Long runs of any of the 'Even Chances' have caused problems with gamblers ever since Roulette was invented in the 19th century. Many systems have been designed to try and cope with the problem. Some have been relatively successful; others, of course, have been disastrous. The Garcia System is designed to be able to cope with the occasional losses and also takes advantage of the inevitable long runs of the same 'Even Chance' that occur from time to time. Method of Play The basic staking plan is very simple - £1, £3 & £7. Any or all of the 'Even Chances' may be used. Bets are made on every spin of the wheel except the first spin. This System is therefore very suitable for the gambler who likes to be active rather than sit for long periods of time awaiting suitable opportunities to bet. Using Red & Black as an example, if the first spin turns out to be Red, the first bet in the betting sequence (£1) is placed immediately on the opposite color - Black. If this bet wins, a new betting sequence starts, but betting on the opposite color - in this case, Red. If, however, the first bet of £I had lost, the next bet in the sequence (£3) is placed, still on Black. Again, if this £3 bet wins, we start a new betting sequence, but on the opposite color. If the £3 bet loses, though, the final bet in our betting sequence (£7) is placed on Black. So, to clarify the position after four spins of the wheel, and if we had reached our bet of £7, the sequence of colors has been RRRR. After the first Red all the bets have been on Black. A total of £11 has now been lost and if our progression was designed to be longer and the run of Reds from the wheel were to continue it would turn out to be quite disastrous. The £11 loss is now put to one side and our play modified, not only to try and recoup this loss, but also to move us into profit. If the run of Reds were to continue, it would seem to be a good idea to try and capitalize on this; if the Reds did not continue, however, surely this would be a good point in play to accept a loss and effectively start again. The betting strategy, therefore, is changed to accommodate this. The £11 loss is now raised to a number divisible by three - in this case £12, and then divided by three, equaling £4. This £4 is now placed as a bet, not on Black as before, but on Red, betting that the run of Reds is going to continue. If it does, then it only has to continue for another three spins for all the previous loss (£11) to be completely eradicated! If it only continues for another two spins, one bet will have been won and one lost - i.e. the total loss to date will remain the same at £11. However, if the run of Reds does not continue after the fourth spin (i.e. if a Black appears) the further loss is only another £4. If this does happen the total loss to date will be £15 - this, then, is put to one side and will be dealt with later on in play. So, you see, we are very effectively limiting our losses to realistic levels yet giving ourselves the opportunity to capitalize on potential winning spins, at very little risk, rather than sit there and do nothing at all about it! At this stage, a completely new betting sequence is started with the £1 as before, but betting on the opposite color to that which appeared last -in this case the bet will be on Red (it was the Black on the fifth spin that caused the £4 loss, don't forget). Play continues, as described in the earlier paragraphs, always reverting to a new betting sequence after a win, until the next (inevitable) time when all three bets in the sequence have been lost again. This time, though, all of the profits made in the time between the two losses of £11 are added up and divided by two. If it is assumed that a total profit of £18 was made since the first loss of £11, then half of that figure (£9) is deducted from the earlier £11 (or £15, as the case may be) and the resultant amount added to the current loss of £11. In other words, if the earlier loss was, in fact, £15, then the £9 would be deducted from this, leaving a resultant loss of £6. This £6 is then added to the current £11 loss, making £17. Now, as before, this £17 figure is raised to a number divisible by three - £18 - and a third (£6) is placed as the next bet, betting that the series that has caused the current £11 loss will continue. As before, if it does, the £17 loss will be wiped out within three spins - if not, any further loss will be kept to a minimum. This cycle of play is continued until the profits reach the target figure nominated by the player. Obviously, if there are a large number of runs of four of the Even Chance being used, with their consequent losses of £11 upwards, and relatively small profits in between these losses, then the player must consider bringing into play a realistic financial cut-off point. Before this cut-off point is reached though, there will be many opportunities to retire with a slightly lesser profit than that possible with continued play. For example, if, after a particularly bad run of play, the first bet after an £11 loss has