Martingale Betting Strategy on BlackJack, how effective it is?

[lionheart78]

Before anything else, I would like to define Blackjack as a game of skill or skill-based gambling game.  Means we have more grasp on winnings the more skilled we are in this game.  With this I happen to read an article Titled: The Three Best Blackjack Betting Strategies.  I was somehow surprised when I see that Martingale betting strategy is one of the best betting strategies for Blackjack, I was kinda hesitant to believe it until I realized that BlackJack isn't a game of chance so it is sensible that Martingale Betting will give a better percentage in winning a gambling session.  Here is what the article explains about this strategy.

Martingale Betting Strategy

The Martingale System is a negative-progression blackjack strategy rooted in the idea that you, in theory, will always win eventually. In this strategy, each time you lose, you double your bet. And before you leave us here, hang on. Successful play of this riskier strategy could pay off big.

Here’s how it works. Say you started with a $5 bet and lost. You would then bet $10 on your next hand — and $20 on the next if you lost again. Eventually, after progressively making higher wagers, you are more likely to win, leaving you with a much higher payout than if you had bet a consistent amount.

Caution: this approach is best reserved for high rollers though. In blackjack, it’s not uncommon to have a losing streak of ten or more hands in a row. Without a large bankroll, continually doubling your bet to that degree could leave you with a wounded wallet.

I am still hesitant about this betting strategy but my rationality thinks it is possible, at least martingale on blackjack is way better than martingale on any luck/chance-based games. How about you what is your thought on Martingale betting strategy used on blackjack? Is it effective for this type of game?


[1] https://kiowacasino.com/the-three-best-blackjack-betting-strategies/

other references:
https://upswingpoker.com/the-best-blackjack-betting-strategy-basic-explanation/
https://www.casinoreports.ca/blackjack/best-blackjack-systems/

[KennyR]

People take it in different way. I personally see anything with gambling needs to be luck than skills to develop strategies. Even with blackjack, if the player is lucky he'll get the right cards after shuffle as well as while making a draw. So, there are more luck factors that decides the winning/losing. This happens even when you play well with good skills and strategies.

[bittraffic]

This is about how much are you willing to bet to win your initial bet which is like chasing your initial loss. Sure its a skill-based gambling game but you  are now going to be entering to a luck base strat by doing so. You can win eventually but it could eventually gone the other way if you are not lucky.

You'd  probably reach up to $5K just to win the initial $10 bet you follow martingale with losing streaks. Depends I guess to the gambler.

[Boristhecat]

I am still hesitant about this betting strategy but my rationality thinks it is possible, at least martingale on blackjack is way better than martingale on any luck/chance-based games. How about you what is your thought on Martingale betting strategy used on blackjack? Is it effective for this type of game?

Bullshit article. I did not see any argument in favor of the fact that the Martingale in Black Jack is in any way different from the Martingale in other gambling games.
There is a simple rule: if you have a winning strategy, then it works without Martingale. If you have a "winning" strategy based on the Martingale, then you are deluded about its winningness and in the end you will lose all the money.

[Oshosondy]

You can start to bet with as low as $1, if you do that and lose 10 times, but losing 10 times means you are losing $512, that is huge. I will prefer to apply it but my strategy of do not use more than what you can afford to lose to bet is working for me, using another strategy may result to me to use gambling to chase money and I know the result may be bad. But what I am thinking is that this can result to winning opportunity though but I may be wrong and I will not advice anyone to do that. For anyone that try it, anytime the person won should just be enough not to continue to bet but waiting till next time.

[Bitinity]

Effective or not will be based on the result, most people will say a strategy is effective if the result is good but other may say it is not effective because they get bad result. I tried my self martingale strategy in blackjack game when I participated in a contest of profit percentage. What was my result? It was good in some sessions and it was really bad in other sessions. What I want to say is, it is fine to use martingale strategy but we should know that the result will always base on our luck.

[Text]

Then this strategy is not for me, I'm just a small gambler.

