Question from a Reader regarding the Martingale Betting System: I lost a substantial amount of my savings playing blackjack at casino name deleted in Atlantic City — almost $30,000. I admit that I was using a progressive betting system — a straight martingale, and I know that won’t give me any advantage — but even so, I feel pretty. Aug 11, 2014 'A progressive betting progression, such as the Martingale has supervenient advantages.' I think the term 'supervenient' actually hits the nail on the head as far as the respondents to your post are concerned, blackjackwarrior. Progressive betting systems have no ability to overcome the supervenient disadvantage of casino games. They are still working within, and bound by, a rule set or system where the house has the overall advantage.
First Step: Understanding Progressive Betting
When betting progressively at blackjack, you’re simply increasing your bet as you win hands. This style of wagering differs from that flat of betting, where you consistently stay at the same amount for each bet whether you win or lose the previous hand, and negative progression betting where you increase your bet after a previous losing hand.
Does progressive betting give you an edge over the house?
Simply stated, no betting system under the sun will give you an edge. You cannot convert or change the house edge no matter how you bet. However, intelligent use of progressive betting while winning hands can keep you in the game longer while minimizing your losses.
Positive Progressive Theory
Since in the long run the dealer will win about 52% of the hands, winning and losing streaks will occur almost equally between the dealer and the player. With that in mind, positive progressive betting is built upon the strategy of taking advantage and winning more when you have your winning streaks than what you lose when the dealer has his winning streaks.
An easy example of this would be a five-hand win streak for the dealer. If you’d bet one unit each of the five hands, your total loss would be five units for the dealer’s streak, If, however, you’d bet two units during each hand of a five-hand win streak in your favor, your total win for your streak would be ten units.
Combining the two streaks in which you won five hands and lost five hands, your overall profit would be five units, 33% of your total investment, which is quite favorable when you only won fifty percent of the hands.
Putting the Progressive Theory to work
The above analysis does not take into account that five-hand win streaks in either direction are relatively rare. It will happen only about one time in every twenty-five new five-hand slates for the player, so you want a progressive betting system that takes this into account and rounds out a better way for you to stay in the game.
The Key second hand
Virtually all positive progressive betting systems give maximum weight to the second winning hand of a streak, which of course is the very impetus of any streak no matter how long it may run. I personally think a 1-3-2-6 positive progression is a solid weapon for your blackjack attack.
To start off you bet one unit. If it loses you stay at one unit, but when it wins you increase your bet after the initial win to three units. If that bet loses you return to one unit, and if it wins you drop to two units. You follow the same betting tactic toward a maximum bet of 6 units, after which you return to one unit whether you win or lose the biggest bet.
Analysis
The possible results of each series are as follows:
- Lose 1st hand–minus one unit
- Lose 2nd hand–minus two units
- Lose 3rd hand—plus two units
- Lose 4th hand—break even
- Win four in a row—win twelve units
The key is to win the first two hands, after which you are at least guaranteed a break-even for the four-hand series. If you win the first two hands then lose the third, you have a two-unit profit for the series. If you win the first three hands then lose the fourth, you break even, but if you win that fourth hand and complete the series sweep you have a whopping twelve-unit profit!
And if you hit a streak of eight winners in a row you rake in twenty-four units!
Of course you would have won lots more on a more aggressive progressive (pardon the rhyme) during an eight-hand win streak, but you could have also given your entire profit back had the streak lasted a hand or two less.
This article was written by former professional casino cheater, Richard Marcus. Richard Marcus is also the author of American Roulette, a controversial book that reveals how he and other professional cheaters ripped off casinos.
More articles from Richard Marcus:
- Are you a high stakes player? Tilt the game in your favor.
- Rapid fire your way to card counting success. in 10 easy steps.
- Learn the basics of shuffle tracking.
- Learn more about hole-carding cheating method.
- What are the most common ways to cheat in Blackjack.
- For beginning advantage players, learn more about Multi Edge card counting.
- How to improve your level of advantage play with Ace-Steering.
Also read our section about various methods and strategies of Card Counting.
