The Martingale system is played as follow. Suppose you are betting on red in roulette. Every time you win, bet a dollar the next time. Every time you loose double your previous bet. Play until you have won say 5 dollars (or your favorite possible winning)
1. Fact: If you play this system hypothetically you will ALWAYS get your 5 dollars. Why? How might you try and verify this claim?
2. What is wrong with this system in practice?
The Labouche system is played as follows. Write down a list of numbers usually 1,2,3,4. Suppose you are betting on red. Bet the sum of the first and last numbers from your list. If you loose, add the amount that you last bet to the end of the list. If you win remove the first and last numbers from the list. Use the new list and bet the sum of the first and last numbers (if there is just one number bet that). Continue until your list is empty.
1. When the list empties how much will you have won?
2. Fact: If you play this system hypothetically the list will ALWAYS eventually empty. Why? How might you try and verify this claim?
3. What is wrong with this system in practice?