Applying the Martingale system to Roulette is and remains one of the most popular strategies, but also one of the most controversial, to date. But what many players don’t know is that more than one Martingale variation exists.
These are just two of the more popular Martingale variations being put to work by Roulette enthusiasts the world over.
The Hawks Martingale
This is probably the most common variety of Martingale. But the popularity of the Hawks Martingale is very much a case of water following the path of least resistance. Incidentally, so do the lazy and the foolish.
The system follows a simple logic. Also known as a strategy based on a loss-based progression, the gist of the system is doubling your bet after each bet lost and returning your original starting bet after each bet won. The system basically leaves the player free to decide which outcome to bet on, with the only condition being that the player sticks to a single outcome, i.e. only red, only Pass, etc.
An advantage that a successful bet following a string of losses will instantly make up for all the money lost during that “round”. But on the down-side one had only to consider the very basics of exponential escalation to realise that there exists a real danger of running out of available bankroll.
The American Martingale
The American Martingale is more complex than the Hawks Martingale. But its at the same time also worth mastering because it does seem to yield better results than the majority of Martingale systems in general. Consider the following example in order to get a basic idea of how the American works:
Hit 1: a single unit is wagered on red (merely an example outcome), and the bet is lost.
Hit 2: two units are wagered on red, and the bet is lost.
Hit 3: this is where the system deviates from the Hawks. You are at this point in time 1 unit + 2 units out of pocket. The next bet will therefore be 1 + 2 = 3.
Hit 4: another round lost. Your “new” loss equation is now 1 + 2 + 3 = 6. Be careful to pay close attention because your next bet will not be 6 units, but rather 4 units, i.e. 1 + 3 = 4. Note that only the first and last digits in any particular “string of losses” matter.
Fast-forward to Hit 6: 6 units are wagered and since it’s a winning round, the result will not feature in future equations. Also, 1 + 5 were winning bets and subsequently won’t feature either. The loss sequence will at this point look like this: 1 2 3 4 5. But since 1 and 5 have been dropped, the next bet will be 2 + 4 = 6.
The disadvantage is again potentially running out of bankroll, but the advantage is that it won’t happen nearly as quickly as in the case of the Hawks. The American is all about buying time in order to allow luck to do its job.