The reverse Martingale strategy for roulette is quite interesting. It allows the player to have a really fair chance of winning a high prize while enjoying the game for a considerable period of time. This strategy is ideal for many players as it can offer a good balance between expected value (i.e. the return on your stake), the possibility of winning big prizes, a game with excitement, and an extended playing time.
The Martingale strategy is well known and consists in placing a single equal bet, and then doubling the amount bet each time you lose. However, in practice this does not work.
Martingale's inverse strategy consists in the opposite, that is, increasing the value of your bet each time you win, which allows you to transform a random series of lucky hits into possible huge wins.
Let's look at an example of this strategy. Imagine a player who starts with a bankroll of €100, and begins by betting €1 on any number on the roulette table:
The player in the example above has only two possible outcomes:
- If you lose, you bet €1 again.
- If he wins, he receives the amount (€36), and bets it again by placing a €36 bet on a random number.
- If you win the €36 bet, you receive your winnings (€1,296) and leave the table; or continue to bet again with an initial €1 to have another chance to win. If he loses, he returns to the first bet of €1 and starts again from there.
The outcome of this strategy differs hugely, depending on the percentage of the bankroll used in the initial bet, and the minimum amount you wish to win.
- Either he loses his entire €100 and leaves the table, or
- He can either win two bets in a row, pick up his winnings of €1,296, and keep the part of his bankroll that he did not get to bet, or he can choose to continue playing using the remaining amount in the bankroll, thus having the chance to win another €1,296.