Different punters seek to adopt different strategies. The strategies depend on the punter’s level of skill, experience, knowledge, and most importantly, the level of risk. In fact, not all bettors like going all-in at once because of the risks associated with losing. Some punters are risk aversive and don’t like risking too much. Whereas, other punters are more comfortable with losing some in exchange for the opportunity to win a lot. With most games, bets, stocks, bonds, etc. a higher potential to make a profit is followed by higher risks. The extra margin an individual earns with riskier betting strategies is the cost paid to undertake that level of risk. For example, in betting, the contra D’Alembert betting system is considered safer as compared to the Martingale system. In the former, a punter is required to increase its stake by one unit after a loss. And alternatively, increase the stake by double after a loss in the latter. Each strategy has its own set of features, advantages, and disadvantages. We take a deeper look at one of the more established and defensive strategies – the Contra D’Alembert.
Contra D’Alembert Betting strategy
The contra D”Alambert betting strategy is a positive progressive strategy. A positive progressive strategy requires a punter to increase their stake after a win. And alternatively, decrease the stake in a bet after a loss. Under this system, a punter must increase their stake after a win by a single unit. And also decrease their stake after a loss by a single predetermined unit as well. The contra D’Alembert betting strategy is the opposite of the D’Alembert betting strategy. Firstly, the original D’Alembert betting strategy is based on a negative progression strategy. Under this strategy, a punter is required to increase their betting stake after a loss and decrease the stake after a win. Again, a punter must increase or decrease the wager based on the predetermined base unit. Both theories were developed by Jean D’Alembert. The Mathmetician was born in France. He falsely believed the higher number of times a coin laned on a particular side, the higher the chance the coin was going to land on the opposite side. Let’s take a look at an example of the contra D’Alembert betting strategy:
- Establish a base wager.
- Start with the base wager as the first bet (for example $5).
- If the bet wins, the punter will increase the next wager by one additional unit ($5+$5=$10).
- If the net wager loses, then the punter decreases the wager for the next bet ($10-$5=$5).
- Should the punter lose again, the punter may choose to continue to wager at the base level ($5), stop betting or choose to increase or decrease the base wager.
Contra D’Alembert Betting strategy Features
Some of the key features of the contra D’Alembert betting strategy include:
- Losses restricted to a single unit – Each loss is restricted to a single unit set as the base amount. So if a person sets the base amount at $5, and suffers 7 losses, then a punter loses $35 in total. A punter doesn’t lose any more than 5*7. If a punter sets a higher base unit, then a punter could suffer a higher loss. The higher loss is relative to the punter’s bankroll on a losing streak.
- 1-6% of your bankroll – It’s important that a punter budgets their bankroll to get enough bets. It’s recommended that a base unit should not be more than 6% of the punter’s bankroll. And the base unit should not be less than 1%. For example, if a punter sets the base stake as 1%, it would take 100 consecutive losses for the punter’s bankroll to be wiped out. If a punter sets the base stake at 5%, then it would take 20 consecutive losses for the punter’s bankroll to be wiped out.
- Easy strategy to follow – The D’Alembert and contra D’Alembert are easy to follow, adapt, and implement. It doesn’t require a computer or software to help a punter keep track of bets made, profits won, etc. Most novice punters choose to follow a variation of these two strategies when starting out.
- Works best on 1:1 odds – The contra D’Alembert betting strategy is designed for bets with equal outcomes. In football, it would be betting on win and loss (without a draw) or in roulette, betting on black or red, high or low, etc.
