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This article was great. It made me remember reading Scarne's New Complete Guide to Gambling long time ago. https://www.amazon.com/Scarnes-New-Complete-Guide-Ga

by erik998 10y ago

This article was great. It made me remember reading Scarne's New Complete Guide to Gambling long time ago. https://www.amazon.com/Scarnes-New-Complete-Guide-Gambling/dp/0671630636 https://www.amazon.com/Scarnes-New-Complete-Guide-Gambling/d... He has a great story of how gamblers would get casinos to increase betting limits and allow them to successfully use a martingale system. To this day, casino owners still fall for this and lose substantially. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_limit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_limit

abduhl 10y ago
Martingale systems definitely do not cause casino owners to "lose substantially" - the bettor cannot match the casino's bankroll and any amount of money won back after the first bet increase is actually the bettor's. The casino can afford to let you double because they are only ever putting the original amount bet at risk.
- Bahamut 10y ago
  Yep, this is certainly true - I've run into it since I bet this way most of the time when playing blackjack in casinos. One of the first things I do before sitting at a table is calculating how many bets it takes to hit the highest possible before hitting the limit, and I have hit it plenty of times (won some of them, lost others).
- alkonaut 10y ago
  If you can reasonably match the bankroll, it seems like the players' edge against the house is that they can determine when the game ends (assuming the house can't refuse a bet). The problem is of course matching the bankroll to the point where you can afford a long losing streak - it's just not practical.
- alasdair_ 10y ago
  It could only happen if the tables had a ridiculous limit which almost never happens. If it did, I could see a few billionaires grouping together to be able to bankrupt almost any casino by betting a billion on black instead of red.
  - eru 10y ago
    Couldn't the casino buy insurance from some other billionaires?
im3w1l 10y ago
The martingale system does a) not work, b) encourages people to spend more than they can afford to lose, in the worst case leading to suicide.

by erik998 10y ago

abduhl 10y ago

Martingale systems definitely do not cause casino owners to "lose substantially" - the bettor cannot match the casino's bankroll and any amount of money won back after the first bet increase is actually the bettor's. The casino can afford to let you double because they are only ever putting the original amount bet at risk.

Bahamut 10y ago
Yep, this is certainly true - I've run into it since I bet this way most of the time when playing blackjack in casinos. One of the first things I do before sitting at a table is calculating how many bets it takes to hit the highest possible before hitting the limit, and I have hit it plenty of times (won some of them, lost others).
alkonaut 10y ago
If you can reasonably match the bankroll, it seems like the players' edge against the house is that they can determine when the game ends (assuming the house can't refuse a bet). The problem is of course matching the bankroll to the point where you can afford a long losing streak - it's just not practical.
alasdair_ 10y ago
It could only happen if the tables had a ridiculous limit which almost never happens. If it did, I could see a few billionaires grouping together to be able to bankrupt almost any casino by betting a billion on black instead of red.
- eru 10y ago
  Couldn't the casino buy insurance from some other billionaires?

im3w1l 10y ago

The martingale system does a) not work, b) encourages people to spend more than they can afford to lose, in the worst case leading to suicide.