Martingale System application with example

The Martingale system is a betting system with negative progression, with which you can quickly compensate for losses. The big disadvantage: With longer losing streaks, the Martingale system quickly leads to enormous bets and the table limit being reached.

The Martingale system is explained simply

The Martingale system is probably the most well-known among the gaming systems in the casino. The reason for this is that on the one hand it is extremely simple and can be used in several games and on the other hand it guarantees long–term success - theoretically. In practice, unfortunately, the Martingale system can not really keep what it promises. But this does not mean that the system does not work in principle.

The Martingale system is a negative progressive game system or in other words: a system with negative progression.

The system was used in the 18th century in the game "Pharo" and was later used mainly in roulette. The system takes its name from the French city "Martigues", whose inhabitants were previously considered somewhat naive and so the name of the city became synonymous with a very daring game "jouga a la martegalo" and later "Martingale" stood for the said game system.

Overarching, "martingale" also refers to a field of probability theory: the "martingale" is a stochastic process introduced by the mathematician Paul Lévy.

Martingale - the principle of the game system

The Martingale system is a system with negative progression. You start the game series with a piece, that is, a chip or a base value that you feel comfortable with as a player, and if you lose, the last bet is doubled until you win.

So it's a loss progression. The Martingale system is most commonly used in roulette, but it can also be used as a betting strategy in blackjack, bingo and slot machine games.

The idea behind it: after each loss, the bet is doubled, after each win, the bet is reduced to the original amount. Thus, in the long run, the winnings will compensate for all the net losses of the previous bets. The at least theoretically existing guarantee of success is based on the fact that you will definitely make a profit with the first win, regardless of how many rounds you have to play for it.

As a rule, the Martingale game is based on a simple chance. In roulette, for example, this would be red / black, even / odd or 1-18 or 19-36 – but even this apparent 50:50 chance is deceptive, because there is still the green zero, which draws the advantage to the side of the bank. It is this zero that is responsible for the house edge and ensures that the chances of winning are not 50:50, but rather 48:52.

Although the Martingale system is one of the most popular and well-known systems, it has its limitations and is only conditionally suitable for playing in the online casino.

The reason for this is simple: the betting limits at the casino tables are reached quickly with this game. So you don't have the opportunity to make up for your losses with this strategy.

Why is the Martingale system so popular? Probably because – especially in roulette - the assumption always misleads us that the ball will certainly land in the black field after ten times red on the eleventh time. But this is a misconception, the probability is the same for every throw, namely almost 50% (note the 0 and 00 respectively).

Martingale Roulette System Explained In a Video

How is the Martingale system played?

Let's take a look at the Martingale strategy in an example. Let's say a player wants to use the Martingale system in roulette and chooses the simple chance "Red" for his bet. The player is a beginner and gropes his way slowly, with a small bet of 2 dollars.

In the first round, it does not work out with the win, so he has to double his bet to four dollars. Even next time it does not work out, he has to double his bet to eight dollars. Finally, the player is lucky, the ball lands on "Red" and he wins. So the player gets paid 16 dollars, but he has wagered 14 dollars (2 + 4 + 8 ) - so his net profit is only two dollars. After winning, the player now starts his progression again with 2 dollars from the beginning – until the next win.

This system could be continued as desired, were it not for the table limits or the financial limits of the players themselves. After all, who can bet arbitrarily high amounts just to make up for their losses? In addition, you should always set your own limit before the game and stick to it – for this reason alone, the Martingale system fails in the long run.

The same applies to the table limits in the online casinos, but also in the stationary casinos. Even if you play at a table with a limit of $ 1,000, this limit is reached with a starting bet of $ 10 after ten losing rounds.

Last but not least, there is the probability that the Martingale system makes us a dash through the bill. Because the odds are always with the bank in a casino, no matter what game. In roulette, this is even quite obvious, because here there is still the 0 and sometimes even the 00, which quickly turn a 50-50 chance into a 48.65% chance.

The mathematics behind the Martingale System

Mathematically, there is a loss progression behind the Martingale system. In the table you can see particularly well that even with a bet of only one dollar it is not a good idea to use this game system, because even with ten rounds that are lost - and this happens more often than expected – the loss is 511 dollars and 512 dollars would have to be used to go home with only one dollar profit in the end. Not a really desirable goal, is it?

Round	Use	Result	Loss	Chance of winning
1	CA$1	Loss	CA$1	0.493
2	CA$2	Loss	CA$3	0.250
3	CA$4	Loss	CA$7	0.127
4	CA$8	Loss	CA$15	0.064
5	CA$16	Loss	CA$31	0.033
6	CA$32	Loss	CA$63	0.017
7	CA$64	Loss	CA$127	0.008
8	CA$128	Loss	CA$255	0.004
9	CA$256	Loss	CA$511	0.002
10	CA$512	Loss	CA$1023	0.001

The Martingale System for Blackjack and Slots

The Martingale system is most often played in roulette, but you can also use this strategy in blackjack and slot machines.

The Martingale system in Blackjack

If you want to use the Martingale system in blackjack, it works just like in roulette: you double the bet after each lost winning hand. After each win, you start again with the original bet. It's that simple, and it's that dangerous.

The Martingale system for Slots

And this is how easy and risky the Martingale system can also be used for online slots: make a bet, use the same bet after each win as at the beginning, double the bet after each loss.

The advantage of online games, especially slots, is that you can start with very small bets. But do not forget about the exponential growth of the stakes, so the advantage is limited. However, the speed of the games has a detrimental effect. While a round of roulette in a real casino can take several minutes, a round of blackjack is usually finished after less than a minute. A round of slots even takes only a few seconds. If you were to use the Martingale system here, you would have to change the bet manually after each round. This spoils the fun itself very quickly.

Variant: Grand Martingale

The Grand Martingale (Great Martingale) is a variant of the classic Martingale system.

In this variant, the bets are doubled even further in the event of a loss and a unit is added to this doubling.

With a bet of 5 dollars, the whole thing looks like this table:

Round	Use	Result
1	CA$ 5	Loss
2	CA$ 11 (5+5+1 )	Loss
3	CA$ 23 (11+11+1 )	Loss
4	CA$ 47 (23+23+1 )	Loss
5	CA$ 95 (47+47+1 )	Loss
6	CA$ 191 (95+95+1 )	Loss
7	CA$ 383 (191+191+1 )	Loss
8	CA$ 767 (383+383+1 )	Loss
9	CA$ 1,535 (767+767+1 )	Loss
10	CA$6 (5+1)	Loss

In the case of a win, a unit is also added to the original bet in the Grand Martingale system. With this system, the stakes and thus also the losses climb even faster to dizzying heights.

Conclusion

The Martingale system should rather be avoided by reasonable players. Yes, as a beginner you can orient yourself quite well, but then you should only play for play money.

Benefits	Minuses
simple concept	major losses
short-term success is possible	not capital-friendly
	high risk
	not effective in the long run
	low profits

If you want orientation for your game, you should stick to the Paroli system. Of course, you can also make a profit with the Martingale strategy, no question, but in order to achieve it, you often need more money than you have available. The longer you play with the Martingale system, the higher the losses can be. So: keep your eyes open when choosing a system!

If you still want to try the Martingale strategy, you can find a roulette casino with us where you can try roulette online!