Martingale and Bitcoiners

[bit777]

I would like to start this topic of discussion and hear some opinions from the community.

In the online gambling world, Martingale system is being used only by 5% to 10% of the player base of any casino. In the bitcoin gambling world (as we see from our experience of running a bitcoin casino) Martingale is being used by 95% of the roulette/baccarat players.

So why is this huge difference? Do the players believe that their chance is greater by using Martingale compared to simple luck? Or they firmly believe that you can never lose using such a system? Or is it short-term gain that players are after? Or it is just the only known and proven way to bet?

[dooglus]

So why is this huge difference?

For me, I'm usually not playing much.  I'm generally just checking out the site to see how it works, whether it's really provably fair, etc.  So I deposit enough that I can start small and be pretty sure I've got long enough to have a couple of winning martingale sequences, and so I get to have a bunch of bets without much risk of losing.

I'm aware that one day I'm going to get unlucky, and end up losing more than I've ever won, but that seems far enough off that I can ignore it.  The "it won't happen to me" defence.  Like when I used to smoke; the inevitable painful death seemed distant enough that I could pretend it wasn't going to happen.

It feels good to use the martingale system.  Almost all the time you end up winning a small amount.  You feel like you're beating the house.  And it gets exciting when the stakes get close to your max bet, too.

As for why bitcoiners do it more than dollar online players, that's a tough one.

* Maybe we have more of a background in nerdy things, which makes it appeal more (even though we should know better...)

* Maybe the spread between min and max bets is typically larger at Bitcoin casinos, which allows players to have a greater chance of successful martingale sequences (with corresponding more devastating albeit rarer losing sequences, too).

* Maybe the amount of talk on these forums about martingale encourages it.  There are even scripts/bots that will do the betting for you!

[bit777]

We are considering doing a Martingale competition on No Zero roulette. Will there be takers for that?

[dooglus]

We are considering doing a Martingale competition on No Zero roulette. Will there be takers for that?

I expect so.

But why would anyone run a no-zero roulette game?  You have all the downside that comes with running high-variance games with none of the upside that comes with a positive house edge.

[bit777]

It will be a competition among the actual players. Player vs Player and not Player vs House. And may the best one win Just give me a couple of days to come up with the exact rules.

[dooglus]

It will be a competition among the actual players. Player vs Player and not Player vs House. And may the best one win Just give me a couple of days to come up with the exact rules.

OK, but apart from the competition, why do you run a game where you are just as likely to make a loss as a profit?

[bit777]

OK, but apart from the competition, why do you run a game where you are just as likely to make a loss as a profit?

It is great for marketing and driving players to the site.  We have tested it with about 50 million spins and in the long run it really holds exact 100% RTP no matter what you bet on. So it doesn't hurt to have it.

[Mooshire]

It will be a competition among the actual players. Player vs Player and not Player vs House. And may the best one win Just give me a couple of days to come up with the exact rules.

OK, but apart from the competition, why do you run a game where you are just as likely to make a loss as a profit?

Shhhh, don't tell him that!

Joking aside, probably for publicity if nothing else.

[Cyberdyne]

* Maybe the spread between min and max bets is typically larger at Bitcoin casinos

Yep, this is what I was going to reply with.

[dooglus]

Joking aside, probably for publicity if nothing else.

The problem though is if I have a choice between playing 0% roulette or 2.7027% roulette which am I going to play?

As the house offering a choice between games where you are guaranteed to lose in the long run and games where you break even in the long run, I would be worried that nobody would play the games where you're bound to lose eventually.

[Cyberdyne]

I just thought of another possible reason -

Maybe martingaling is an attribute of novice gamblers, and in bitcoin there is a much higher percentage of novices, since crypto currency opened up gambling to those who wouldn't normally be interested.

[bit777]

I just thought of another possible reason -

Maybe martingaling is an attribute of novice gamblers, and in bitcoin there is a much higher percentage of novices, since crypto currency opened up gambling to those who wouldn't normally be interested.

You are quite right about that. It is mostly used by novice players. Think of it like this. If you are betting Martingale on a 1$ bet, you need to do 100 spins to win $100. On 100 spins, your chance of getting a bad streak is probably something around 60% (haven't really calculated it but it is something like that). If you bet $100 on red and win, you will win the same $100 in just 1 spin with a chance of 50% to lose it. In reality your odds are better on short-term single bets than on long-term Martingale play. I myself am a hardcore roulette player and I always prefer to try my lucky numbers

As for No Zero vs other roulettes, there are passengers for every train. Currently 75% of the roulette play on our site is No Zero and the rest of the roulettes combined are 25%.

[Zaih]

Doog pretty much summed it up.

I just thought of another possible reason -

Maybe martingaling is an attribute of novice gamblers, and in bitcoin there is a much higher percentage of novices, since crypto currency opened up gambling to those who wouldn't normally be interested.

Also this is a pretty good reason.

I'd love to see the no zero roulette tournament, that'd be great fun Keeping an eye out for it

[MPOE-PR]

Like when I used to smoke; the inevitable painful death it seemed distant enough that I could pretend it wasn't going to happen.

I have never before read words written by someone who's experienced painful death. Glad you're feel better now!

I just thought of another possible reason -

Maybe martingaling is an attribute of novice gamblers, and in bitcoin there is a much higher percentage of novices, since crypto currency opened up gambling to those who wouldn't normally be interested.

I would wager this is a step down the right path. It's not merely novice though, it's novices with a particular sort of can-do, master-of-destiny attitude (the sort common to IT geeks, for instance).

[dooglus]

inevitable painful death

I have never before read words written by someone who's experienced painful death. Glad you're feel better now!

Turns out it was evitable.

[keatonatron]

As mentioned, I think it's because people gambling with bitcoins aren't gamblers 

If you're a miner, it's easy to feel like your coins cost you nothing to obtain, so you have nothing to lose by gambling them away. Yet if you can turn them into more coins, it'll really be worth it down the road when the "million dollar bitcoin" becomes a reality.

I've also heard of people creating bots to gamble for them. I think this is something a serious gambler would not do (because it's bound to fail), but to someone who is trying to create wealth from nothing but a computer and some programming knowledge, it might look attractive.

[bit777]

I can tell you a system I was crazy about few years back. You watch which sectors are hot. In most cases the roulettes have 2 of the 3 sectors hotter and the 3rd one cold. So you cover the 2 hot sectors in split and corner bets, a total of 60-65 bets all over the place, and when you hit, you hit BIG and you hit often! The multiplier goes 10-12 times of your total bets. I was doing crazy good with this system for months until 1 day... It is far better than Martingale as you get quite the thrill of winning big . When betting at 5$ a bet (in AC thats the minimum), I was betting around 170-180 per spin and, when winning ~6-900 a spin. In 30-40 spins you either walk away with 8-10 K or lose 1-2 K. Now that is thrilling!