The Martingale system is one of the oldest betting systems around. It has existed for over 300 years and its supposed success lies in giving you the statistical edge for making a consistent profit. The Baccarat system is an attempt to guarantee you win overall, by implementing a system of doubling and then redoubling up on bets. If a gambler places his initial bet of $5 and loses, the method according to the Martingale System is to then double that bet to $10. If the better encounters another loss than doubling again would mean the next bet was $20. This continues until a win eventually occurs and all the money is made back plus of course a little extra.
The system, if it was adopted for the game of Baccarat and assuming a series of 5 losses in a row would go as follows:
- Bet Number 1 $5
- Bet Number 2 $10
- Bet Number 3 $20
- Bet Number 4 $40
- Bet Number 5 $80
At this point you would have ‘invested’ $155 at the casino. Let’s say you made one more bet. The Martingale System would dictate that this next bet be $160 pushing your total investment or stake at the casino up to $315. If you won at this point, you would receive twice what you bet, so $320 would be handed back making an overall profit of $5. At this stage you would go back to bet number 1 and begin the procedure again. Perfect! This is an undeniably perfect system provided you have the initial funds to see it through. The same betting system works well in games such as roulette.
The story does not end there though. Casinos, realizing that this betting system guarantees you make your money back plus a small profit have applied caps to betting sizes in the form of table maximums. This eliminates guaranteed chance of success using the Martingale System as you are no longer able to make all your previously wagered money back with one win.
Let’s look more closely as to why table limits sabotage guaranteed success by going back to our Baccarat betting example above. What if you weren’t to win at this point (we had reached bet number 6 of $160), or even the next time (bet number 7 of $320). By now you have invested $635 at your table. Still having not won you would be looking to make bet number 8 which would be $640 (double bet number 7). If, for arguments sake, the table limit was set at $1000 a bet this size would not be allowed as your total stake would pass the limit set at $1,275.
So you’ve reached the level where you are no longer able to double up. Instead you make the biggest bet possible which would be the difference between the maximum table limit and the amount you’ve already wagered. In this instance that figure would be $365. Hurray a win, but of course the payout of $730 leaves an overall loss of $270 having wagered $1000 in total.
Of course it is possible to see short term success with the Martingale System. So long as you do not reach the table limit, the system is fail safe. It can only be used in games when bets pay 1:1 which is why Baccarat and Roulette are ideal but just bear it in mind that once the table limit has been reached, it is no longer possible to recoup all the previously wagered money in one go.