Every gambler has met someone who uses a system. But professional gamblers and card counters dismiss the importance of systems. Both games rely heavily on one’s level of skill, which tends to cancel out the element of chance over the long term.

Bettors on the horses frequently employ strategies, but the house edge in horse racing is far higher than in roulette (and too high in roulette, too). Bookies take a 15–25 percent rake on the horses, negating any edge you could have. Still, even if you know a thing or two about horses, you won’t have much of an advantage at the roulette or craps tables. These bets are based solely on chance. Still, players attempt to devise betting techniques to beat the house edge.

Numerous systems are used, such as doubling one’s wager after a loss (also known as the Martingale system), double one’s stake plus 1, raising, reducing, and canceling one’s bet, and numerous other subtle variations on these themes. All of them have one thing in common: they’re useless. You will lose in the long run because there is just one thing that matters: the house advantage. Just postponing disaster by the use of a mechanism.

Craps and roulette are games of chance where the only way to win is to get lucky and go quickly. If you stick around long enough, the house’s advantage will catch up to you. Most strategies require you to increase your initial wager by an increment equal to your loss.

If we were placing bets on the flip of a coin, this strategy might make sense. Let’s say you decide to put down ten bucks on heads but the coin comes up tails. Repeatedly betting “double or nothing” until heads came up would suffice. Let’s pretend there’s no maximum amount you can wager in this game of heads or tails, and that you’re willing to risk a million dollars if required to go back to even. Nevertheless, casinos do have betting minimums and maximums. If you were playing double-up or double-up + 1 on black, you would lose if a long run of reds occurred.

In addition, there is no inherent house advantage to worry about when gambling with a coin toss. All gambling systems suffer from the same fundamental flaw: the odds are never in your favor. The longer you spend trying to overcome the house edge, the greater the likelihood that it will eventually succeed. Would you, as a shop owner, let all of your stock go for a 5% loss? Given enough time, any betting system will eventually lose you money. Is there really nothing we can do about this?

In games of chance like craps and roulette, you want to give yourself the best possible shot at success. Place your money on a number rather than the corners. Try to get a win with as few rolls of the dice or spins of the wheel as possible. Players that play for the sake of playing longer often end up losing money. If you have $100 to wager, play two rounds of roulette.

In the event that you are lucky, you should leave the table as soon as possible. Never, ever leave the table just after a winning spin. You should wait till the winning streak ends. When that happens, though, you should withdraw your money and depart. Strong willpower is required for games like craps and roulette. Don’t waste any time and money by hesitating to cash out your winnings; instead, be totally resolved to do so. The game will devour you if you give in to its allure.

Get comfortable with blackjack if you want to have some fun. With a level head, you can play blackjack for as long as you wish, and the house edge is rather small. However, your breaks at the roulette or craps table should be more like lightning raids. In addition, if you plan on betting, you should abandon your method at home.