The Martingale

The Martingale was famously used by Casanova, the notorious Venetian lover and adventurer. He was well known for taking risks, so it should come as no surprise that he favored this ultra-risky system.

How it works

The Martingale works by doubling your bet after every loss. Once you win, you keep the winnings and start again at the initial stake amount. Let’s take Roulette as an example. I am betting 1$ on red to win. If it wins, I keep the $1 that I won and next round make another 1$ bet. If it loses, I bet $2 on the next round. If that wins, I will have recouped my losses from the previous bet and made another $1 profit. I then start again with a $1 bet. So at every loss I double the bet until I win. In theory, with an infinite amount of money and no betting limits, it’s impossible to lose.

What can we learn from Casanova?

Casanova initially loved the Martingale. He managed to avoid hitting a long losing streak and won a lot of money. However, eventually his luck ran cold. To quote from his diary:

I still played on the martingale, but with such bad luck that I was soon left without a sequin. As I shared my property with M. M. I was obliged to tell her of my losses, and it was at her request that I sold all her diamonds, losing what I got for them; she had now only five hundred sequins by her. There was no more talk of her escaping from the convent, for we had nothing to live on! I still gamed, but for small stakes, waiting for the slow return of good luck.

So, what happened?

Well, let’s look at a table of 10 bets using the Martingale:

  • Bet $5 and lose
  • Bet $10 and lose
  • Bet $20 and lose
  • Bet $40 and lose
  • Bet $80 and lose
  • Bet $160 and lose
  • Bet $320 and lose
  • Bet $640 and lose
  • Bet $1280 and lose
  • Bet $2560 and ?

As you can see, it only takes 9 losses in a row for the bet to reach $2560. In Roulette, 10 colors the same in a row actually happens more than you would think. So Casanova, who was starting with an initial stake of well over 1, soon found himself losing everything.

Overall, then, the Martingale is a system that looks great in theory but can very quickly lose you your entire bankroll. Any anyway, modern casino limits greatly reduce its effectiveness. Normally, you can’t bet more that $500, which means in the above table you’re a goner by bet 8. It is not recommended.

RouletteSystemReport.com

Related Craps Articles