perhaps two chief causes of the players misfortunes Every now and then a man with d new | system appears to .ause a wild sensa- | tion, and often to borrow carfare home Just now the Casino is excited over the l operation of a MT. G. Wall of London l MT. Wall has invented a calculating ma l chine that he says cannot fail I amused myself two afternoons by joining the crowd that followed him from table to | ta able. With small bets the inventor left every table winner despite some ap- parently disastrous runs against hlm. An | enthusiastic German offered him s25,0o0 | for his invention. a Russian calmly raised | this $75000, but the Engishman went on | winning flve-franc pieces, declaring his l Tuck machin<," as he calls 1t. was not for sale.
 There is probably nothing in the new machine beyond som variation of the pre- historic doubling system. And | doubling your bet every time you lose is by the way, considered by the greatest | O. all authorities, quoted above, as still the best of all systems" 1t used to be known as the Martingale. but has re- gently fallen into 1isrepute at Monte Carlo.
 Nightingale Best System.
 "The Martingale," says Sir Hiram Maxim, "consists of beginning with the lowest permissible unit and doubling the | stake every time you lose until the limit is reached If we have only one end In | view-to reduce the ,ank's chances against us to a minimum. and to increase , our chances of 1inning money from the bank to a maximum-then the Martingale | has a decided advantage over every other system
 Our chances, in fact, are the highest ] possible or admissible when considered 1 from purely mathematical standpoint | Yet any ordinary player at Monte Carlo 1 knows very well that If he plays a Martingale at roulette with the smallest | unit admissible a run of eleven against 1 him Is fatal.
 If he plays on red he Is beaten by a run of eleven blacks and vice versa. If he follows the colors. eleven alter
 also fatal. run of eleven takes place on an average once in 204S coups Any possible combination of eleven is just as likely to come up as a run of eleven on red or black The most adverse run is just as likely to comeup as the most favorable one.
 "The one thing that neither the player nor the system-inventor can get into his head is the fact that when the ball has been spun and fallen into the pocket, when the money has been staked and paid out. that transaction is finished for ever. and has not the remotest effect upon any subsequent events.
 The fact, however, is incontrovertibe that after a series of twenty-two red or for that matter, after a series of forty-the chance of black turning up is exactly what blacks chance in roulette l MUNYON'S