I need some advise from experiences players.
I am trying in last 4 months to use the martingale strategy in poker.
I play only HU hyper turbo starting with 1,5$, if i lose i play 3,5, if lose that too i play 7$.
What do you think about it?
Should i stop on a limit like 1,5$? and play only this HU, and once bankroll increases, get to next level and play only 3,5?
Or i could make some good results using martingale?
Any advise would be great.
Thank you.
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4 replies
You know martingale doesn't work right?
It will work even worse when you play stakes where you start having less than 50% to win.
Also what happens if you win the $1.50 HU? Do you just stop? 
It will not work. As metza says, it will work even worse when you have less than 50% edge.
And with the rake you need over 50% edge.
The thing is with martingale you either win small or lose big.
You guys are absolutely correct.
The Martingale system was created for even money bets in casino games, and it doesn't even work there.
Wizardofodds.com once did an experiment where they compared the results of 100 bets on the pass line in craps using the Martingale system against 100 regular $1 bets. This process was repeated a million times, and these are the results:
Spoiler
As you can see, the bell curve for flat betting peaks at around -$1, while the one for the Martingale bets peaks at around +$51. This is what makes many inexperienced gamblers think that the Martingale system works, because they walk away with a small profit more often than not.
However, there are also a few instances where the Martingale bettor lost a substantial amount of money, as you can see on the left. Novice gamblers usually brush these situations off as extremely unlikely. The truth is, though, that these situations are bound to happen eventually, and when they do, it's enough to sweep away all of your winnings.
When both results in this experiment were compared, they were approximately the same for both betting systems, with a net loss that is about equal to the house edge.
Using this system in poker would be even more problematic, since the average skill level increases with each limit. Successful poker players don't make their profit by betting big and waiting for their lucky day, they win because they have an edge on the other players, the same way a casino would have an edge against the gamblers who play their games.
If you want to be successful at poker you need to follow some solid bankroll management guidelines to ensure that a bad run won't seriously endanger your bankroll. As long as you have an edge on your opponents, you will make a profit in the long run. And if you don't have an edge, that's nothing that can't be fixed with a bit of studying and practice.