Labouchere System
Content curated from and authored by Clear Data Sports
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Content curated from and authored by Clear Data Sports
Last updated
Was this helpful?
Most of the progressive betting systems we’ve looked at are relatively easy to learn and use when placing sports wagers. Add a unit, double your bet, etc. However, the Labouchere System is a bit more complicated, and there will be a learning curve.
Similar to The , which is another negative progression system, the Labouchere differs in that it doesn’t try to recover all of your losses with one big bet but instead tries to make you whole by stringing together multiple winning bets.
Credited to a roulette player named Henry Labouchere in the 1800s, a similar system actually pre-dates him by 100 years. But it’s his name, so he will forever live in the system’s fame or infamy - depending on if you win or lose while using it.
The first thing you need to do is decide how much profit you want to win. For the sake of this example, let’s put that number at $10.
Now we need to come up with a sequence of numbers that, when added together, equal 10. Once you see the entire system, you’ll realize that there needs to be some consideration given to the size of your bets in choosing your sequence. But let’s keep it easy right now. Let’s use 1-2-3-4.
The first bet needs to be the sum of the first and last number in the sequence. So Bet No. 1 is $5.
If you win the $5 bet, then you will cross off the 1 and 4 from your sequence and then repeat the bet by betting the first and last numbers that remain in the sequence, which is now 2 and 3. So you would then place another $5 bet.
If you win that bet, you have your $10 in profit, and you would then start again.
But if you are to lose the $5 bet, instead of crossing the numbers off the sequence, you would add a 5 to the end of the sequence. If our first placed bet lost, our sequence would become 1-2-3-4-5. If it had been the second bet, our sequence would become 2-3-5.
Other than crossing off numbers or adding them, the betting rules are the same. Always bet the sum of the first number and the last number.
The only exception to this is if only one number remains, which would happen if our $7 bet (2+5) was to win. With only a 3 remaining, our bet would be $3.
One of the nice things about this particular system is the flexibility in the bets. We’re using a very small goal of $10 in profit, so these are all small bets.
But let’s say you want to win $100 but still make smaller bets. You can extend your sequence to 10 numbers or more, as long as the total equals $100.
You can even add zeros to your sequence if you’d like. The only rules that can’t be changed are the sum total of the sequence, betting the sum of the first and last numbers, and marking off or adding numbers depending on the bet’s result.