The Martingale System is one of the oldest progression betting systems. Getting straight into it, the Martingale works through double ups. After a loss, your next bet is double your previous bet. You continue doubling until you win. After your win, you go back to the initial bet size. As an example, we can have
Bet 1 : $5 - Result : Loss
Bet 2 : $10 - Result : Loss
Bet 3 : $20 - Result : Loss
Bet 4 : $40 - Result : Win
Total Win $40 minus Total Loss $35
= Net +$5 profit
(Note: Next bet is $5)
Notice though that the Martingale System has a profit despite losing 3 out 4 spins. This is the power of the Martingale System, it has changed the requirement for a winning session from having to win more than 50% of the time to having to simply avoiding a long cold streak. That is, you can beat the house even if your only winning 40% or even 20% of the time as long the house doesn't get one crazy long streak. This is the strength and the weakness of the Martingale System.
To maximise the success of the Martingale System, you need to try to maximise the number of double ups you can sustain. The more double ups you can cover the longer the Martingale can work. To do this, you should always start your first bet at the table minimum. This gives you the largest number of double ups before hitting the table limit. Next, make sure you are bankrolled properly for the Martingale. You need a minimum of double the table maximum. So if the table maximum is $1000, the best is to have $2000 to fight with.
One popular tactic employed by Martingale players is use the hit and run technique. Where you have a set target profit. Once you hit your target, you must leave. This makes it harder for the casino to catch a freak streak. Keep your profit target between 10 - 50 times the minimum bet. Never go for more than 50 times your minimum bet.
In principle you can use the Martingale with any staking system to help decide where to place to bet. You can use Baccarat systems like "follow the shoe" or the Avant Denier. The most popular system with Martingale players is to fight the streak. That is, to bet against the previous result. So if the last result was red then your next bet is on black or if the last result was low then your next bet is high.
The argument for playing against the streak is that streaks become less and less likely the longer they go. That is, the probability of 3 straight reds is 1 in 8 and the odds of seeing 4 straight reds is 1 in 16 and the odds of seeing 5 straight reds is 1 in 32 etc etc. It is true in that the vast majority of streaks you will ever see will be short ones.
Furthering the above argument, some Martingale players modify the system by initially waiting for a streak of 4 or 5 before betting against it. The argument is that streaks of 8 or 9 are very uncommon. If you were limited to 6 double ups and you wait for a streak of 4 to begin before betting against it, then there needs to be a streak of 10 straight wins to break your session bankroll. The odds of seeing streak of 10 straight wins is 1 in 1024! So for example we want to see 4 or 5 reds in a row before betting on black.
Reverse-Martingale or Anti-Martingale
The Reverse Martingale is the positive version of the system, where after a loss your next bet is the table minimum but after a win you double your bet. So you double your bets after wins instead of losses. The general idea is that your big bets are previous wins but essentially it carries the same bankroll volatility as the regular martingale.
The reverse martingale requires as large a bankroll as the regular martingale because it can be quite a long time before you catch a decent streak. In fact, you can go through many sessions without winning the big one.
You can see more success by limiting yourself to a certain number of double ups but then you cut yourself from ever exploiting the one crazy streak that may come along.
The reverse martingale is a useful approach to playing the financial markets. For a flexible
trader, different trading strategies work better at different points in the financial cycle
depending on the mood of the market and changes in the fundamentals.
The reverse martingale essentially boosts profits when a strategy is successful and
automatically decreases them when the strategy is doing badly. That is, the
reverse martingale automatically adjusts for changes in the financial market cycle.
Good Luck!
For more Martingale Strategies see:-
28 / 6 / 2008
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