But still, Blackjack is my favorite card game, you can find easily how you can win and I consider it as a game of chance, a provably fair game. Unlike poker which needs skill but is more complicated to play cause there are different pay tables according to the ranking system.

I used to play this before aside from the dice game, but for me, this strategy is not effective in this game, the possibility of losing is always there.

[Rruchi man]

I am still hesitant about this betting strategy but my rationality thinks it is possible, at least martingale on blackjack is way better than martingale on any luck/chance-based games. How about you what is your thought on Martingale betting strategy used on blackjack? Is it effective for this type of game?

Since blackjack is skill based, the martingale strategy may be effective to use depending on how in depth your skill of the game is. This strategy should be almost exclusive to the professionals as it's application at a stage where you are not confident in your skill level to turn out an outcome favourable for you can mean a loss of your money even more than you could have predicted. Invest quality time in sharpening your skill and knowledge of the game before considering application of the Martingale strategy.

[Eternad]

Martingale strategy is never been effective on any game unless you have an infinite bank roll to cover your losses especially when the heavy lose streak occur. Blackjack is a skill based which means you can lose more by  having a poor decision making aside from having a bad card.

This strategy only works for people who have a good self control and huge bank roll due to it’s nature of increasing of base bets whenever you loss.

[Botnake]

Martingale strategy is never been effective on any game unless you have an infinite bank roll to cover your losses especially when the heavy lose streak occur. Blackjack is a skill based which means you can lose more by  having a poor decision making aside from having a bad card.

This is not effective, even if you have an infinite bankroll but do you think the house will allow your to do martingale all the way? How about the limit, I think they can limit every gambler to protect their bankroll too and for them to have the edge all the time.

They are in the business to make money, not to lose money. simple as that.

[Ryker1]

Martingale strategy is never been effective on any game unless you have an infinite bank roll to cover your losses especially when the heavy lose streak occur. Blackjack is a skill based which means you can lose more by  having a poor decision making aside from having a bad card.
^[snip]

Well perhaps on a different approach.
It could be blackjack based on skill but it is also more than based on luck upon dealing the cards. If you are not lucky enough it could be your cards will be in a bad situation --though you have enough skills on it, it is useless.
All I can say perhaps OP was very lucky by getting the right card when it was shuffled and that is perhaps actually happened.
So for me --that strategy will not work.

[o_e_l_e_o]

I was kinda hesitant to believe it until I realized that BlackJack isn't a game of chance

If you play blackjack with a perfect strategy, then you can reduce the house edge to a minimum, which will depend on the exact rule set of the table you are playing at. It is still very much a game of chance though, the house will always have an edge, and no amount of skill or strategy will remove the house edge (unless you are able to card count, which is obviously impossible online or with a continuous shuffler as many casinos now use).

Eventually, after progressively making higher wagers, you are more likely to win, leaving you with a much higher payout than if you had bet a consistent amount.

This sentence is absolutely nonsense. You are no more likely to win after a streak of losses than you are to win on any other hand. This is the classic gambler's fallacy. And you never get a "much higher payout" on Martingale. All you ever get is break even plus your original bet, which in this example, will be $5. Doesn't matter if after 10 losing hands you are now betting $5,120 and you win $10,240. If you add up all your bets prior to that win they come out at $10,235, meaning you've just risked $10k to win 5 bucks.

Is it effective for this type of game?

It's not effective for any type of game, but if you are going to use it, then all that matters is finding the game with the smallest house edge. Blackjack played perfectly might well be that game.

[robelneo]

This is about how much are you willing to bet to win your initial bet which is like chasing your initial loss. Sure its a skill-based gambling game but you  are now going to be entering to a luck base strat by doing so. You can win eventually but it could eventually gone the other way if you are not lucky.

You'd  probably reach up to $5K just to win the initial $10 bet you follow martingale with losing streaks. Depends I guess to the gambler.

And If you don't have a huge bankroll you'll lose because you are chasing a small amount, I hate and love martingale it's a strategy that will excite you but at the same time it will leave you zero in your bankroll, it will not always work the mathematics and the house edge always make the house wins, martingale will not always work in practice and theory, only newbies who opted not to believe will always employ and challenge the belief.

