Guide to the D’Alembert Strategy

The D’Alembert strategy is one of the most widely used gambling systems around the world. Efficient, safe, and structured, many players swear by it, but what is it, and how can you use it in your games? With our informative guide, we’ll give you the lowdown on this popular system. From advantages and disadvantages to in-game examples – we’ve got you covered!

History of the D’Alembert Strategy

The D’Alembert strategy was named after the French mathematician, Jean le Rond d’Alembert. d’Alembert made a fallacious argument that a coin which has previously landed on Tails is more likely to land on Heads in the future. At some point in the late 18th century, this idea was applied to gambling, with players upping their wagers after a loss in the belief that they had a greater chance of making their money back with future bets. The D’Alembert method quickly became a widely used roulette strategy, although it’s used in many other games, and remains popular to this day.

Rules

The D’Alembert strategy requires you to increase your wager after a loss. It’s a form of the Martingale system, a negative progression betting strategy, and is considered to be one of the safest gambling systems around. Unlike the Martingale system, however, the D’Alembert method requires you to raise your bet by one unit when you lose, as opposed to doubling it.

First off, you need to set your base unit. This is the amount of money that you’ll be wagering initially and increasing your bet with, should you lose. For example, if your base unit is £5, you’ll double it to £10 in the event of a loss. The monetary value you assign to your base unit doesn’t really matter, but it probably shouldn’t be any more than 5% of your bankroll, or you could end up losing too much, too quickly. Start off betting with just one unit, increase your bet by one unit if you lose, and decrease your bet by one unit if you win.

So, which casino games can you use the D’Alembert method on? It was specifically created as a roulette strategy and works best on even money bets (bets with even odds where the player stands to lose or win the same amount of money), but the fundamental principles of the system make it a good fit for a wide variety of casino games. These include: 

Example

Let’s apply the D’Alembert strategy to a typical round of roulette, and demonstrate how the system actually works:

Remember, before you start betting you need to decide upon a point when you’ll stop betting and walk away. When using betting strategies, it’s easy for greed to get the better of you, but it’s important to set a limit and stick to it.

Advantages of the D’Alembert Strategy

Now, let’s take a look at the advantages of using the D’Alembert method: 
It has a much lower variance than other negative progression betting systems, such as the Martingale system. This means that there’s much less chance of your losses mounting up and, on the whole, you’ll remain in charge of your bankroll – one of the key reasons why it’s such a highly regarded roulette strategy. 

It also means that if you do incur losses, they’ll incur gradually, rather than suddenly, as is frequently the case with the Martingale system. The D’Alembert strategy can add some discipline and structure to your betting. One of the key things that players struggle with when they play is remaining in control of their game, particularly as the losses start to mount up – the D’Alembert system can help with that. Some gambling systems, like LaBouchere, can be relatively complicated to play. The D’Alembert system is simple and easy to implement in a wide range of casino games.

Disadvantages of the D’Alembert Strategy

However, the D’Alembert strategy isn’t without its drawbacks:
 Since you’re only increasing your bet by one unit when you lose, rather than doubling it, it can be difficult or even impossible to win back all of your losses if they begin to mount up. While it’s certainly a safer system than Martingale, there’s less potential to really stack your winnings.

You can still reach and surpass the table’s betting limits if you have a long run of losses. Should this happen, you’ll have to decrease your bet, and you probably won’t be able to recover your losses. Your potential winnings are relatively low – you’re probably not going to win big by using the D’Alembert strategy. 

In addition, it can take a long time to win your losses back. Switching up your betting strategies as and when it’s appropriate is probably the best way to approach any casino game. Finally, the D’Alembert method doesn’t do anything to reduce the house edge, it just tries to take advantage of winning streaks. The fundamental principles of the game remain exactly the same.

Now that you’ve got a handle on this betting strategy, why not head online and put your skills to the test? Betsson’s online casino might be the perfect place to start, offering a wide range of games and betting limits!