The Martingale Betting System The Martingale system is very simple. Your aim is to win an amount equal to your original roulette bet size. You’ll do it by placing this bet on either red or black at the wheel (you could also bet.
- The Martingale System The Martingale System focuses on roulette bets on red or black, and is perhaps the most well-known strategy of all. With the Martingale system, you bet on one colour, and keep.
- The Martingale System. The most famous of all betting systems is the Martingale System, and it’s.
When it comes to betting systems, roulette is the ideal platform. You’ll be able to place bets on a variety of odds, including of course even money. One such system that relies on even money bets is the Martingale System, which is possibly the best-known system of them all. The Grand Martingale offers a variation of the system, meaning that the amount you’ll win will increase.
Aspects of the Grand Martingale Betting System
In this article, I look at all the aspects of the Grand Martingale betting strategy as follows:
- The Martingale: I start with an explanation of the Martingale system
- The Grand Martingale: I then move on to explain how this method differs
- The Pros & Cons: I review the advantages and disadvantages of the Grand Martingale system
- The Wrap-Up: I finish with a summary and thoughts about this betting strategy
The Martingale Betting System
The Martingale system is very simple. Your aim is to win an amount equal to your original roulette bet size. You’ll do it by placing this bet on either red or black at the wheel (you could also bet on odd/even or 1-18/19-36).
If the bet wins, you’ve achieved your aim –you have won the original bet amount. If the bet doesn’t win, then you’ll simply double your stake. You’ll keep doubling your stake until you eventually win. At whatever point you finally hit that red/black, you’ll win your original bet size.
Important: This sounds foolproof until you consider what happens when you have a losing run.
The Grand Martingale System
Roulette Martingale Betting Strategy
The Martingale is the best well-known betting system.
Is this the best betting strategy for winning in roulette?
This system differs from the standard Martingale system in the fact that every time you double your stake, you’ll also add on the original bet size as well. What this actually means is that you’ll actually win more the longer it takes to hit that win.
The Grand Martingale System– In Action
Grand Martingale example:
- Take your aim: You decide to start with $5 with the aim of winning $5.
- First spin: However, the first spin result is black and you’ve bet on red.
- Compare: The standard martingale system would now require a $10 bet, but the grand martingale system requires a $15 (you’ve doubled the $5 and added $5 on top).
- If you win: If you land on red this time, you’ll actually finish $10 in profit.
- Lucky red: If you land on red this time, you’ll actually finish $10 in profit. If you land on red after three spins, you’ll win $15, then $20 and so on.
Advantages of the Grand Martingale System
There are two advantages to using this system in roulette.
- Short-term winning: The first is that the chances are that you’ll win in the short-term. For example, if you’re willing to go to five spins on a European wheel, then you’ll actually win 96.4% of the time.
- Progressive win: The other advantage of this system is the progressive winning amount.
Single Disadvantage of the Grand Martingale System
The main disadvantage of this system is the danger it entails when on a roulette losing run.
Consider This
Your initial bet might be $10. What would happen if you have a run of four straight losses? You’ve staked $10, then $30, then $70 and $150. Your next bet is $310.
So ask yourself:
- Can you afford this amount, having already staked $260?
- Can you afford the next bet of $630 or even the following bet of $1270?
- Will the casino accept four-figure bets anyway?
Worse-Case Scenario
I stated earlier that you’ll win 96.4% of the time if going to five spins, but the one time in 28 that you lose will cost you much more than you ever made. The Martingale system is dangerous enough and you’ll find some mathematical calculations on our Martingale Betting System page.
Grand Martingale System – Overview
Roulette Martingale Betting System Reviews
Warning: This is a very high-risk system.
Yes, you’ll gain a series of small short-term profits, but when that bad run does hit it’ll cost you a whole load of dollars. Roulette is a game where the house cannot be beaten, so any system will fall down in the long run, but using a system can add enjoyment to a game.
Within the game of roulette, one system stands tall as the go to for players looking for an easy to understand, straightforward, winning strategy. The Martingale system has been used for over two centuries and continues to be the most popular roulette strategy choice for players. In this guide, you will learn exactly how the Martingale roulette strategy works, both in theory and in practice.
Further to this, we will give you an in-depth understanding of how the Martingale odds play out over the course of a game before discussing whether or not the system is technically legal. Finally, we will compare the Martingale roulette system against other well-known systems before ending with some of its shortcomings.
Martingale Roulette System – The Theory
With origins dating back to the 1800s, the Martingale system descends from probability theory where within a sequence of fixed random variables, there will always be a point where the next value will be equal to the present value. Now don’t run away. With a simple example, this theory becomes very straight forward and easy to understand. First, think about a person continually betting on the outcome of flipping a coin where the outcomes are fixed – heads wins and tails loses. If the person betting was to double their bet after every loss, a win would recover all previous losses in one bet plus a profit equal to the first bet in the sequence. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the the following section below and you will see it for yourself.
The idea behind this system is that at some point, you have to win, and this win will recover all your previous losses, plus one unit of profit. In layman’s terms, double up until you win! By now, I’m sure you can see the attractiveness of such a system when utilised as a roulette strategy.
