Martingale FAIL

I’m a small time sports bettor, mainly football live betting. I love it!
I’ve been keeping myself entertained betting on other sports during the off season.
Lately, when I make a losing bet on a game, I’ve made up for it by playing blackjack using the
Martingale double down system, which I KNOW is flawed, to win back my $10 or $20 loss of the day.
But little $10 and $20 win spurts have been easy to achieve using Martingale, $1 at a time.
Until today.

I had inched my bankroll up to almost $500 by making small bets on baseball and basketball so I’d be ready for the football season with around half a grand to bet with. Like I said, I’m a small time bettor.
Today I was at around $450 and just needed a few more blackjack wins to get where I wanted to be.
Then the losing streak came.

$1,2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256 LOW FUNDS WARNING.
One last $200 hand of blackjack and it was TEN STRAIGHT LOSSES and a zero balance.
The most I’d ever bet on a football game is $20, maybe $50 (unless I’m hedging live bets with no risk)
and here I am making a $200 bet on my last hand of blackjack. WTF was I thinking??

What an idiot. What a fool. MONTHS spent, turning $200 into $450 with little $5 and $10 bets
wiped out in less than 3 minutes spent clicking “BET X2”.

I don’t know why I’m posting this.
Maybe as a cautionary tale. More like a confession.

All I can say is that if you dance with the devil enough times, eventually you’re gonna get burned.
One thing I know for sure:
My days of Martingale style blackjack betting are OVER!
Football season, PLEASE HURRY!!
In the meantime it’s gonna be “play for fun” mode for me!

Been there, got the T-shirt.

I often find it amusing to either martngale or 1,2,3,5,10 progressive wager, when I'm very close to some psychological target. One time I was holding bankroll of £495 and figured I'd just marty up to £500 before bedtime. My probability of success was roughly 495/500 = 99%
That night, i spite of chickening out of full marty, I hit 14 losses in a row at BJ and went to bed broke.
But I knew what I was letting myself in for and had no illusions. Martingale is a fun way to lose money. It doesn't increase the house edge.

Quote: Richyrich561

I’m a small time sports bettor, mainly football live betting. I love it!
I’ve been keeping myself entertained betting on other sports during the off season.
Lately, when I make a losing bet on a game, I’ve made up for it by playing blackjack using the
Martingale double down system, which I KNOW is flawed, to win back my $10 or $20 loss of the day.
But little $10 and $20 win spurts have been easy to achieve using Martingale, $1 at a time.
Until today.

I had inched my bankroll up to almost $500 by making small bets on baseball and basketball so I’d be ready for the football season with around half a grand to bet with. Like I said, I’m a small time bettor.
Today I was at around $450 and just needed a few more blackjack wins to get where I wanted to be.
Then the losing streak came.

$1,2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256 LOW FUNDS WARNING.
One last $200 hand of blackjack and it was TEN STRAIGHT LOSSES and a zero balance.
The most I’d ever bet on a football game is $20, maybe $50 (unless I’m hedging live bets with no risk)
and here I am making a $200 bet on my last hand of blackjack. WTF was I thinking??

What an idiot. What a fool. MONTHS spent, turning $200 into $450 with little $5 and $10 bets
wiped out in less than 3 minutes spent clicking “BET X2”.

I don’t know why I’m posting this.
Maybe as a cautionary tale. More like a confession.

All I can say is that if you dance with the devil enough times, eventually you’re gonna get burned.
One thing I know for sure:
My days of Martingale style blackjack betting are OVER!
Football season, PLEASE HURRY!!
In the meantime it’s gonna be “play for fun” mode for me!

