1-2-3-5 Betting System (Goodman System): How It Works, Pros and Cons

The 1-2-3-5 system (also called the Goodman system) is a betting system in which you raise your bet after each win in the sequence 1 → 2 → 3 → 5 units and end the cycle once you have won four times in a row.

Like the D’Alembert system, it changes the bet size from round to round. The difference is that a 1-2-3-5 cycle ends as soon as you lose, which makes it easier to set a stop-loss limit and decide when to stop.

What You Will Learn

• The 1-2-3-5 system is a betting system that raises your bet in the sequence 1 → 2 → 3 → 5 units with each consecutive win.
• The most you can lose in one cycle is 1 unit. Four wins in a row earn a profit of 1 + 2 + 3 + 5 = 11 units.

This article takes about 13 minutes to read.

What Is the 1-2-3-5 System (Goodman System)?

The 1-2-3-5 system is a betting system you can use at online casinos on table games such as roulette and baccarat, whether software-based or live dealer.

Because you raise your bet in the sequence 1 → 2 → 3 → 5 units with each consecutive win, it is named the 1-2-3-5 system.

It does not require you to track a number sequence or follow a chart, so beginners find it easy to use. Systems such as the Martingale system need a large bankroll to get through a losing streak, but the 1-2-3-5 system can be started with a small one.

How to Bet with the 1-2-3-5 System (Goodman System)

(1) Decide How Much One Unit Is Worth

Here, one unit simply means your first bet. We recommend choosing an amount that suits your balance, such as around $1–$5 for beginners or $10–$100 or more for high rollers. This article uses 1 unit = $1 throughout.

(2) Choose a Game and Place Your Bet

Pick one of the casino games that suit the system and place your bet. Your first bet is 1 unit ($1 in this example).

(3) Raise or Reset Your Next Bet Based on the Result

If you win, raise your next bet to 2 units ($2). If you win again, bet 3 units ($3), and if you win the round after that, bet 5 units ($5).

In other words, each consecutive win raises your bet from $1 to $2 to $3 to $5.

At any stage, the cycle ends as soon as you lose. Reset your bet to $1 and start the next cycle. How the finished cycle turns out depends on when the loss comes: as explained later, a loss after two wins leaves you even, and a loss after three wins still leaves a profit of 1 unit.

If a round ends in a tie, bet the same amount again.

(4) Win the 5-Unit Bet to Complete the Cycle

If you also win the 5-unit ($5) bet, the 1-2-3-5 system has done its job. The cycle ends there with a profit of 1 + 2 + 3 + 5 = 11 units. Reset your bet to $1 and start the next cycle.

Casino Games That Suit the 1-2-3-5 System (Goodman System)

The 1-2-3-5 system works best with bets that win about 50% of the time (slightly less, because of the house edge – for example the zero in roulette) and pay 1 to 1, so a $10 bet wins $10.

Baccarat

The 1-2-3-5 system can be used in baccarat.

A winning Banker bet, however, is charged a 5% commission on the winnings, so it pays 0.95 to 1 (19 to 20), meaning a $10 bet wins $9.50, and four wins in a row fall short of 11 units. For this reason, most players choose the Player bet. Keep in mind that in no-commission baccarat, a Banker win on 6 pays half (1 to 2, so a $10 bet wins $5). This raises the house edge on the Banker bet from about 1.06% to about 1.46%, higher than the Player bet’s house edge of about 1.24%.

Roulette

When you use the 1-2-3-5 system in roulette, place even-money bets such as red/black, odd/even and high/low, each of which covers 18 pockets, wins about 50% of the time and pays 1 to 1.

Blackjack

A regular win in blackjack also pays 1 to 1 (a $10 bet wins $10), so the 1-2-3-5 system can be used there as well.

Doubling down and splitting, however, can change the amount at stake in ways the system does not account for, so we recommend using one of the other games.

1-2-3-5 System (Goodman System) Simulations and Worked Examples

If the steps are hard to follow from the text alone, check them against the simulations below. Even if you already understand the procedure, it is worth working through the bets and results yourself.

Results of Using the 1-2-3-5 System in Baccarat

For this test, we kept betting on Player in baccarat using the 1-2-3-5 system and played until we won four rounds in a row. The simulation was based on the following conditions.

