What are the Biarritz/Makarov Systems

The original Biarritz system used a statistical study of the roulette wheel where the result of 111 rounds of roulette were written down and the winning numbers analysed. Some of the numbers won more than two times (hot numbers) and other numbers did not win at all (cold numbers).

The number 111 is not random, it was chosen because it is an equal amount as the numbers on three French Roulette wheels, (37 x 3 = 111). This confirms that the historical roots of the Biarritz system are related to French roulette, where listing the winning numbers is a traditional element of the game.

The player can choose one of the cold numbers that has not appeared or implement the reverse Biarritz strategy and choose one of the hot numbers that has appeared more than two or three times. The player must make a bet on the same number 37 times in a row.

An improved version of this strategy was called the Makarov System. It differs from the Biarritz strategy because the player can start to make bets immediately without the need to analyse 111 wheel spins. This approach has gained in popularity with the emergence of online casinos as not all land based casinos allow players to watch a roulette game without participating or betting, so watching the result of 111 spins without making bets can be problematic.

In the Makarov strategy the number for the bet is chosen at random and, in spite of differentiating in the method of selecting the number, the Biarritz and Makarov roulette strategies are identical. Bets are placed on the number chosen in the main playing field, with a payment of 35 to 1 a total of 37 consecutive times. Of course it is also possible to select 2 or 3 of the hot numbers and bet on all of them for 35 spins.

Mathematical Formula

Using both the the Biarritz strategy and the Makarov strategy, the net gain for basic bets is calculated with the formula:

Gain = (36 - Nx1), in which N is the number of bets made from the start of the game until the number wins.

Obviously, the gain is equal to zero when the number of runs is equal to 36 (N = 36). That is, in cases where the chosen number comes out the 36th time, according to the game balance this is a tie.

The cases in which the number of runs exceeds 36 (N = 37 and above) are negative for the player, given the financial balance of this strategy. A beginner is advised to stop the game at this time. However, the more experienced players will continue to play, progressively increasing the bet according to the Martingale Strategy or D'Alembert. However, this may require a large bankroll.

Using the Martingale or D´Alembert Strategies with the Biarritz/Makarov Systems

To use the progressive systems (Martingale or D'Alembert) alongside the Biarritz/Makarov systems it is necessary to follow these steps:

• Having lost the balance of 36 base bets, the player must double the bet per roll for the next 36 spins. This means that if the chosen number wins, they will end the game with a positive balance.
• Finishing the game with a negative balance is only possible if 72 consecutive times the selected number does not appear on the roulette wheel. In this case, for the continuation of the progressive game you can choose to use the geometric (Martingale) or arithmetic (D´Alembert) systems to adjust the size of the bets.
  • In the geometric system, the current bet is doubled for each of the 36 spins, as long as the maximum bet limit for the roulette table in question is not reached.
  • To continue according to the principle of arithmetic progression, the bet is increased by adding a base bet in each of the 36 spins, that is, after 72 spins, for an additional 36 spins it is necessary to bet 3 base bets, then during the following 36 spins bet 4 base bets, then for the next 36 spins bet 5 base bets, etc.

If successful the player only recovers a part of the lost money as the more times in a row the chosen number does not come out a winner, the more time and spins it will be necessary to invest in the game to compensate the losses after 72 failed throws.

Betting Ratio to the Balance Using Progressive Strategies

The following table shows the expenditure made with each of the progressive strategies if the bet has to be increased for seven rounds of 36 spins and increasing the bet:

Number of Rounds (36x) / Total	Martingale System (Geometric) Bet / Balance		D´Alembert System (arithmetic) Bet / Balance
36	1	36	1	36
(2) 72	2	36+72 = 108	2	36+72 = 108
(3) 108	4	108+144 = 252	3	108+108 = 216
(4) 144	8	252+288 = 540	4	216+144 = 360
(5) 180	16	540+576 = 1116	5	360+180 = 520
(6) 216	32	1116+1152 = 2268	6	520+216 = 726
(7) 252	64	2268+2304 = 4572	7	736+252 = 988

For every 36 roulette wheel spins in all systems the bet increases, however the growth of the bet and the costs associated with the strategy occur in significantly different ways.

According to the Martingale system, on the sixth round of increasing the bet (up to 32 base bets) the player takes a risk to exceed the maximum table limits. Even with a base bet of 1, if the number has not won for 216 consecutive spins, with the sixth increase of the bet and for the following 36 bets the player must bet 32 per spin. If you reach the 7th round of 36 spins the bet amount increases to 64 per spin. Not all casinos, offer their players tables with a margin of bets that will allow them to make infinite increases according to the Martingale system.

If the player increases the bet according to D'Alembert, rarely will they come across the problem of exceeding the limits of the table, since for this to happen the number chosen would have to not win for a thousand consecutive spins.