How do you make money?
21gunsalute said:
OK, I'll bite...how can you possibly make any money this way? Assuming a $5 min bet, if you stop after doubling your bet 3 times you're going to be out $75. Then you're going to return to a $5 bet. It's going to take 20 $5 wins w/o losing to make up for this one little losing streak, and then you'll only be up $5.
As you and I both know, conversations such as the one we are entering into do little, if anyting, other than promote argument and stiff-necked resistance to the subject matter discussed. However, you asked and since I've used it for many years over many thousands of hours of play, I'll answer.
First, your math is a bit off. Assuming the nickle bet you provided, after losing three times one would be down $35 when he returned to his nickle bet. Not $75. Still, it does take 7 wins to overcome that loss. In the limited Martingale one does not "make" the majority of his money off that part of the process. It is used, by me at least, as a recovery thing to recover the hands I will lose whether using that system or not. Fortunately, on all but the very, very worst card days one will only lose the three in a row occasionally and will recover by doing it successfully far more times than not. It is simply a gamble, but one based on observational math that says you will win one of those three more often than you will lose all three in a row. That is not written in blood, and on a hard day it will eat you quickly, but on average, it works to help considerably.
When playing a system .. and let me stress that I count now ...but when playing a system that does not depend upon a full martingale to attempt winning, the player winnings come mostly from the foreward progression. The successful play I used so long applied both a limited martingale and a prositive progresson.
Now, having gotten into this a bit let me add something that goes to the first post on this thread about the guy playing the three tier martingale and doing well then not so much so. The $15-$45-$135 one. I asked the writer a question about it but have gotten no reply. Prior to that a fellow told a story and really claimed some fantastic results with that bet pattern. Just a martingale, but instead of simply recovering your money and your original bet, upon a win, the pattern makes double or more than the original bet. Being an old system player I liked the sound of that and had never thught of it so I played many hands on the computer checking it out. I added an old system play thing that I always used of quitting after any 4 losses in a row. Quite until a new shoe or quit and change tables or just plain quit. It worked absolutely fantastically on the computer, but still I did not go to the store with it. I kept counting those red sevens. And losing, I might add.
I live in Oklahoma and one can't really gamble much here because there is a table ante to play most of the time most places (some promotional exceptions) and the store near me has terrible penetration. But, I wanted to play a little out of boredome the other day so went to the local store and decided to play that martingale system. If I am not going to count I simply can not resist using some sort of system play. I've done it too long. I bought in for $300 and played a cheaper version of the same martingale discussed. The bet times 3 and times 3 on that bet if you lose. the original poster used 15-45-135. I used $10-40-100 and back to ten then quit if the ten lost. I won $1,850.00 in one hour and fifteen minutes. Lucky??? Sure, probably, but sure was good to feel a nice win under my belt since it has been so long since I've had one. Am I convinced??? Certainally not or I would forget this counting business, but I am here to tell you very factually, regardless of what anyone wants to think, some given systems used properly, in limited ways with great, great, great displine do win and "can" remain winners for a long time because I did. The long run? Who the heck knows. I don't and I'm going with what is suposed to be the more proven method of counting, but I'm not a total believer that counting is better just yet. I'll keep plugging.