The Martingale System

The Martingale System has its roots in 18th century France.  This is a betting strategy and doesn’t necessarily have to be used with craps or other dice games, but does absolutely lend itself to games of chance with many repetitive rounds.  In its infancy this system was used to help bettors win when betting on the flip of a coin.  The basic premise of the Martingale system is very simple and only requires knowledge of craps basics, but to use it effectively you need to understand its limitations and how to properly implement it.

To use the Martingale System with craps, you place a very low bet for the first round of play, most likely the table minimum. This system remains in use until you win so, if you happen to win your first round, good job, but time to start over with the low bet next round.  If however you lose your first bet you accept your losses and for the second round you will place a bet twice the size of the original bet.  If you lose this second bet, you place a bet twice the size of it on the third round, and so on and so forth.

By doubling your previous bet after each loss, when you inevitably do win, your net winnings, after all losses, will be equal to the amount you place for your first bet.

Now there are some very serious limitations to this.  To start with your bank roll will limit how long you can keep up this betting strategy before you go broke.  If your initial bet is $5, and you’ve got $75 available to play with. You can only make 4 bets (including the original) before you go broke (5+10+20+40=75).  The bigger your bankroll and the smaller your original bet, the more you can continue this betting pattern without being you forced out of the game.

Looking above you might be thinking that this system is flawless for a player with a huge bankroll (Bill Gates).  Even on a horribly unlucky day a billionaire can be sure to win from $5 original bets, right?  Well once upon a time this was true, but it didn’t take casinos long to realize they could stand to lose lots of money in the long run from wealthy players taking advantage of the martingale system.

To put an end to the unbeatable edge offered by the Martingale system, casinos implemented betting maximums that are at most five times the table minimum, allowing the player to only make two bets consistent with the martingale system. This development on the casino’s end has effectively put an end to the effective use of the Martingale system, but for players who are feeling lucky, you can use your second (or in some cases a third), doubling bet to take another stab at the pot, but you do also risk losing it all without the chance at instant redemption. When you are ready to put this knowledge to good use, check out our casino review section.