• Played Speed Baccarat from Evolution
• Bet only on Player
• Played until four wins in a row put the balance ahead
• Started with 1 unit = $1

The session ended with 6 wins, 5 losses and 1 tie, for a net gain of 7 units.

First, look at the two wins separated by a tie. The bet stays the same on a tie and is raised only after the second win. Treat a tie as if the round had never been played.

Next come the five straight losses from round 4 to round 8. These five rounds cost 7 units: the 3 units bet after two wins, plus 1 unit lost four times. With the Martingale system, the bet after five straight losses alone would be 32 units.

Four wins in a row completed the 1-2-3-5 system cycle. Assuming a win rate of exactly 50%, four straight wins come up once every 16 cycles (6.25%). In actual baccarat, the Player bet wins about 49.32% of the time when ties are excluded, so a full run happens slightly less often than that.

Results of Using the 1-2-3-5 System in Blackjack

Blackjack has pushes as well as wins and losses, so the player wins only about 42–43% of hands (roughly 46–47% if pushes are excluded), well below 50%. Following basic strategy cuts out avoidable losses and brings the house edge down toward its theoretical level of under 1%. The game does not become even, but its house edge is low compared with other games.

The simulation below assumes that every hand is played according to basic strategy.

• Played Evolution’s blackjack
• Used basic strategy
• A win after a split or double down counts as two wins
• Started with 1 unit = $1

The four straight wins starting in round 3 brought in 11 units, for a net profit of 10 units. A blackjack hand, however, wins well under 50% of the time, and doubling down and splitting change the bet size, so it is not a good match for the 1-2-3-5 system. The system works as intended on a bet that pays 1 to 1 and wins closer to 50% of the time.

Pros and Cons of the 1-2-3-5 System (Goodman System)

The 1-2-3-5 system (Goodman system) raises your bet only after consecutive wins and resets it to 1 unit after a loss. This single rule is the source of both its strengths and its weaknesses.

Losses Are Capped at 1 Unit per Cycle, but They Add Up If You Keep Losing

The defining feature of the 1-2-3-5 system (Goodman system) is that the most you can lose in one cycle is 1 unit. A loss on the bet after two wins leaves you even, and a loss on the bet after three wins still leaves a profit of 1 unit.

Even when losses pile up, 10 straight losses at 1 unit = $1 cost you only $10. After 10 straight losses with the Martingale system, your next bet would be $1,024. Compared with systems that raise the bet after losses, the 1-2-3-5 system keeps the swings within each cycle small.

The catch is that you need four wins in a row, and even with a win rate of exactly 50%, that works out to once every 16 cycles. The system suits players who want to keep each individual loss small.

The 1-2-3-5 system (Goodman system) is built on the assumption that you will eventually win four in a row. Losses therefore build up not only during losing streaks but also when results alternate win, loss, win, loss without ever completing four straight wins.

With the 1-2-3-5 system, your first loss costs 1 unit. Because a 1-unit bet is followed by a 2-unit bet, a win followed by a loss also leaves you down 1 unit overall. You only get back to even after two wins in a row, so losses can keep piling up before you lock in any profit.

Four straight wins bring a profit of 11 units, but the cycle ends there, whereas with the Paroli system (also called the reverse Martingale), which raises your bet as your winning streak grows, you can aim for 10 wins in a row, which would bring a profit of 1,023 units. The 1-2-3-5 system stops at four wins, so it is not designed for large wins in a single cycle.

Simple and Easy to Remember, but Profit Is Capped at 11 Units per Cycle

As its name suggests, the whole system comes down to two rules: reset after a loss, raise 1, 2, 3, 5 after wins. That simplicity makes it easy for beginners to remember.

You can use it at live dealer tables straight away, without first practicing on software (RNG) tables.

Because the 1-2-3-5 system ends after four straight wins, the most you can win in one cycle is 11 units.

The trade-off for capping the loss per cycle at 1 unit is that the system also caps the profit.

The 1-2-3-5 System Does Not Change the Expected Value or the House Edge

As covered above, the 1-2-3-5 system raises your bet only after consecutive wins and resets it to 1 unit after a loss. Changing how you size your bets, however, has no effect at all on the expected value or the house edge of the game itself.