[Russlenat]

Blackjack still has a house edge, so we will still lose in the long run.
https://edge.twinspires.com/casino-news/the-house-edge-in-blackjack-everything-you-need-to-know/

Winning in blackjack is possible if we do card counting which is prohibited in most casinos.

About the martingale strategy, if this is really working 100%, then everyone will be using it and will just abuse casinos, unfortunately it's not, it does only look attractive but if we apply this in real practice, we wil know that the law of average will happen and that house edge will beat us in the long run.

[Wexnident]

Well, you're more likely to break even with it since you have some form of control or idea of knowing when you're about to lose or win, but profiting? Honestly, I don't even think it matters that much, Martingale isn't a strategy even for actually profiting, it's just for breaking even at most imo. So with that and the existence of house edge, no matter what the gambler would still lose out in the long run.

Here’s how it works. Say you started with a $5 bet and lost. You would then bet $10 on your next hand — and $20 on the next if you lost again. Eventually, after progressively making higher wagers, you are more likely to win, leaving you with a much higher payout than if you had bet a consistent amount.

This process is Martingale, but the end result is kinda different? Is the writer of the article even familiar with or knows how to use at the very least Martingale? You are NOT likely to win imo, chances always reset to 50/50, and as o_e_l_e_o said, the big win at the end would only ultimately cancel out the losses you needed to reach that win, it's not a profit that would be worth it imo.

[YOSHIE]

Of course, lately I also often see articles and hear about martingale, this system is used by gambling bettors in blackjack or roulette games.

I once asked my friends, how does the Martingale system actually work, or how to do it, they also don't know for sure the Martingale system, he has also just heard of systems like the Martingale being effective in blackjack betting.

But to prove and dispel my curiosity about the Martingale system, I tried to find several sources, finally I got as below.
• The Martingale Myth: Does This Betting System Really Work?

in the reality of the gaming world it’s full of problems. The main issue with Martingale is that it requires an extremely large bankroll.

To illustrate this, consider our pervious example where $10 was the opening wager. In this situation you’d need to bet $640 as your opening stake after just six losing hands. This is obviously far beyond the finances of many players and the main reason why this betting strategy doesn’t really work in reality.

Of course, I can conclude, if the Martingale system is in fact what I quoted, it means that the risk is greater and what many people say does not fully work the Martingale system, contrary to what we have heard so far.

I might stick to my strategy as usual, if I'm playing blackjack and roulette.

[pawanjain]

To be honest, the martingale strategy really sucks when you are playing a luck based game.
The amount of losses considering the house edge will eat up all your balance in your account.
But since you mentioned that you are playing black jack which involve skills then it also depends on how good you are at the game.
If you think you are pretty good at the game then you can try your luck with this strategy.
I would recommend to go for it but with smaller amounts and gradually increase your base bets after a few consecutive wins.

[el che]

I've used martingale strategy in bj for many years, i had some success with it for some time but also had some major losses as loosing 8 to 12 hands in a row tends to happen quite a bit especially during daily long sessions, that would usually put a big dent on my bankroll.

[Baofeng]

I've used martingale strategy in bj for many years, i had some success with it for some time but also had some major losses as loosing 8 to 12 hands in a row tends to happen quite a bit especially during daily long sessions, that would usually put a big dent on my bankroll.

True, everything is still based on luck, although others may argue that Black Jack is more of a skill base or at least if you have skills like card counting but still not guarantee that you can win specially if you have like 8 or more hands that you lost already. Also depends on the bank roll itself, obviously. So there's no perfect strategy as others say, really depends on how you are going to manage your bankroll. If you win base don this system then good, but it's not going to be like this always, sooner or later the house edge will caught up on you.

[Doell]

Depending on the gambler, if he is good at blackjack games then he can easily use any strategy including Martingale, Blackjack is not a difficult game but also not easy even though this game only focuses on dealer cards. I mean when going to hit but previous you must predict a closed dealer card, Increasing the bet when you lose is also not bad, it's even better to get a card that can be split.