The Reverse Martingale system, also known as the Anti-Martingale system is a strategy used in roulette that some players swear by. While The Reverse Martingale is relied on by many players, does it actually work? We breakdown the controversial betting system in more depth in this article.
What is the Reverse Martingale system?
The Reverse Martingale is a positive progression system sees players increase their wagers after a win. This is why it is called the Reverse Martingale, as the regular Martingale system sees players increasing their wagers after a loss, which is a negative progression system.
The main aim of the Anti-Martingale system is to jump on a winning streak and then earn a huge win. For example, players start off by placing a wager on say “Even” with one unit. If it wins, then place two units on even again, and then if this wins place four units on even once more. You keep going until you win, or unfortunately lose.
However, you need to figure out when you will walk away in terms of both winnings and losses, and you need to stick to this regardless.
Roulette wagers with the Reverse Martingale system
The Reverse Martingale only works on even money bets because it relies on repetitive wagers, and it is unlikely you will win consecutively on Line, Corners, and Split bets. Additionally, even money bets have a 1:1 payout and therefore work best with this system.
Even money bets include the outside bets in roulette, such as red or black, even or odd, and the first 18 numbers (1-18), or the second 18 numbers (19-36).
The theory is that the player will overall benefit from a winning streak, and overall reduce dents in their bankroll from any losses. The theory works best in an example, where we place a $10 wager and it wins so we double the wager to $20 and place it on the same bet. It wins again so we double it again to $40 and place it on the same bet and it wins again, and so on. Say we get up to placing $160 on a bet, but this time it loses. However, since we have ($10 + $20 + $40 + $80 + $160) – $160 = $150.
Therefore, we make a profit of $150 and don’t suffer a huge loss despite losing $160, thanks to a long winning streak.
But ultimately, the Reverse Martingale only works in theory.
Pros and cons to the Anti-Martingale system
Basically the advantage to the Reverse martingale is if you get lucky and win with it.
In theory it seems like you will win more, and lose less, but in action we’re likely to lose more than just playing normally because winning streaks aren’t guaranteed because you are using this system.
Additionally, there are a lot more drawbacks than advantages to the system too.
Drawbacks of the Reverse Martingale system
Just as the martingale system has drawbacks, so to does the Reverse Martingale system.
You need a winning streak
As mentioned earlier, the Reverse Martingale system relies on a winning streak, and a long one at that. If you don’t manage to get one you won’t be playing for long and ultimately lose your entire bankroll quite quickly.
Setting limits
If you do get lucky (and luck is exactly what winning on roulette relies on) some players either don’t stick to a limit and get greedy ultimately ruining the system anyway as they lose more than they’ve won, or they don’t set a limit at all and end up with the same result.
Falsely suggesting that the house edge is reduced
The major issue, and the biggest drawback in our opinion, is the fact that roulette systems including this one misleads players into thinking that it reduces the house edge. It doesn’t even if you do land yourself on a winning streak.
If you want a title that relies on a strategy to reduce the house edge, opt for blackjack.
Tips for using the Reverse Martingale system
If you really want to try the Reverse Martingale system, we have some advice to adhere to:
- Ensure you know that the Reverse Martingale betting system doesn’t reduce the house edge
- Only use it on European or French roulette titles (lowest house edge out of the variants)
- Many suggest to wait until the even money bet wins before placing a bet on it, and start the system (but it is based on luck meaning the next won’t necessarily be a win on the same bet again)
- Set a limit and walk away once you have reached it for both winnings and losses
Where to try the Anti-Martingale system
We recommend playing the best roulette titles online if you must try this system out, though we aren’t ones to use it.
Or if you just want to play roulette without a system, you will find the top roulette titles at the following online casinos;
- G’day Casino – offers 17 roulette variants (Gday Casino review)
- Guts Casino – offers 18 roulette titles (Guts Casino review)
- All Slots Casino – offers seven roulette variants (All Slots Casino review)
- Casino-Mate – offers eight roulette titles (Casino-Mate review)
- Leo Vegas – Has live and RNG roulette games (Leo Vegas review)
Final thoughts on the Reverse Martingale betting system
We tried the Reverse Martingale system and lost three times on black before landing a win on red, so we were already down $30 (we placed three $10 bets on red).
When we won, we doubled our bet from $10 to $20. We won again, so we doubled our bet to $40 and placed it on red again.
We lost this and in just a few minutes we were literally back where we started as( $10 + $20 + $40 – $40) – $30 = 0 (minus the losses we had before). While this means we didn’t have a huge loss, we didn’t end up with winnings at all.
Overall, the system works in theory, but in practice it is pointless.