Labouchere Betting System

Labouchere system was probably invented
by a British politician Henry Labouchere

Labouchere betting system is another popular approach used in roulette and other casino games. It is also known as cancellation or positive progression system which resembles Martingale method but is less risky and will most probably not cross the table limit too fast. The invention of Labouchere system is believed to be connected with a British politician Henry Labouchere, a finance minister of Queen Victoria, who was fond of gambling. However, the exact origin of the system is still unclear.

Labouchere roulette system is applied for outside even-money bets which are the less risky in roulette game and bring consistent wins. This is how it works: a player writes down a sequence of numbers which will influence the size of the bet. For example, this sequence is:

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 5 - 4 - 3 - 3 - 2

The very first bet in the roulette cycle will be the sum of the first and last numbers in the sequence above: 1+2=3. If the bet wins, these two numbers are excluded from the sequence:

2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 5 - 4 - 3 - 3

The next bet will be the sum of the numbers that are now the first and last ones: 2+3=5. If there is a winning streak, the player goes on crossing out the numbers and when the whole sequence is completed the player starts all over again with the same line of numbers (or change it somehow).

Every time the player loses the bet he adds the number of his first bet to the end of the sequence, in our case it will look like (if the very first bet is losing one):

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 5 - 4 - 3 - 3 - 2 - 3

Here is the scheme how the roulette betting amount can vary with each losing and winning bet. To explain the pattern we use the following sequence of numbers: 1-2-2-3-2:

The result net gain of the roulette cycle of 11 bets is 7 units. It has been obtained after 6 losses and only 5 wins which looks very attractive when compared to the other betting systems.

The sequence of the numbers the player can choose whichever he wants. However, you must remember that the longer the line and the bigger numbers (not just 1, 2 and 3), the more aggressive the roulette gameplay is.

Reverse Labouchere System

The idea of reverse Labouchere betting system is very simple to understand. The player writes down the sequence of numbers of any length and bet the amount which equals the sum of the first and last numbers in the sequence. Unlike regular Labouchere betting system, its reverse version says that the player cancel the first and last numbers in the line when he loses, and add the sum of the previous bet to the end of the sequence when a win occurs.

Back in 1966 a team of roulette players headed by Norman Leigh is believed to beat the bank in one of the casinos in Nice using reverse version of famous Labouchere betting system. No one knows whether this is true-to-life story or not, however the system is still used by many players in different casino games including roulette.