Fibonacci, the Italian mathematician, who lived in the 1200s, is the man responsible for many discoveries, most notably the Fibonacci sequence, which was used for making the Fibonacci betting system. While there are chances you’ve never heard or Fibonacci, if you’re a gambler, you should know of him or at least his work. And while we won’t be talking about him in this article, we will check the betting system, which was named after him; the Fibonacci Betting System.
We will check what the Fibonacci betting system is, how it works, its pros and cons and our thoughts on it.
I have mentioned Fibonacci and his work before, and while Fibonacci did not exactly invent the Fibonacci betting system, he did invent the Fibonacci sequence, which was adapted into the Fibonacci betting system we will take a look at today. So, with that in mind, let’s start at the beginning: Fibonacci sequence.
FIBONACCI SEQUENCE
To understand what the Fibonacci betting system is, we need to first explain what the Fibonacci sequence is. Some of you have heard about it in school, others have read about it and there are those who are scratching their heads while trying to figure out what it is. For those, let me explain:
Fibonacci sequence is an interesting sequence which has been used in numerous analysis, music and can even be found in nature. But for sake of this article, we will keep it simple and talk only about the basics.
Fibonacci numbers or the Fibonacci sequence is a sequence of numbers such that each number is the sum of the two proceeding ones. It may sound complicated so here is a visual representation:
F= (0), 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55….
A careful eye might have noticed there is a pattern where every new number is a sum of the previous numbers. That’s about all we need to know for understanding the Fibonacci betting system.
WHAT IS FIBONACCI BETTING SYSTEM?
Now that we know the basics of the Fibonacci sequence, we can look into how it’s implemented into the Fibonacci betting system.
Much like any betting system, this one is commonly or exclusively used in games that offer roughly 50/50 chances for you to win; such as roulette (red/black), crabs, baccarat… Nonetheless, it can be used for any other game/bet with roughly 50% chances of you winning.
How to use the Fibonacci betting system?
When we are using the Fibonacci betting strategy there are 2 rules we need to follow:
– if you win, bet with 1 unit
– if you lose, move 1 sequence to the right and bet that number of units on your next bet.
For an easier explanation, we will look at an example.
F= 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34…
Let’s assume 1 unit which we will use to bet is $10; (1 unit = $10)
| Bet | Stake | Win/Loss | Units | +/- |
| 1 | $10 | Win | 1 | / |
| 2 | $10 | Loss | 1 | 0 |
| 3 | $10 | Loss | 1 | 0+1 |
| 4 | $20 | Loss | 2 | 1+1 |
| 5 | $30 | Loss | 3 | 1+2 |
| 6 | $50 | Loss | 5 | 2+3 |
| 7 | $80 | Win | 8 | 3+5 |
| 8 | $10 | Win | 1 | / |
| 9 | $10 | Win | 1 | / |
In our example we have won the 1st bet, so we used the same $10 in the second bet. The second bet was lost, so we started using the Fibonacci sequence, which shows the 2nd number of the sequence is 1; so, we used 1 unit in our 3rd bet ($10). Because we lost out 3rd bet as well, we moved 1 number in the sequence to the right, which is now the sum of the first 2 numbers in the sequence (1+1), so we staked 2x$10, which is $20. Because we lost the bet once again, we moved to the 5th bet and use the same concept as we did before. We sum up the last 2 stakes ($10+$20) and bet that amount ($30). If we lose again, we sum up the 4th and 5th bet, which is $20 + $30 and we get the amount of money we need to bet in the next round. That continues until we win the bet, then we jump back at the start of the Fibonacci system and start it all over again.
As we can see the whole point of the Fibonacci betting system is to follow the Fibonacci sequence
(F= 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34…) only when we lose the bet. This does not change if we use $1 as our unit, $5, $10…. $1000…
FINAL WORDS
As a negative progression betting system, we are increasing our bet when we lose and keep our bet the same when we are winning. I’ve talked about it before, and I’ll mention it again; The negative progression betting systems are notorious to make things that are bad even worse really quickly, however that is somewhat not 100% true with the Fibonacci betting system or at least does not make things extremely bad really quickly. The so-called genius of this system is that it assumes you’re going to win a bet before the stakes get too high.
Which… is kind of true, but not really true. On one side it’s much better than Martingale system, which can reach deep into our pockets in only a few unlucky rounds, whereas the Fibonacci system takes 7 straight losses before we get into double-digit stakes. On the other side, it’s the same thing in the long run. I am not saying Fibonacci is far superior to Martingale betting system, but in this case, I am put into a position where I need to pick »lesser of two evils«. At the end of the day, the Fibonacci system is still a negative progression betting system which means just one bad run will quickly result in you losing a lot of money.
Would I recommend using it?
I tend to stay clear of any negative progression betting system, due to their nature of requiring large sums of money just for us to have a chance to win our losses back. At the first glance it does seem like there is almost no chance of us losing 5, 6, 7… bets in a row, but if you pick up a pen and calculate it, it shows the chances, despite being low are still too high. It’s like an illusion, or like when people believe the chances of winning the lottery are high. They may seem high (enough) for us to try buying a lottery ticket, but at the end of the day, the chances are still (too) low. The opposite happens in the negative progression betting system, where we think there is little chance, we will lose a few bets in a row, and while it’s mathematically true there is only a few % it will happen, in the long run, it’s bound to happen sooner or later.
All in all, I would avoid using Fibonacci or any other a negative progression betting system for that matter, unless of course, you have an unlimited amount of money, which is the only way any of those systems will work.