Think about it. When you toss a coin fairly you will get an even number of heads and tails in the long run. Every now and then you will get a run of four or five heads or tails, just by chance. After all, every time you toss there is a 50:50 chance of a head or tail coming down – and this doesn’t change depending on what the tosses before have been. If runs of 4 or 5 heads happen, it means that runs of 10 or even 20 can and will happen. Not very often at all, but they will happen. winning and losing streaks are what you can expect occasionally, just by chance. They do not need to be explained by ESP, magic or superior betting skill.

This system is a little more sophisticated, but the results can be as devastating as our old friend Martingale. It is a series of numbers, each of which is the sum of the last two numbers in the system, like this: 1-1-2-3-5-8-13-21-34-55-89-144. Advice about betting it varies, but one of the more common is to bet the series as you lose. If you win a bet, fall back one in the series If you win that one, start over, if you lose, continue on in the series.