Does Doubling Up in Roulette Work?
Doubling up in roulette is used in many casinos, and some even use it when betting online. Doubling up is known as the Martingale strategy. As the name suggests, it is doubling down your wagers, chasing the excitement of securing a one-unit profit.
The Martingale is by far one of the most popular strategies of all, but this begs the question: Is it really successful, as being popular isn’t the same thing as being successful?
Does doubling up in roulette work? According to experts, no, it does not work. This is because doubling your bet won’t change anything except the amount of money you risk. For instance, if you bet on black for the European wheel, you will have an 18/37 chance of winning.
This article will teach you more about the doubling-up method and how it works in a real-life casino and an online betting scenario.
Placing Bets in the Martingale Strategy
The Martingale roulette strategy is used when playing on the outside bets, which are 1-18 (Manque) or even 19-36 (Passe), red (Rouge), or black (Noir).
You can even bet on an even (Pair) or an odd, commonly known as Impair. Compared to the inside bets, these actually have the maximum odds of winning, close to 50%.
When it comes to winning, the payout will be 1:1, so you will get the same amount that you place in for a bet.
If you bet one chip on black and eventually win by chance, you will get your chip back plus one more chip for your win.
The Martingale system is pretty risky, but it is very easy to understand. That is why it is something that you should want to try.
Practice it in online casinos to minimize the risk and get the early heads-up on what will happen in the real game.
How the Martingale System Works
The Martingale’s main concept is the doubling strategy for roulette, and the idea is easy to understand.
You put a bet on one of the very outside bets, and after every round, you will lose. Then you double your bet, and you keep on doing it until you win.
Once you eventually win, you will recover all previous losses; also, you might get a profit equal to your original bet.
After winning, you will be back to your initial point and original bet, which will double again once you win.
Double Your Bets
To fully understand how “double your bet” works, here is a specific example to demonstrate this concept. You choose to bet one chip on black for this scenario, and if the ball lands on red, you will eventually lose your chip.
This is the perfect time for the first Martingale progression.
You will double your bet so that you will bet two chips on black. If the ball lands on black, you will win two chips, which will recover the loss you had from the first round, and you get an additional chip.
If the ball lands on red again, you will have to double your chips again and bet four chips on black.
This is basically how this strategy works, and it could go on forever. As long as you double your bet after every loss, the first win will cover all of those lost chips, and you will have an extra chip for your win.
Realistically speaking, this works in theory only because, in a real roulette circumstance, there are plenty of other factors you need to consider over the course of the game, and that will screw it up for you.
In theory, the concept makes a lot of sense. However, because of the house advantage represented by the green Zero, the odds will always be against the players.
The chance of the ball landing in an outside bet is close to but not exactly 50%.
The Dangers of the Martingale Strategy
The Martingale roulette strategy is among the most popular strategies for roulette, but it is considered extremely risky as well.
This is well-known by most advanced roulette players and professionals. The main problem is the risk of losing all your money.
When it comes to Martingale’s strategy, the player can quickly run out of money, especially after a few rounds.
Also, the bets might hit the table limit if the player loses too many times in a row; in this case, the player will be forced to double and redouble their bets over and over again.
Once the limit has been reached, the player won’t get another chance to double their bet again.
As a result, they won’t be able to cover their row of losses. At this point, the Martingale strategy has failed. For instance, after losing 10 rounds, you’d need to bet 1024 chips to be able to recover your previous losses.
Then you would be required to add another 1023 chips to that: the ones you have lost up to this point. You can imagine how quickly any player can go bankrupt or hit their table limit.
Conclusion
To conclude, playing roulette using the Martingale strategy is not easy. It is probably easy for those players who have a larger bankroll, but for a regular player, this is a high-risk move that requires much study.
On the other hand, it can’t hurt to try this yourself, especially because there are plenty of casinos that offer a free play money mode.
For a certain period, the Martingale strategy will bring you only small winnings.
On the other hand, because of its steep progression, the strategy is considered extremely risky, compared to flipping a coin. Every roulette player has their own experience with winning and losing.