Gambling Strategy - Martingale

Summary

Martingale is system where you increase your stake after you lose in order to make a quick recovery. It is the simplest and most famous system out there, often referred to as 'double or nothing'.

Martingale - method

This system involves you playing on even money applicable to the following games:

Game	Bet
Baccarat	Player/Dealer
Roulette	Red/Black

When you win simply re-bet your previous stake. When you lose, double your original stake, hence if you then win your previous loss is cancelled out. If you continue to lose, you can always keep doubling until your bet eventually turns up.

This method is fine until you run into an unlucky streak and your losses can add up quickly:

No. of times lost in a row	£1 Starting stake	£2 Starting stake	£5 Starting stake
Start	£1	£2	£5
1	£2	£4	£10
2	£4	£8	£20
3	£8	£16	£40
4	£16	£32	£80
5	£32	£64	£160
6	£64	£128	£320
7	£128	£256	£640

The dangers are:

• Running out of money
• Reaching the table's betting limit.

Do not forget that while you would expect the player to win as often as the dealer (aside from the slight house advantage), this is only applicable over time (in terms of 1000s of scenarios). The time of a casino session is a blink in the eye as far as statistics are concerned, don't be surprised to see the same side win ten times in a row. Some players cut their losses after 3 consecutive losses as a safety net.

If you want to know a higher risk variation of Martingale see Grand Martingale .