The Washburn leader., 1905-04-08
GAMBLING SYSTEMS.

GA AMBLlNU SYSIEMS.
MnY THEY WILL NEVER BREAK THE
BANK At MONTE CARLO.
The Percentage IL Always Against
the Player, and the Maximum Limit
& Nullifies the Only Sure Scheme,
That Of Progressive Betting.
Truly "hope springs eternal in the
human breast!" How many inventors
have gone to Monte Carlo with infalli-
BILE systems it is impossible to say,
but probably they are to be numbered
by millions, and not one of them has
returned the victor. 1t is the ambi-
tion doubtless Of every visitor to the
fascinating tables of Monte Carlo to
"break the bank" Any player with an
extraordinary run Of good luck and the
nerve to press it is liable to ''break the
bank" as the expression is commonly
understood, but no one will ever ''break
the bank" at Monte Carlo in the true
sense OF the phrase.
At the famous gaming rooms there
IL not one, but many tables at which
players may stake. Each table starts
play for the day with capital Of 1O0,-
900 francs, and when that sum is ex-
hausted the bank at that particular ia:
bile is broken, and play is suspended
until fresh bank of 100000 francs is
brought by the attendants-a matter of
= minute OF two.
s But to break the. bank in the true
\ sense would he to- exhaust the entire
capital Of the casino, and that will
never happen, for three simple reasons.
The first Is that the bank lays unfair
odds to the player. This will illus
krate as simply as possible.
At roulette, the most popular form of
gambling, there are thirty-seven num-
bers-from i to 36 inclusive and 0, or
zero. 1t is plain that the fair odds
against player correctly picking one
Of these thirty-seven numbers are SO
to /. But the bank only lays IS to 1.
Hence the bank has always, roughly
speaking, a 3 per cent advantage over
the player: To put it another way, If
q player backs the same number thir-
ty-seven times he ought according to
the fair odds, to come out exactly
square, but at Monte Carlo he cannot
do so. He must lose point.
This advantage of the bank applies
to all the other chances besides the
numbers on which the player may
stake.
Take, for example, the so called
steven'' chance of red or black. OF the
thirty seven numbers eighteen are red.
eighteen black, the thirty zero.
having nominally no color.
1t is obvious that If player backs
red there are nineteen chances eight
cen blacks and 2ero) against his being
correct. The fair odds are nineteen to
eighteen against him, but the bank
only lays even money.
The advantage to the bank does not
end here, for when zero turns up the
bank takes all stakes except those on
zero and the even money chances. The
latter are put aside-"en prise" Is the
technical term.
If on the next turn of the wheel the
player on these even chances wins his
stake is released, and he may pick it
up, but he wins nothing.
To win he must stake again, and
thus when zero turns up 1t Is at least
two to one against player on an
"oyen money" chance
The second reason why the bank
must always win in the long run is tho
existence of the maximum"
The maximum 5000 francs, or f240)
is the highest amount player can win
on any one chance. II q player with
unlimited resources could so on play
ing ':doublc or quits" with the casino
indefinitely he would eventually break
the bank in the full sense of the term.
But you cannot play double or quits"
with M. Blanc for long.
Starting with the minimum stake al
lowed-viz, 5 francs-and doubling
your stakes each time, your eleventh
stake, supposing you to win or lose
consecutively. would be over 5000
francs, and you could double no longer.
In other words, you would have come
to point at which you could not on
one turn of the wheel either double
your winnings or rccoup all your losses.
All systems are designed to nullify
the effects of zero and the maximum.
IL one could be certain that zero would
turn up. Us it ought to turn up, once in
every thirty-seven turns, it could be
provided against. and the casino, even
with the help Of the maximum, would
b In bad way. .A'
<. But no such certainty is possible,
and therefore every system splits on
this rock. And so with the maximum.
Perhaps the most fatal systems Of all
are those based upon the theory that
II red has come up q certain number
Of times running black will follow. To
illustrate the folly Of this theory, take
the following example: II you toss a
penny iii the air 1000 times and 1t
comes heads $50 times 1t Is of course
only even money on fits being tails the
next time.
The third reason, If, indeed, another