reached, say, £20 (i.e. a third of the total loss of £60), then the player should consider whether it would be worth continuing to bet on if this first bet won. After all, he would have recouped £20 back, leaving a resultant loss for the period of £40. Against this must be set all the other profitable periods of play during a session - surely far better to go home with a possible small profit rather than a much larger loss caused by trying to chase the loss with bigger and bigger bets. Don't forget that it only takes one run of six to completely eradicate all previous losses - if the run continues, of course, the profits will rise rapidly. Extensive testing of this System using a computer has shown it to produce far higher than average profits and this, together with the ability of the System to deal with the problematic long runs, would seem to make this a very good playable System. The following pages show a typical bad sequence of play and demonstrates that it only wants the one good run to appear to eradicate all previous losses. As with most other Systems, though, the 'human choice' factor can come into play. On page (v) it can be seen that, when placing the £12 bets, one could have stopped play after the second win; this would have resulted in £24 being knocked off the £34 deficit effectively enabling play to continue with the much lower outstanding loss of £10. At the end of play the overall profit would still have been a reasonable £16. Study the method of play carefully before committing money to the tables; on a quiet table it is essential that the calculation and placement of bets is rapid and completely automatic. The croupier will know that you are operating a System of some kind and will usually try to speed up the spin rate in order to break the rhythm and, hence, tip the balance of play in favor of the casino. Bet 1 B 3 B 1 R 1 B I R 1 B 3 B 1 R 1 B 1 R 3 R 7 R 4 B 1 B 1 R 3 R 7 R 1 B 3 B 1 R I B 3 B 1 R 1 B 3 B 7 B 7 R 7 R 7 R 1 R Spin W/L Net Loss Running R Profit Set aside Total R L B W +2 +2 R W +1 +3 B W +1 +4 R W +1 +5 R L B W +2 +7 R W +1 +8 B W +1 +9 B L B L B L -11 R L -4 -15 B B B R R B R R B R R R R R R B R W L L W L W W L W W L L L W W L W +1 +3 +2 +1 +2 +1 · 11 +7 +7 · 7 +1 10/2=5 · 14 +1 +4 +6 +7 +9 +I0 +14 15 -5=10+11= 21/3=7 +1 Commentary Play starts with the Red spin. Betting therefore commences with £1 on Black. This loses and the next bet of £3 on Black wins giving a net profit of £2. A new betting sequence is started with £1 on Red. Play continues in this manner until a loss of the 'Bank' of £11 occurs. All three bets in the betting sequence have now been lost. Ignoring the £9 profit made to date, the £11 is now raised to a number divisible by three i.e. £12, divided by three (£4) and this figure bet as the next bet on Black. Unfortunately this loses and the total loss to date becomes £15. Play continues until another 'Bank' loss occurs. As can be seen, another loss of £11 occurs when the accumulated profits for the session reach just £10. This profit is now halved (£5), deducted from the set-aside loss of £15, leaving £10 outstanding. This £10 is now added to the current loss of £11, making £21 and divided by three (£7). The plan is now to place three £7 bets betting that the run of Reds is going to continue. They do, but only for a further two spins. The third £7 bet loses, leaving a net profit of just £7. This is deducted from the total loss figure of £21, leaving £14 outstanding. Bet Spin W/L 1B R L 3B B W 1R R W 1B R L 3B R L 7B B W 1R R W IB R L 3B B W IR B L 3R B L 7R B L 7B B W 7B R L Net Profit +2 +1 +3 +1 +2 +7 · 7 IB R L 3B R L 7B B W +3 IR R W +1 IB R L 3B R L 7B R L 12R R W +12 12R R W +12 12R R W +12 12R R W +12 12R B L -12 Loss Running Set Aside Total +3 +4 +7 +8 +I0 +19 · 25 +3 +4 +21 +23 1R B L 3R R W +2 IB B W +1 IR B L 3R R W +2 +2 +3 +5 Commentary Play continues as before until another loss occurs. Once again, another £11 'Bank' is lost. The profit made since the last 'Bank' was lost is £10. This is halved and the resultant £5 is deducted from the outstanding loss to date of £14 equaling £9. This £9 is added to the current loss of £11 equaling £20. This £20 is raised to a number divisible by three i.e. 21 and £7 used as the next series of bets. The first of these wins and the second loses leaving play in a state of equilibrium at-£11. This £11 loss is added to the outstanding loss of £14 to give a new outstanding loss to date of £25. When the next £11 'Bank' is lost the same procedure is followed. The profit of £4 is halved, the £2 deducted from the £25, giving £23 plus the £11 equaling £34. Raising the £34 to a number divisible by three equals £36 which means that the next series of bets will have to be £12 each. Four out of the five bets win giving a net profit of £36. This effectively wipes out all of the deficit and also gives a small profit of £2. When this is added to all the previous accumulated profits of £21 plus the profits made after this last loss, we have a resultant overall profit of £28. Not bad for I hours play!