These conditions are assumed, though in the first two cases they undoubtedly are realities, and within the experience of every system player. The third one may be true or not; it is not vastly important.[[113]]
Now as regards maxim No. 1, it may be taken for granted that for all practical purposes the system player makes his "grand coup"[[114]] on not more than
(say) twenty occasions, and on the twenty-first he meets such an adverse run that he loses his entire profits plus his entire capital; or say, for argument, he had already spent his profits and so loses only his entire capital. The proportion of the coup played for to the capital employed is generally some 2½ per cent.; consequently after twenty good days' play, and one bad one, a system player is a loser of 50 per cent. of his money. (This is a very low estimate.)
Now supposing a player had played stake for stake on the opposite chance to that played on by the system player, it is obvious that he would have lost on twenty days, and won on the twenty-first sufficient to recoup all his previous losses, with 50 per cent. profit.
The mathematician will say "No" to this—"the Bank will have reaped its zero percentage from each spin of the Wheel during the progress of the play." But why? A, who is playing the system, stakes 10 louis on Red; B (who is playing against him) stakes 10 louis on Black, and zero crops up. They are both put in prison, and A comes out safely, so B is now 10 louis worse off than A. But in a short time A and B again both stake 10 louis, and zero appears. But this time B comes out safely, in which case A must write this down as a losing coup, and his next stake will be say, for example, 15. To meet this B has only to add 5 louis to the 10 he has just retrieved out of prison—so his profit and loss account due to zero is exactly square, as far as it affects his transactions with A. And surely during the course of a game A and B will both get out of prison the same number of times. (And A does not fear zero—he only fears reaching the maximum—consequently B
does fear for zero; he but awaits the time when his stake gets to the maximum.)
Is it not desirable to be B? He requires no capital—or very little—and yet is in a position to win all that A is eventually going to lose—as he most certainly must lose. To play on this method is exceedingly simple. All that has to be done is to take any system, and play it in reverse order to what it is designed to be played in. The effect of this is, in a word, to compel the Bank to play this system in its correct order against the punter. The writer has always employed a Labouchere to play on this method, and it is the simplest one by which to explain the procedure.
A reference to p. [456] will show that the Labouchere system, is played by writing down so many figures, so that their sum amounts to the grand coup—or stake being played for—and that it is usual to write down the figures 1, 2, 3, 4; so that the grand coup is 10 units. To play this system in the usual manner it is generally assumed that a capital of 400 or 500 units is required. By reversing matters in play the first important advantage gained to the player is that he needs but a capital of 10 units, and his grand coup becomes 400 or 500 units. Very well. The figures 1, 2, 3, 4 are written down, and the first stake is the sum of the extreme figures—5. This sum is lost; but now the 5 is not written down after the 4, but the 1 and the 4 are erased. The next state is again 5 (2 + 3), and is again lost, the 2 and 3 are erased and the player retires. Suppose this second stake of 5 had been won, then instead of erasing the 2 and 3, the figure 5 would be written down on the paper, so the row would read 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and the next stake would be (5 + 2) 7. Should this be lost the 5 and 2 are
erased, the next stake being 3. Suppose it is won, this figure is written down, and the row now reads 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 3, and the next stake is 3 + 3 (6), and so on. But the moment all figures are erased, the player will have lost 10 units and must retire. This he will have to do a great many times, but finally such a run as the following will occur. The Red is staked on throughout—the dot indicating which colour wins.
| Figures. | Stake. | R. | B. | + or – |
| 1 | 01 + 4 | 005 | • | –5 |
| 2 | 02 + 3 | 005 • | +0 | |
| 3 | 02 + 5 | 007 • | +7 | |
| 4 | 02 + 7 | 009 • | +16 | |
| 5 | 02 + 9 | 011 • | +27 | |
| 7 | 02 + 11 | 013 | • | +14 |
| 9 | 03 + 9 | 012 | • | +2 |
| 11 | 05 + 7 | 012 • | +14 | |
| 12 | 05 + 12 | 017 • | +31 | |
| 17 | 05 + 17 | 022 • | +53 | |
| 22 | 05 + 22 | 027 • | +80 | |
| 27 | 05 + 27 | 032 | • | +48 |
| 07 + 22 | 029 | • | +19 | |
| 29 | 12 + 17 | 029 • | +48 | |
| 41 | 12 + 29 | 041 • | +89 | |
| 12 + 41 | 053 | • | +36 | |
| 46 | 17 + 29 | 046 • | +82 | |
| 17 + 46 | 063 | • | +19 | |
| 29 | 29 | 029 • | +48 | |
| 58 | 29 + 29 | 058 • | +106 | |
| 87 | 29 + 58 | 087 • | +193 | |
| 29 + 87 | 116 | • | +77 | |
| 87 | 29 + 58 | 087 • | +164 | |
| 29 + 87 | 116 | • | +48 | |
| 58 | 058 | 58 • | +106 | |
| 116 | 58 + 58 | 116 • | +222 | |
| 174 | 58 + 116 | 174 • | +396 | |
| 232 | 58 + 174 | 232 • | +628 | |
| 290 | 58 + 232 | 290 • | +918 |