As long as each individual bet has a negative expected value, the total stays negative no matter how many bets you make. All the 1-2-3-5 system can change is the size of the swings in your results (the variance) and the shape of the distribution of wins and losses.

The 1-2-3-5 system simply rearranges those outcomes: the most you can lose in a cycle is 1 unit, but you make no meaningful profit unless you complete four straight wins. If the winning streaks do not come, losses keep building up 1 unit at a time.

The same is true when you combine the system with rebates or cashback. They only reduce your net losses and do not remove the house edge. The 1-2-3-5 system is not a way to win; use it as a money management framework for deciding in advance how much money you put in play in a single session.

The largest bet you place with the 1-2-3-5 system is 5 units. Unlike the Martingale system, which doubles the bet after every loss, it never runs into the table limit during a losing streak. If you set your unit too high, though, the 5-unit bet will exceed the table limit, and the cycle will end without your being able to place the fourth bet. Choose a unit that stays within the table limit even when multiplied by five.

Two Points to Keep in Mind When Using the 1-2-3-5 System (Goodman System)

The 1-2-3-5 system (Goodman system) is easier to manage when you combine it with a few money management rules.

Neither of the two rules below makes you more likely to win. Both are ways to manage your session bankroll.

(1) Adjust Your Bets to Your Bankroll

Before you use the 1-2-3-5 system, set a limit on how much you put in play per cycle. The largest bet in the system is 5 units, so the simplest approach is to work backward and choose a unit that still fits within that limit when multiplied by five.

The 1-2-3-5 system raises your bet after consecutive wins, but if your bankroll shrinks or you go through a long losing streak, you also need to lower the size of the unit itself. Adjust your bets to match the state of your bankroll.

(2) Set Profit and Loss Limits in Advance

Before you start playing, decide on both a profit target and a loss limit. Because the 1-2-3-5 system is built around chasing winning streaks, it is easy to keep playing indefinitely if you have not set these limits. Once your profit reaches the target, stop playing.

In the same way, if a losing streak brings you to the loss limit you set in advance, stop there and accept the loss.

Setting a stop-loss limit or a profit target does not change the expected value. These are money management rules for your session bankroll.

Variations and Improvements on the 1-2-3-5 System (Goodman System)

You can set the unit in the 1-2-3-5 system to any amount you like. Here we look at how your results change if you raise the unit from $1 to $5, compared with the $1 unit used so far.

With the same wins and losses as in the baccarat simulation above but a unit of $5, the overall result changes from +$7 to +$35. The loss that built up during the five straight losses also grows from $7 to $35, so both the profit and the loss are simply five times larger.

Every bet in the 1-2-3-5 system is a multiple of the unit, so whatever amount you choose, the result is the same when counted in units. A larger unit changes only the size of the swings, not the outcome, and raising the unit does not shift the odds in your favor.

Choose your unit by working backward from the amount you can comfortably put in play in one cycle, not from how much you hope to win. If the unit is too large relative to your balance, your bankroll can run out before you complete four straight wins.

Betting Systems Related to the 1-2-3-5 System (Goodman System)

Each of the systems below changes the bet size according to winning or losing streaks. The table shows how they differ from the 1-2-3-5 system.

The 1-2-3-5 system and the 1-3-2-6 system raise the bet after wins, the Cocomo, Monte Carlo and Martingale systems raise it after losses, and the Winners Method raises it when wins and losses alternate. None of them changes the expected value or the house edge of the game, so the choice depends not on which one gives you an advantage but on how you would like the swings in your results to be distributed.

Summary: The 1-2-3-5 System Limits Each Loss to One Unit but Does Not Change the Expected Value

As its name suggests, the 1-2-3-5 system is a betting system in which you raise your bet from 1 to 2 to 3 to 5 units with each consecutive win.

Because the bet returns to one unit after any loss, the amount lost in a cycle stays small, and four straight wins bring a profit of 11 units. For these reasons, it is a betting system used by players who want to keep the swings in their results small.

On the other hand, if wins and losses keep alternating without four straight wins, losses build up little by little. Changing the order of your bets does not change the expected value or the house edge, so use the 1-2-3-5 system not as a way to win but as a money management framework for deciding in advance how much you put in play in one cycle.