Was this Marty done online? If so, there is no reason to do fun mode. There are tons of online casinos that offer free real money no deposit situations where you can make real money. I just used one that was $75 free. https://lcb.org/bonuses/no-deposit. Personally, I'm not trying to profit using the free bonuses, I use them to test the casinos while looking for better things to exploit, so I don't mess around with a strategy that would work best to profit from the free bonus money.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for sharing your story! I feel like much less of a loser, seriously!!
Knowing I’m not alone actually helps.
I was so disgusted with myself!
Worst part is I had an eerie feeling ahead of time yet I did it anyway.
I sometimes use the progression you described, then when I reach $10 I start back at $1.
But I got greedy and figured, like you, my odds of winning another $10 were in my favor.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
Rich

Yes it was online. Wait, you have a casino that offers free money that becomes real? What’s the catch? Do you have to make a deposit before it becomes real? Then it becomes some kind of a welcome bonus?
What’s the actual name of the website?
Thank you!
Rich

Quote: Richyrich561

Yes it was online. Wait, you have a casino that offers free money that becomes real? What’s the catch? Do you have to make a deposit before it becomes real? Then it becomes some kind of a welcome bonus?
What’s the actual name of the website?
Thank you!
Rich

Just to give some balance. I'm not a complete detractor of Martingale and other progressives. After all, it does not make the house edge worse.
As I often say, if you are in a war-zone with 990 in your pocket and 1000 will get you a flight home, then martingale is a good betting strategy.

Here, I had a good progressive betting session, for fun
Messing with ( not ) Marty

Quote: Richyrich561

Yes it was online. Wait, you have a casino that offers free money that becomes real? What’s the catch? Do you have to make a deposit before it becomes real? Then it becomes some kind of a welcome bonus?
What’s the actual name of the website?
Thank you!
Rich

I dont have a casino. There are lots of casinos online that offer this. There are hoops you have to go though to cash out if you win. The main one being you have to send them what they call.... a faxback form where ID and a utillity bill no older than x amount of months (ussully 3) is required. If you play online you should already know this. Each casino has their own terms and conditions. You should read them and follow them to a T or risk not getting anything of you happen to win( For the most part I know what they allow and don't allow, so I just skim the T&C's and look for key things. If I see the online casino has potential for bigger and better stuff, I will read and re read the T&C's.

Most of them(not all) you can only play on slots during while using a free no deposit bonus. They all come with some type of wagering requirements that are hard to overcome, but it's not impossible to do. I'm just guessing here, but I think you might have a cashable situation 1 in 5 times if you use a proper strategy.

They will normally(not always) limit you to how much you can win(cash out) from the bonus to a few hundred dollars.
Some of them require a small deposit if you happen to win and want to cash out. It's worth it to deposit $25 if you have won a few hundred. There is always a risk you don't get anything and you just wasted $25. I think that's rare if you only play at their recommended online casinos. Once you make a profit you can then look at some less known online casinos and take a risk.
The "link" (copy and past it to your browser and it will bring you to the Latest casino Bonuses website and no deposit bonuses page) I provided you above is a link to a sister site of this very site. They own this site and many other sites, including the Wizard Of Odds site.

LCB gives recommendations and ratings to various casinos. They help if you have an issue, question or problem with casinos that they list on their site. They have a list of casinos to avoid as well. They also give some type of free stuff out as well when you use their site to post, review and play online casinos, I have yet to really dive into that aspect. I use their site because they have usually have better special deals for the players than what the casinos offer themselves.

You said that you just used one with a $75 bonus then you put a link after it.
You don’t know the one you just used?
Thank you.

I think if I EVER use progressive again it’s going to be a simple 1,2,3 back to 1 on losses and bank the wins.
Interesting footnote:
Just before I went on my Martingale nightmare that wiped out my account, I had bet $5 on the Yankees who were, at the time, losing by 2 to Boston, so I got +225 odds (live betting).
I ecked my account and saw that NY won.
So thinking I had ZERO I found that I actually have $18 left in my account!
All I need to do now is hit a 5 team parlay tomorrow and I’ll be right back at $450!
What a miracle that would be haha...

Quote: Richyrich561

You said that you just used one with a $75 bonus then you put a link after it.
You don’t know the one you just used?
Thank you.

Perhaps I should just send you $75 and skip all the work for you? (-;

It was within the last week or so. I put a link to the site that has lots of diffrent options for you. theres a good chance I got bonus from a casino on their sites list. I have probably tested and or visited 20 diffrent sites from then until now. Also, I use a diffrent computer for that stuff and the list of casinos I look at is on that computer downstairs. So no, I dont remember off the top of my head the exact name of it, it had the word Vegas in the name.. Whatever the case, If this interests you then you should do some research yourself, it isn't hard to find bonuses and information on this kind of stuff.

