Most people have heard of martingale betting, the practice of repeatedly placing a bet until you recoup your losses. It’s a fun game to play and easy enough to understand, but the theory doesn’t always work in practice. Here are some reasons why.
The Math Doesn’t Add Up
When you’re playing against the house, the math doesn’t necessarily work in your favor. The reason is because the house has an advantage in that they can adjust the number of decks that are held. When this happens, it’s often times hard for the player to make money. A good example of this was in 2012, when a hand-rolled deck won the World Series of Poker. This caused the game to be temporarily suspended due to concerns of hacking. When the game was reopened, random tests were done to make sure the game was fair and the rulebook was corrected.
Most Decks Are Fixed
The biggest problem with martingale betting is that, generally speaking, most decks are fixed. This means that the odds are always in the house’s favor. Additionally, the more you play, the more the odds will shift toward the house. This makes it somewhat difficult to turn aprofit when playing against the dealer. In a nutshell, if you want to make money playing poker, you’ll have to beat the casino. Hitting a losing streak is inevitable, which means that you’ll have to keep replacing your losses. This is a lot of work and, in the end, it’s difficult to say that playing poker against the house is a viable business strategy.
Tricky Decks
Some types of poker decks are more tricky than others, which means that they are more likely to mess up your calculations. The most popular type of poker deck is the semi-customizable kind. The reason for this is that it’s pretty easy for the house to get creative and produce a custom-made deck that is nearly indistinguishable from the genuine article. Because of this, you must keep a close eye on your cards, as you never know what kind of shenanigans the dealer will get up to. One thing is for sure – if you want to beat the casino, you’ll need the best possible deck.
Short Hauls
When you run up a huge loss streak and start to rack up debt, it might be time to call it quits. If your goal is to make a quick profit, you’ll probably need to cut your losses and walk away. This will leave you with a massive bankroll, but in the meantime, you’ll have lost a large sum of money. Sometimes it’s better to walk away than to keep going deep into debt. The key here is to have enough money to cover your losses plus an acceptable profit. Otherwise, your only option is to keep playing, keep losing, and hoping that the good cards will begin to appear at some point.
Limited Funds
Another problem that some people have when using martingale betting is that they don’t have enough funds to cover their losses. Depending on how long your losing streak lasts and how deep your debts grow, it might be difficult to find the funds to continue playing. Luckily, there are always loans available and many credit cards offer zero percent interest rates, so you might just be able to scrape together enough money to keep betting. The key is to not let your spending get out of control. Live a modest lifestyle and pay off your debt, and you’ll be on your way to a stress-free life.
The Psychological Effect
Last but not least, we have the psychological effect. Sometimes it’s difficult to put into words the effect that losing has on your psyche. You start to see the world in a different light and, for a while, it feels as if everything is against you. This is why it’s important to take a step back and remind yourself that you’re still safe and sound. The best thing you can do for your mental health is to come back and play some more. It’s a vicious circle, but you need to snap out of it to get back on track and keep playing.
In short, while playing against the house can be a lot of fun, the theory doesn’t necessarily work in practice. Not every hand is a loser and, most importantly, not every deck is created equal. If you want to beat the casino at their own game, you’ll need to find a way to the best possible deck and ensure that the math adds up in your favor. Good luck out there.