The Martingale betting system is among the oldest types of betting. It is basically guided by the principle of doubling down. Introduced in the 18th Century by the French national Paul Pierre Levy, a well known mathematician and this statistics concept holds that there is no way you can lose every time.
In the Martingale system, the assumption is that you should keep on investing with the hopes of things turning around and there is a likely possibility of gain profits that will surpass the losses. This system is popular among punters in casino games in that they believe they will win after a series of losses and will double up on winning to recover losses.
However the downside of this system is that you may need a large bankroll to satisfy the numerous losses. The classical Martingale strategy is to double your bet after each loss until you either win or have insufficient funds to continue doubling the bet. If your goal is simply to win and you receive a 1:1 payoff, then doubling an initial bet of 100 Naira is equivalent to the Martingale strategy.
But with an 8:1 payoff, there would be no need to increase the bet until after the eighth loss. By doubling the bets after each loss, very large bets may eventually need to be made which often are not allowed due to table limits.
How the Martingale betting system works
To understand how this system works will take a simple example of a coin flip, each toss either heads or tails is independent of the other meaning that the second toss is independent of the first one and is usually not affected by the previous toss/flip. The concept behind it is pretty simple; you increase your bet after every loss, when you eventually get that win, you get back initially lost amount and start betting again with initial starting bet.
Using the Martingale system
The best way to use the system in casino games is on the red, black, even and odd. All these types of roulette have 50% winning chance but with the lowest payout. Meaning in each spin on the table you will get back the same amount of money you used to spin and that why its popular in the roulette than other casino games.
An example of an even bet type is (2-4-8-16-32-64-128-256-512……) the even doubles on the numbers and is always divisible by two.
Placing Bets and Doubling up Concept
Start of with the table minimum and bet on the same until you lose. Then double the bet for the next spin and incase you win you would have made a profit, at the same time recovered previous losses. On the next bet reduce the amount size of the bet since you are starting again the process, the same procedure is used until you win and then starting a fresh.
In theory it is possible to go on and on, doubling up on losses and getting back a small profit when you win. But in real life this is not possible since there are so many factors working against you. It’s not possible to win over a long period and eventually your betting streak will affect your bank account balance.
Can Martingale System Beat the House?
The house edge is hard to beat since the odds are against you but despite having the Martingale system at your disposal it’s not possible to beat the house edge every time and majority of bookies don’t like losing. In this case the green zero is the problem since it represents the pure form and does not fall into any category except its own.
Hidden Dangers of using the Martingale
Some of these dangers are not easy to notice. As mentioned earlier, the doubling up system is considered risky since the more you bet on spins the more you drain your bankroll and the hidden danger is the inability to double up on losses once your bankroll is done. To add on dangers, each roulette table has limits and your more likely to hit this limits in a long losing streak. The limit prevents you from doubling up and thus you cannot recover money lost.
Can the Martingale system Help you Win?
The system is relatively risky, since it brings small winnings in the short run and high losses in the long run and therefore is not considered as an effective strategy. In the long run after doubling on losses the Martingale system will have surpassed your total winnings and the math does not add up if you lose more than you gain.
The main reason why punters like this type of strategy is simply because it’s effects are felt at first but in the long run they come to the conclusion that they are losing more than what they are actually winning. Unless you are prepared for disaster in the future we suggest you move away from this strategy since you are basically trying to beat the house and the house always wins.
Why does the system not work in the long run?
There are mainly two reasons behind the Martingale system not working in the long run.
Roulette odds
The roulette bets are red and black. Therefore majority think that since red has won over a numerous number of times, the next turn will be for the black. However this is not true since the Martingale system doesn’t affect odds and depends on your luck.
Table limits
The roulette table limits prevent you from doubling on losses and thus prevents you from winning back the lost money.
Pros
- The system is legal therefore you won’t have problems with the casino.
- Easy for beginners and has high potential of winning profits.
- Relatively simple than other methods like Labouchere system
Cons
- You require a high bankroll to continue the process of doubling on losses.
- Profitability is not good enough in the long-term especially after numerous losses.
- When you exhibit winning streak the table limits become more restrictive.