Has anyone actually SEEN a Martingaler?

I play Martingales in Baccarat, Sic bo, and Roulette all the time. Roulette columns and Sic bo single numbers can be especially fun due to paying out better than 1:1. As long as you understand that it's a disastrous long-term strategy and just do it for fun, I don't see any problem with the Martingale, in any of its variations.

Quote: Wizard

If I ever ran a casino I think I would make my max bets some factor of 2, just as an inside joke to Martingale players.

i forget which casino it was out here but my friend told me he ran into it was either a baccarat or paigow poker table where the min bet was $100 and the max bet was $32,000. i told him it would have been even better if also the min bet was $125.

Quote: heather

As long as you understand that it's ....

And therein lies the problem.

Too many people discover the Martingale by chance, and act like they invented the wheel. They do not fully understand what they discovered.

There's nothing wrong with playing it for a couple levels, as long as you fully understand its limitations.

Before Mike Warren (another pimlico boy)made millions touting football games, he sold a horse betting system. Sort of a modified Martingale. A 10 page pamphlet
that was basically Just win $200 each day at the track. Quit each day and start over LOL Then he got into football picks in the 1980's and shut down a telephone exchange, he had so many suckers.

I've never seen a TRUE Martingaler, as in follows it to the letter with exact doubling and such, but I see similar all the time. Of course, I'm in a casino 5 days a week so I'm bound to see some. Mostly I see maybe a 4 step, where a $5 wager stops at $40. Nothing so extreme as someone taking it to the limit. Of these wagering sytems I've identified (Marty and anti, D'alembert, NY) I've only seen ONE TIME where a guy seemed to be working it. He did well enough to garner Table Game's attention, and after I checked him out for an hour, he was basically just getting lucky with a Marty. They weren't exact doubles ($25-$40, for example), but every loss was increased, and every win was decreased. He was playing three hands, and he was using the entire play to judge (W-L-P he'd stay the same wager, W-L-L he'd double, W-W-L he'd decrease). He won a couple grand off a couple grand buy in. He also never took it to the limit.

I once came close. After losing 4 hands in a row at 3CP, I decided to double the ante and play bet beause I was "due to win." I don't recall whether I won or lost, but when I realized what I'd done I went back to flat betting and didn't try it again.

You may know all the pertinent facts, but when you get caught up in the game gut feelings and hunches reign supreme.

Yes- I played blackjack with an Asian gentleman who was fairly drunk I guess. Anyway, we are playing $25 min BJ and he was surviving because he would catch that win. He goes on a terrible run and bites the dust on a 400 hand.... comes back to the table 5 minutes later with 700 from the ATM, hits a Blackjack, goes back to betting 50 a hand and then is completely sunk again within 45 minutes....never came back as I think the ATM had gone dry.

I have doubled a few times after losing and it has never gone too well for me at least.

Never saw one but have heard the sad tale of one from a dealer. Somewhere long gone on the strip (Little Ceasars I think) and it was a true bird game. Guy was half the right thing by betting either pass or don't (I forget which but as we know it does not matter.) Guy went .25, .50, 1.00, 2.00, 4.00, 8.00, 16.00. 32.00, 64.00, 128.00, 256.00. 512.00 and finally somehow the guy playing a bird game lays $1,048.00 and loses it all. The dealer was very speciffic telling me this mamaluke finally put over $1,000 down. AT LITTLE CAESARS!

Probably half the total money laid on the whole craps table that night.

When I was learning gambling an old gambler told me - If a bet goes one way 3 times either bet with the streak or don't bet. I like up and pull myself. Start a series betting 2 units. If you win bet 1 unit and keep adding 1 more unit to your bet until the streak ends. Then go back to 2 units.

Quote: ncfatcat

When I was learning gambling an old gambler told me - If a bet goes one way 3 times either bet with the streak or don't bet. I like up and pull myself. Start a series betting 2 units. If you win bet 1 unit and keep adding 1 more unit to your bet until the streak ends. Then go back to 2 units.

That's the NY. Or at least some refer to it as the NY since it starts with 2-1-2 (area code) and the thought is by winning 2 and then betting 1, you lock up that 1 wager in case of a loss, but if you win then the increase will take advantage of streaks. You'll last longer than a Marty, so there's that...