Editing Gambling (section)

==Staking systems==
{{Main|Betting strategy}}
Many betting systems have been created in an attempt to "beat the house" but no system can make a mathematically unprofitable bet in terms of [[expected value]] profitable over time. Widely used systems include:
* [[Card counting]] – Many systems exist for [[blackjack]] to keep track of the ratio of ten values to all others; when this ratio is high the player has an advantage and should increase the amount of their bets. Keeping track of cards dealt confers an advantage in other games as well.
* [[Due-column betting]] – A variation on fixed profits betting in which the bettor sets a target profit and then calculates a bet size that will make this profit, adding any losses to the target.
* Fixed profits – the stakes vary based on the odds to ensure the same profit from each winning selection.
* Fixed stakes – a traditional system of staking the same amount on each selection.
* [[Kelly criterion|Kelly]] – the optimum level to bet to maximize your future median bank level.
* [[Martingale (betting system)|Martingale]] – A system based on staking enough each time to recover losses from previous bet(s) until one wins.