Martingale strategy in sports betting: what is it and when is it effective?

There are a lot of strategies that you can use in your sports betting. One of the most popular is the martingale strategy, which is widely used by professionals due to its high profitability when it works.

Although professional bettors are always looking to go to the edge to find a more aggressive balance in their bets and widen profit margins, there is a risk of not measuring the risks well, even if you consider yourself a risk taker. On the other hand, the martingale method can allow us, with patience, to keep our odds intact by maintaining the same bet on a continuous basis.

Martingale strategy: what is it?

It is a method based on constancy. It is called martingale to the strategy based on betting on the same result in a sustained manner over time, doubling the bet after each losing move, waiting to succeed. Only when you get it right do you change the forecast.

What is the advantage of this? It allows you to get your money back when you hit, and the odds are maintained since you don't change the forecast. This makes the martingale the best option for those who want to play it safe and are aware that in order to win, the first thing they will have to do is to expose themselves to losses.

As a strategy we are facing one of the most profitable, since it does not matter how long it takes to get it right: what matters here is that, when you hit the forecast, you recover all the money invested in previous bets. This is not the case if you change your prediction frequently, which increases your chances of not getting it right.

The key to the martingale method is also in the low probability that the same result is repeated, which plays in favor of the bettor. Each missed tip is one more missed tip that slightly increases the odds that your tip will be the correct one the next time, so it is especially effective if you intend to bet with the odds more in your favor.

If you are looking to recoup money from non-winning bets, martingale is the best method to try to achieve this. In a relatively short period of time, martingale can see the return of some of the money invested in previous failed bets. But you can also set long-term goals with this method, but you have to be aware of the total amount you have to recoup if you accumulate many non-winning bets.

An example of how martingale works using soccer as an example. We bet 40 euros on the winning team with 2.00 odds. We lose it. We double the bet to 80 euros with an odds of 2.00 and we lose it again. We double the bet again to 160 euros with the same odds, and we lose. So on and so forth until on the sixth bet we bet 1,280 euros at odds of 2.00 and win. We will make a reward of 2,560 euros.

What is the risk with the martingale?

The tricky thing about the martingale is that it has not only been used in betting: it has also been extrapolated to other areas, such as finance. One of the main handicaps of the martingale is that it requires a strong financial background to cope with double betting increases, and it does not invite to hold on for long because doubling average amounts implies a high investment.

One of the main risks of the martingale bet is that the amount that is put at stake is doubled and lost successively until it is successful. Doubling the amount bet requires, in addition, a sufficiently large economic background to be able to continue betting and doubling until winning.

The martingale method has been transferred to the financial world, but the truth is that its origin is in sports betting. It is an effective method widely used by experienced gamblers. Since it is what is called a negative progression strategy, the bet increases with each loss until you win.

It is important to know that martingale is not effective per se. It is a strategy reserved for experienced players who know how to detect when it is really necessary to apply it and when it is possible to obtain a potential profit. If you do not know all the details of this strategy, you will most likely continue to lose after each double bet, so it is important to know how and when to apply it in order not to make absurd mistakes.

As we said a few lines above, it is important to be aware that the Martingale system requires a significant amount of money because, after several rounds, the amount of money needed to continue betting will grow.

If you are not going to be able to continue due to lack of funds, trying to apply the martingale method is useless and you will lose all the money bet so far if you do not manage to continue doubling the bet until you win.

Another aspect to take into account is mental speed. It is crucial to know how to calculate almost instantly the amount to play. In the first rounds there is no problem, but a great mental agility is required to handle high figures when the game is in more advanced stages.