The Martingale system refers to the betting system of continually doubling up your bets until you win.
For instance, let's say that you start with a $10 bet. You lose your first bet.
Using the Martingale system, you would double up your next bet to $20. Let's say that you lose this bet as well. The Martingale system dictates that you would double up your bet yet again, this time to $40. Let's say that you win this bet at even odds.
So, you lose $30 with your first two bets, but on your second bet you end up winning $40.
So, over the course of these three bets, you end up coming out ahead by $10.
After your winning bet, you move back down to the minimum wager of $10 and start again.
The main problem with the Martingale system, of course, is that you will likely lose your entire bankroll if you go on a cold streak.
Let's say that your bankroll was $1,000 and you used the Martingale system starting with $10 wagers. Let's look at how this would progress through a cold streak:
$10
$20
$40
$80
$160
$320
$640
So, using the Martingale system, you would be busted if you lost 7 bets in a row. This happens all the time in sports gambling and is the reason why the Martingale system will never work over time. Inevitably you WILL lose seven bets in a row and bust your bankroll.