“All the evidence shows that God was actually quite a gambler, and the universe is a great casino, where dice are thrown, and roulette wheels spin on every occasion”
Stephen Wright
An old man, who had spent his life looking
for a winning formula (martingale), spent
the last days of his life putting it into practice,
and his last pennies to see it fail.
The martingale is as elusive as the soul.
A. Dumas pere, Mille et un Fantomes, 1849
Al. Dumas father was right about it. But still, the Martingale is the system, which can be productively used in the gambling. It does not bring tons of money but a small and stable profit
Let's Look Closer
Martingale is a progressive system, which is based on increasing the bets when you lose.
The best and easiest example of the strategy can be shown on the outside bets 1/1. For instance, we bet on the black or red, odds or evens.
We will take our favorite $5, because it's not much to lose and the sum is easy to count.
| 1st bet $5 | lose |
| 2nd bet $10 | |
| 3rd bet $20 | |
| 4th bet $40 | win |
Total: $40 + $40 - $35 (loss in 3 previous bets) = net + $5.
Have you noticed that even after three losing bets you have a winning of $5? It is one of the oldest gambling systems, which proved to be reliable but in a short run.
What concerns the higher odds, the losses are larger correspondingly.
The problem is the maximum bet for the table, so you can quickly reach the "ceiling" and you'll have to start over or keep the same betting, which actually is not Martingale anymore.
It has many variations, like Capped and Grand Martingale. There is an Anti-Martingale version, which is completely opposite to the system.
Also the players should not forget about hot and cold hand. If you keep losing with every bet and keep staking more and more on, let's say, 17/1 or 35/1 you will definitely lose everything you've got, as it is impossible to win large amounts of money fast by applying the Martingale.