Martingale System in Practice
Now that you have a better understanding of how the Martingale system works in theory, let’s have a look at a practical example in roulette. Similar to the above coin example, players will choose a ‘relatively’ even-money bet. I say relatively because in roulette, these are not exactly 50 bets but we will discuss that in more detail later. In roulette these bets can be on low (1-18) or high (19-36) numbers, odd or even numbers or the most commonly used bet on red or black. For this example, we will be betting £1 on the probability that the ball lands on red.After the first spin, if the ball lands on red, we are very happy and have won our first bet with a profit of £1. If the ball lands on black and we have lost, at this point we will double our original bet from £1 to £2. If the ball then lands on red, we will have recovered our previous lost bet of £1 plus an additional unit of profit £1. If on our second spin, the ball lands on black and we lose again, we will continue doubling our bets on red until we win. No matter how long it takes, or the size of the bet, we will eventually win and recover our original bet.
But how will this strategy hold up if we lose five games in a row? The answer is: completely fine. Check out the above example and you will see just how straight forward the Martingale roulette system is in action.
Martingale Betting System For Blackjack
Martingale Odds: Working Out Your Risk
The secret to the Martingale roulette strategy is really no secret at all; it’s a simple numbers game. As referenced earlier, the success of the system is down to the assumption that at some point, after a series of losses, you have to win, and with this win, you can recover all of your losses plus one unit of profit. So how can we believe that a player will eventually recover all of his or her losses? In order to demonstrate this theory, we have outlined in the table below how a player can recover all of their losses, even after losing nine games in a row by utilising the Martingale strategy.
| Spin Progression | Bet (Units) | Outcome | Total Profit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Loss | -1 |
| 2 | 2 | Loss | -3 |
| 3 | 4 | Loss | -7 |
| 4 | 8 | Loss | -15 |
| 5 | 16 | Loss | -31 |
| 6 | 32 | Loss | -63 |
| 7 | 64 | Loss | -127 |
| 8 | 128 | Loss | -255 |
| 9 | 256 | Loss | -511 |
| 10 | 512 | Win | 1 |
So, the Martingale theoretical approach implies that, for instance, if you lose nine games in a row and double your bet on the following tenth spin, you will recover all of your losses and come out with a profit of plus one. Once you land a win after a series of consecutive losses, you start anew. The Martingale odds are stacked in your favour! Of course, Martingale only strictly works theoretically if you have the bank roll to support it.
Is the Martingale Strategy Legal?
As it stands, the use of the Martingale roulette system is perfectly legal. However, casinos do have countermeasures in order to decrease its effectiveness. One measure is to put in place maximum betting limits which mean, if a player is in a deep losing streak, there will come a point where they can no longer place a high enough bet to cover all their losses. For example, if a casino has a £500 maximum betting limit and a player has lost a £275 bet, they will not be able to double it £550. Another countermeasure to help reduce the players’ odds of successfully utilising the Martingale strategy is the fabled ‘other’ colour on the roulette wheel; the green. The green slots are filled with the number zero. In European Roulette there is only one slot and thus one zero, whereas in the American version there are two slots, one for zero and another for double zero. These green zeros represent the house edge. In European Roulette the green spread is worth 2.7% giving the house an edge of 51.35% in total. In American roulette, with two green slots, the spread is worth 5.26% giving the house an even bigger advantage of 52.6%.
Other Roulette Systems
Martingale Online Roulette
Now that you’ve dipped your finger and got a taste of what the Martingale strategy has to offer, let’s see how it compares to some of the other more niche systems available to roulette players today. The following two are just a preview of the available betting systems. If you’re interested in finding out more about the existing strategies, we would recommend our comprehensive guide to roulette systems.
- Counts on winning and losing streaks
- Bet same after a loss
- Up wager by one unit after a win
- Less flexible than Martingale
- Advocates betting on 20+ numbers
- Numbers should be spread well
- Aims to reduce potential losses
- Somewhat chaotic, yet very flexible
The Oscar’s Grind system is based on the idea that there are periods of both winning streaks and losing streaks. In brief, when you lose a bet, you bet the same amount and when you win, you raise the bet by one unit. The method can withstand many bad runs however, the Martingale system is far more resistant to alternating wins and losses in short streaks.
The Kavouras system involves betting different amounts on at least 20 numbers chaotically spread around the roulette wheel. This method eliminates possible dealer interference, places several defensive numbers in play to minimise potential future losses and offers the opportunity for big wins. The system is deliberately very chaotic and flexible, however, if you prefer a far more standardised system that you can follow, the Martingale strategy is the one for you.
The Downfall of the Martingale System
As with any roulette system, both pros and cons exist and the Martingale strategy is not without its flaws. If it was foolproof, we would all be millionaires by now! Theoretically, the Martingale system is really sound, however in reality, there are two gaping holes which cannot be ignored. Firstly, the theory assumes players have an unlimited bankroll and can withstand huge losses. For most people, this is not the case. Secondly, open-ended table limits very rarely exist. As discussed above, many casinos impose maximum betting limits on their roulette tables in order to inhibit players from recovering from large losses.
Whilst it is statistically very unlikely that you will ever be unlucky enough to lose eight, nine, even ten spins in a row, it will eventually happen. At the end of the day, the roulette wheel doesn’t know you or remember your previous spins. In every spin, you either win or you *cough*die*cough* lose.
Conclusion
Whilst not completely fool proof, the Martingale roulette system can be a very useful way to ease yourself into a game of roulette and familiarise yourself with the mathematical side of gambling and odds. It is a very interesting theory and certainly worth testing out, but should always be played with low stakes at first. That said, if you prefer a high stakes game, we would recommend our guide to the best high stakes online casinos in the UK. If you want to find out more about roulette, check out our guide to the best online roulette casinos in the UK. Set yourself profit goals and loss limits so you don’t get carried away and above all, enjoy yourself!