Two centuries ago a gambler developed a money-management system now called The Cancellation System, or La Bouchère. (A merchant banker surnamed Labouchère lived in Amsterdam at the time: perhaps he devised the system.) The system usually wins a small number of chips: occasionally it obliterates your bankroll. Frequently I see ads for money-management systems that are GUARANTEED to win at craps, roulette, or Baccarat. Under no circumstances send them any money whatsoever: they are either fools or charlatans. NO MONEY-MANAGEMENT SYSTEM CAN CHANGE THE HOUSE'S EDGE.
Having made sure you know that in the long run the house will always prevail at craps, roulette, or Baccarat, I enjoy a money-management system called reverse La Bouchère. It's called 'reverse' because it usually loses small amounts: occasionally it wins handsomely. Your bets will grow rapidly when you are winning; if your luck turns, then you will rapidly give those winnings back. It is not for the timid.
Reverse La Bouchère works better at Baccarat because the house edge is 1.2% after commission for bets on Banker: that's much better than the 2.7% house edge for even-money bets at European-style roulette. Reverse La Bouchère is an easy system to use because pencil and paper are readily available at any Baccarat table. I prefer mini-Baccarat because the minimum bet is $25, and I can increase my bets in $5 increments without paying extra in commissions. I start with a twenty-bet stake, $500, and I always bet on Banker.
I start with a list of the four numbers, 5, 10, 15, and 20. My bet is the sum of the first and last uncrossed numbers, or $25. If that loses then I cross out the first and last numbers and make my next bet the sum of the first and last uncrossed numbers. If there are one or no uncrossed numbers, then I start again.
When my bet wins, I append that amount to my list. My next bet is the sum of the first and last uncrossed numbers. I continue until:
1. The commissions I owe exceed my chips (the usual case), or,
2. My next bet would exceed my original stake. The table below shows the system's results from a lucky run on Banker. All the numbers were crossed out using the rules explained above, except for those in bold. Initially, my bets on Banker lost so much that I was minus $305 after 36 decisions, not counting commissions. For the next 22 decisions, the cards nicely favored Banker.
When my next bet ($95+$480) would have exceeded my $500 initial stake, I paid $175 in commissions, tipped $25, and left with a $1065 profit. This was a lucky run for me. More often than not I would lose my whole stake, because NO MONEYMANAGEMENT SYSTEM CAN CHANGE THE HOUSE'S EDGE.
Occasionally it's fun to try to be at the Baccarat table for a lucky run on Banker. If you want some heart-pounding excitement and can afford to lose your stake, then I recommend testing Fortune using the system I call the Backward Lady Butcher.