The majority of people believe by using a betting system they can increase their winnings. Other individuals are more conservative in their gambling and believe the most effective recourse is a good strategy such as card counting. Yet other gamblers use strategies that are both unpredictable and erratic. One of the most popular and commonly used strategies among gamblers throughout the world is the Oscar's Grind blackjack betting system.
Oscar was a craps player as well as the inventor of the Oscar's Grind. This particular strategy can be easily adapted for playing the game of online casino blackjack. This strategy offers the most advantages for a player on either a hot or cold streak. If the player is experiencing a losing streak, Oscar's Grind enables them to keep their bets low. If the player is having a winning streak, the strategy allows them to increase their bets.
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A Progressive Betting Approach
Oscar's Grind is classified as a progressive betting system. The players consider this a positive betting system. The Oscar's Grind is also a bit more complicated than most of the systems currently being used. The majority of systems enable the players to double their bets after every win and decrease their bets after each loss. Oscar's Grind is similar to the anti-Martingale system.
This system is extremely well known as a negative system where the player increases their bet every time they lose. Every series of bets has the same goal, to win a single unit prior to beginning a new series. With Oscar's Grind, the player begins each series by placing a bet for one unit. The player increases their bet by one unit from their previous bet with every win. When the player loses, their bet remains exactly the same.
A good example is a player who has just lost a bet for two units. They will continue betting two units until they secure a win. At this time, the next bet will be increased to three units. Except for one specific stipulation, this is the entire betting system. The stipulation is the player must never make a bet that may result in winning the series for more than a single unit.
This means if the player has won a bet for four units, they are only two units down for the entire series. The player should not increase their next bet to five units. This is due to the win of four units. All the player would need to win the series by one unit would be a successful bet of three units. This makes the next appropriate bet three units.
Oscar's Grind Combines Strategies
The best features of the negative and positive progressions are combined in the Oscar's Grind betting system. The player can survive a much longer streak of losses without a bust than by using a negative progression. This is because the bets are not increased after a loss. Just a short streak of wins can win the previous losses back for the player during the series due to the bets being raised after a win. This is actually a brilliant strategy since the winning streaks pay more than the player loses in a losing streak. Although no blackjack strategy can predict a streak, this strategy helps compensate the player for any losing streak.
Oscar told Dr. Wilson the Oscar's Grind had prevented him from ever having a weekend where he lost in Las Vegas for many years. Dr. Wilson then performed some computer simulations and mathematical analysis on the system. He wanted to know if this was possible. He found when a unit of one dollar was used on a game with an even money payout, the key was the slow betting progression.
The player would effectively bump against the $500 maximum bet used by the house at the time on every $5,000 series played. The player could achieve their target in 4,999 of every $5,000 series. In 1965, Oscar's goal was a healthy win of $100. The conclusion of Dr. Wilson was Oscar was likely to have played in Las Vegas for many years without a loss.
Proceed With Caution
Blackjack Betting Systems That Work
There is a caution necessary regarding the one series Oscar lost with this system. The amount Oscar lost on the $5,000 series was approximately $13,000. Despite bumping the $500 maximum for the table, he gained this position by losing bets in ranges from $100 to more than $400 during this extremely lengthy series. This means Oscar's Grind can still lead to a loss over the course of the series.
There is no betting system that can overtake the edge of the house in the long run. This does not mean this type of system is worthless. Professional gamblers use these systems to find a way to profit in gambling tournaments such as camouflage. They also gain an advantage by disguising their play in betting systems to milk the bonuses provided by the betting systems at the online casinos.
The only way to win at blackjack in a normal casino over time is to count the cards. This is not because the most profitable or best way to win while playing blackjack is card counting. It is because the same principles apply to blackjack as professional gambling. This includes the wide variety of methods not requiring card counting.
Progressive Betting Chart
Oscar's Grind can be a difficult system to grasp. It is also not a half bad system. The system takes a conservative approach to making small wins in a short period. The chances of a big win or a big loss are slim when using Oscar's Grind to play online blackjack. This is simply a progressive betting system that may or may not work out well for the player. The bottom line is this system does not guarantee success.