Martingale System

Want a guaranteed system to make money at roulette? Have infinite resources and a casino willing to take bets of any size, no matter how huge? Have we got a system for you! It's called the Martingale System.

It works like this: start with some amount of money (like $10) and bet it on one of the (almost) 50/50 bets on the board, like black or red...if you lose, double the amount. Keep doubling the amount until you win. When you eventually win, you'll pocket a profit equal to your original bet.

So...start with $10 on red. Black comes up. You lose that initial bet. But now you put $20 on red...black again...double it again to $40...finally, a red number comes up.

You now have $80 (double your most recent $40 bet). However, you lost those previous bets...$10, plus $20, in addition to the winning $40 wager. So you put $70 at risk to make $80...$10 profit.

The Martingale System works great...unless you go on a losing streak. The doubling amount can get really big, really fast.

$10 becomes $20, which becomes $40, which becomes $80, which becomes $160, which becomes $320, which becomes $640, which becomes $1,280. You suffer an eight-spin losing streak, and now you're about to put $2,560 on red in an attempt to earn a $10 profit...not to mention all the money you've already sunk into the strategy. Even if your next bet finally pays off, you've put $5,110 at risk to earn $10.

An eight-spin losing streak may seem like a rare event. But it only has to happen once to wipe you out. Meanwhile, you're at least hypothetically willing to put all that money at risk to earn little $10 increments....meaning you'd have to win 511 times before suffering a nine-spin losing streak to make it worth your while.

The downside of the Martingale System.