The maximum and minimum stakes allowed at Trente et Quarante are 12,000 francs and 20 francs respectively. Much heavier amounts are to be seen at stake at this game than at Roulette. This probably arises from two facts: because the games are generally
carried out in a quieter manner and the coups are more quickly played than is the case at Roulette, and because there is unquestionably a prevailing idea amongst the gamblers at Monte Carlo that the Bank's advantage is not so great at Trente et Quarante as it is at Roulette. The latter consideration is probably wrong; and, as far as the writer's experience goes, it is a very paying business to insure the stake at Trente et Quarante. If this really is so, it follows that the percentage in favour of the Bank is over 2 per cent., or something like 1 per cent. more than it is at Roulette.
Any system that is applicable to the even chances at the Roulette table can of course be played at Trente et Quarante; but for some reason or other it is unusual to see any system properly worked at this game, possibly because too large a capital would be required.
The almost universal method of play is to follow the "tableau"—that is, to follow the pattern of the card on which the game is marked. If there have been two Reds followed by two Blacks, ninety-nine people out of a hundred will stake on Red, in the expectation of two Reds now appearing, while if there is a run of one colour, thousands of francs will be seen on that colour, and not a single 20-franc piece on the other. Sometimes the colours do run in the most inexplicable manner at Trente et Quarante. The writer has played at a table where there were 17 consecutive Blacks, then 1 Red, to be followed by 16 consecutive Blacks. When such runs occur, the Banks of course lose heavily, and are constantly broken. To break the Bank in the true sense of the word is of course an impossibility. When a Bank gets into low water the chef-de-partie
sends for some more money, which is "Ajouter à la banque," and to this extent only is it possible to "break the Bank at Monte Carlo."
The game of Trente et Quarante is sometimes called "Rouge et Noir."
The method of play on the even chances that will now be explained is based on the three following assumptions:—
First. That every system at present played is successful only for a certain time, when an adverse run, long enough to defeat the progression adopted, is almost certain to occur, whereby the Bank reaps a rich harvest.
Secondly. That only on rare occasions does the system show the desired profit, without the player having been at some period of the game a very heavy loser.
Thirdly. That the failure of systems is not due to zero, but to the Bank's maximum.