Quote: Richyrich561

I think if I EVER use progressive again it’s going to be a simple 1,2,3 back to 1 on losses and bank the wins.
Interesting footnote:
Just before I went on my Martingale nightmare that wiped out my account, I had bet $5 on the Yankees who were, at the time, losing by 2 to Boston, so I got +225 odds (live betting).
I ecked my account and saw that NY won.
So thinking I had ZERO I found that I actually have $18 left in my account!
All I need to do now is hit a 5 team parlay tomorrow and I’ll be right back at $450!
What a miracle that would be haha...

Online? They could make you lose 100 hands in a row if they want to.

Yes, you’re right, I did exactly that. Thank you for the lead!
The problem that I see, mostly, is that the casinos will let you win money, real money, but the only way to cash it out is to make a deposit and roll it over 20-35x.
Otherwise it just stays play money.
I’ll tell you the technique I use.
I make sure my balance is ZERO where I usually gamble online.

After a couple weeks I’ll start getting emails from them saying stuff like
“We miss you, deposit by Sunday night and get a 100% match from us AND a free match bet up to $100”.
I can deposit $100 which immediately becomes $200 THEN play one hand of blackjack for $100. If I lose I still have $200 because whatever I bet they match and instantly credit my Acct with the $100 bet win or lose, but if I win then I’ll have $400, the $100 match deposit, the $100 match bet and the $100 win from the hand of BJ
(maybe even $150 if I’m REALLY lucky and get BJ)
All from a $100 deposit.
Of course there are rollover requirements but that’s no problem because I use that money all season then but whatever I have left on the Super Bowl!

That’s my plan anyway.
I’m still pretty bummed out that I just LOST $450 in a span of 3 minutes, but I guess what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and I can say that this kid is DONE with the Martingale devil dance!!!

No I use a trusted site. Some rouge sites could steal from you, yes, but the site I’ve been using is straight up. I’ve been paid by them without any problems before and I mainly sports bet anyway. I use
They used to have a slow payment history in their earlier years, but with bitcoin it’s only a few days to get paid.
And they’ve never been accused of rigging BJ, they’ve been around for over 20 years and I like them.
They’re fair.
Thank you for the heads up tho!

Quote: standbymyman

Online? They could make you lose 100 hands in a row if they want to.

Standbymyman is apparently suspicious of online casinos. He/she may be justified.
That said, most of the ones I've done business with don't need to resort to cheating because they dictate their own conditions of play. Wagering requirements, and a catch-all rule that 'If we don't like you, for whatever reason, then we reserve the right to close your account and seize the balance' seems to outrank the need to gaff any games they run. Been there, got the t-shirt.

Richy, your failed Marty and lost $450, was probably an immensely valuable life lesson. I reckon we all should suffer that early in our gambling careers.

I've had my Marty failure, and I remember it vividly, each time I try to marty 90 into 100.... But I still do it from time to time for 5h1t5 ang giggles. and when I lose that 90, It's not unknown for me to risk another few hundred. I note it down in my gambling log as 'deposit £xxx. Playing like a dick'... 'deposit another £xxx. chasing like a dick'

$:o)

IKR! We’ve all heard the stories of five figure losses even from the pro counters!
When I get back in I shall stick with my mini-Martingale which is 1-2-3 then RESET with a $20 cap!
No long free wins but no devastating losses either....

Thank you for your feedback.
I’m not joking when I say that you sharing your story helped me deal with my blunder!

At the moment I’m sort of going through withdrawals.
Every day I find SOMETHING to bet on using live betting, hoping to catch + money on both sides of the game.
It keeps me occupied and now I feel like an alcoholic who’s going through his first sober day holding a white chip!
I’ve got to white-knuckle it till football comes along.
Live betting on NFL action is my passion!

And I know that if I don’t make a deposit within the next couple weeks I’ll get a “special offer” email from my Sportsbook haha....
I’ve gotta wait for that.

It’s usually a “we miss you” with a 100% match deposit code and sometimes even a matchbet up to $100.
Meanwhile I’m wondering if my constant gambling is really “entertainment” or me just me wasting my life!
Anyway thanks again for listening. You’ve helped me a great deal and I appreciate it!
Rich