Dangers of Using Martingale

The Martingale Betting System is highly effective in increasing the chances of you winning in short runs. However, the more chances of winning you have, the higher the losses when you lose.

It’s a fact that when you have the cash flow to double the betting hand when you will, you will be ahead once you start to win. This is the principal on which the Martingale Betting System works. Let’s take a look at some of the dangers of using this system to evaluate whether you should use it or not.

Risk of Losses

Provided that you have a bigger bankroll and are only looking for a short run on roulette, you can reduce the risk of incurring losses. For instance, if you are betting on $1, then you should have at least $200, and for $5 bets, you should have $1,000 at least. That said, some players tend to get carried away with the game and lose their focus on how much they have left.

For instance, let’s say that you started your bet with $5 and managed to land a series of 10 losses, which is possible so never count that out. Now in order to place your next bet, you will have to cough up $5,120. If you can’t do that, then you are losing $2,560 regardless. While there are chances of winning in quick successions using this method, if your bankroll dries out, then you can only hope that you’re not married and have to go home more than 2 grand poorer.

House Edge

You can, and never should, disregard the edge that the house maintains on each roulette table. Even if you do have an enormous cash flow, most casinos limit the $5 table to a maximum of $500-1000. Subsequently, the higher the maximum betting hand on a table is, the greater the minimum betting hand will be. Hence, if you persistently use the Martingale system and continue to make losses each time, you will either go broke with no money left for the next bet, or you will hit the table limit.

The house edge in table limits means that the Martingale system is only effective in short term plays. In other words, the longer you play, the higher the chances of going on a losing streak. And once you hit the table limit, you will start off from square one with significant reduction in your cash flow.

Conclusion

By now, you should have a clear idea of how bad the martingale betting system can go when you ride on a losing streak. Even in most online roulette games, there is a table limit. As you can see in the picture, Martingale system compared to flat betting can offer greater long term rewards. That however, is only possible if you are playing on a no limit table and a large bankroll. Ideally, the Martingale betting system is effective in very short runs, an hour to hour and a half tops. However, roulette is a game of chance and that’s something that you should learn first.