Probably the most famous betting system of them all is The Martingale, which was developed in the 1700s in France. The Martingale is one of a series of negative progression systems. It´s a system in which you increase your bets after a loss, in order to claw back any losses.
It´s popular in 50/50 (or near 50/50) bets, such as the even money bets in roulette.
Lets take a simple 50/50 bet as an example: tossing a coin and betting on heads or tails.
The idea is that you let your bet ride at the starting amount after a win, and double your bet after a loss. So lets say we are betting 1 unit on heads. We spin the coin. And it lands heads, heads, tails, tails, tails, heads, heads.
You would bet 1,1,2,4,8,16, 1. You win on the last but one bet and recover all of your previous losses. Your next bet drops down to the starting amount.
Sounds like a sure bet right? As long as you flip the coin an infinite amount of times (or in reality alot of times), you are bound to get a win, right?.
Well, yes- in theory. But to make the Martingale a sure bet, you would need to be infinitely wealthy, and be betting with someone who would accept an infinite bet level.
The problem with the Martingale is that the progression of your bets ramps up quickly, so you end up staking large amounts just to win back losses (and to say win 1 unit back). This can cause havoc with your blood pressure! The other problem you will have is that most casinos have betting limits that will limit your ability to claw back losses on a losing session. Plus, in many cases, even money bets at a casino are not a pure 50/50 bet. In roulette for example, you have a zero as well as all of the red and black numbers. This brings your probability down to around 48.7%.
The Martingale is also popular in craps, particularly with players playing the Pass Line bet.
Our Tip
If you play the Martingale, make sure that you start with as low a bet as possible (to give you a good margin for a losing streak), but bear in mind that 15 reds in a row and even 20 reds in a row have been reported by many players both online and in land based casinos.
If you do manage to ride a winning streak, change tactics, games (or casino!) as it is statistically unlikely that you will get too many of them. Martingale.co has a free roulette game (Premier Roulette) with double up bets on it, so you can practise the system.
When we play Martingale, we like to mix up our bets- so we´ll bet re/black, then even/odd and hi/even. It´s nothing more than us being superstitious- use whatever works for you.
Just remember, that the Martingale System will not fundamentally change the odds that you get at the roulette table.
And last but not least, set a stop loss limit AND profit target before you play. if you hit either of them, leave the table. A smart gambler leaves the tables when he or she is ahead!
Best Casinos to Play the Martingale System