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Martingale in Blackjack

Staff Writer 10/02/2020 Blog 701 views

The Martingale system of staking is a betting strategy which requires you to double your bet on a losing wager. It’s one of the simplest and most famous staking plans in the world of gambling. Also, it requires even odds bets – which seems perfect for playing online blackjack. However, there is a lot more to this blackjack strategy worth discussing.

How does Martingale Work in Blackjack?

For the sake of the beginners among us, let’s start with the basics. We’ll go over a simple step-by-step process you’ll need if you want to know how to use Martingale in blackjack.

  1. Start with the minimum stake and play blackjack as you would normally.
  2. If you win, just repeat the previous step.
  3. If you lose, double the previous stake and play again. If you keep losing, you’ll have to double up each time.
  4. As soon as you win another hand, go back to the initial stake.

 

The main idea of Martingale betting is to prevent any kind of loss. It’s simple, really – at odds of 1:1, doubling your stake will make up any losses made previously. That’s why this strategy only works with even odds bets – you need roughly 50% chances for Martingale.

The main disadvantage of this strategy should be fairly obvious. A short losing streak will result in the stake growing exponentially. If you don’t have to bankroll to support this kind of bet, you could end up losing everything. Two things have been done to mitigate this disadvantage.

Firstly, that’s why we start with the minimum bet. If you have the cash to support more, go for it by all means. Just be aware that just 5 losing hands will multiply your stake by 32. Additionally, that’s why the stake resets back to the minimum each time you win.

Can Martingale Beat Blackjack?

This is a tricky question to answer. Sometimes, beginners get the impression that Martingale betting is a sure-fire way to beat the casinos. This is simply a myth, and the reason is the main driving force behind all gambling – statistics.

In a perfect scenario, the Martingale could guarantee success. In this case, the perfect scenario would involve a casino with 0% house edge and unlimited time and money. Since all of those are impossible, the Martingale does not guarantee that you will win in blackjack.

Here’s the gist. Martingale relies on the fact that every bet has a 50% chance to win and 1:1 betting odds. Because of how the house edge works, though, the chance to win is never strictly 50%. It’s pretty close in blackjack compared to other casino games, but “close enough” doesn’t cut it in the long run.

Although you’re protecting yourself from a loss, the more you play, the closer the winnings will be to your losses. Now you might think that not losing is the next best thing to winning, right? Well, yes. However, there is always a small chance of losing too many consecutive hands. At some point, your bankroll is going to run dry. At that moment, you’ve spent a bunch of games not losing or winning, and then you suddenly lose it all.

Should I Use Martingale in Blackjack?

What we wrote above doesn’t necessarily mean you should always stay away, though.

Top online casinos offer a less than 1% house edge on blackjack, for example. That way, you can keep betting using Martingale for quite a while and maintain the same bankroll. It’s a lot of effort for negligible returns, of course, but it could be used to practice blackjack.

Secondly, you could also combine it with other strategies such as card counting. Despite its shortcomings, martingale can be used for proper bankroll management. This is one of the most important things to keep in mind when gambling.

Hopefully, we’ve cleared up any questions about using Martingale for blackjack.

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