Baccarat Star Progression

Since I mentioned it in another thread I thought I'd talk a bit about it here. I discounted Star years ago because the limits were well above my pay grade at even a $15 table. But now with low online and B&M casinos it might be something worthwhile to look at. Still, IMO, a money management option can be employed within it for added safety to reduce escalation. Keep in mind that any attempt to reduce escalation will inherently reduce profits.

I actually revisited Star when soxfan came out with his Banker Style using a modified Star. He ran 11 step with a pre-progression 1112/5 10 15 25 40 65 100 for a risk of 265 units! Of course the Banker Style fails miserably with that bet selection but that modified version he touted has some real merit.

The reason it does is twofold. 1. With a wlwlwlwl the up as you lose doesn't escalate until we get 2 LIAR. The wl chop is so very prevalent in the game and so is winning 2 IAR which brings you a profit and back to the beginning. 2. MM. With any progression you might want to "walk up and down the ladder" so to speak. This prevents escalation and reduces profits but keeps you in the game grinding units out. And in the end grinding units is what it's all about. So you might be in a situation where you're up some units but then find yourself making large bets but grab one big unit win. The prog calls for making another big bet but instead of that you look at your situation and find that dropping back to half that is more prudent and can still give a nice profit. You got to sit and play around with different scenarios.

I hope you get the picture. See attached.

 

Thanks Jimske. Have always liked the star progression, but each time I backtest it over a large span of bet selections (say 200+ shoes or so), it usually matches or slightly underperforms a straight martingale. So I haven't been motivated to really dive into it in real play. Am doing mostly flat betting these days but will take another look into the star, see if it can accelerate what I'm already doing.

 

I wouldn't depend on it without MM. Waiting for a double is often a losing proposition.

 

Even with MM, it's still a losing proposition.