This martingale draws its name from the mathematician of the 18th century Jean D'Alembert. This one in addition took part in the drafting of the Encyclopedia. The principle of the D'Alembert's pyramid consists in increasing the settings in the event of failure gradually and decreasing them in the event of success.
The directions for use are very simple. The player starts by betting the basic setting. In the event of success, it continues by betting the basic setting again. In the event of failure, it increases the current setting of the amount of the basic setting. Thereafter it once increases the setting of the basic setting after each losing blow and decreases it by as much after each gaining blow (with a minimum equivalent to the basic setting).

Let us apply the D'Alembert's pyramid to the example used for the other martingales. One will play the red color with the game of roulette. One will use a unit as basic setting.

	Bet	Wager	Result	Profits	Balance
					1000
1	Red	1	Red	1	1001
2	Red	1	Red	1	1002
3	Red	1	Black	-1	1001
4	Red	2	Red	2	1003
5	Red	1	Black	-1	1002
6	Red	2	Black	-2	1000
7	Red	3	Black	-3	997
8	Red	4	Black	-4	993
9	Red	5	Black	-5	988
10	Red	6	Red	6	994
11	Red	5	Red	5	999
12	Red	4	Black	-4	995
13	Red	5	Black	-5	990
14	Red	6	Black	-6	984
15	Red	7	Red	7	991
16	Red	6	Black	-6	985
17	Red	7	Red	7	992
18	Red	6	Red	6	998
19	Red	5	Black	-5	993
20	Red	6	Red	6	999
21	Red	5	Black	-5	994
22	Red	6	Black	-6	988
23	Red	7	Black	-7	981
24	Red	8	Red	8	989
25	Red	7	Black	-7	982
26	Red	8	Red	8	990
27	Red	7	Red	7	997
28	Red	6	Black	-6	991
29	Red	7	Red	7	998
30	Red	6	Red	6	1004

In spite of a greater number of failures than of success, one obtains with final positive balance. It is also noted that in spite of the progressive increase in the settings those remain relatively limited.

One of the disadvantages of this technique is the increase in the settings in the event of failure (choose a roulette table with high limits). Those can remain high if the series of failures perdure. The other disadvantage of the method is its slowness. Following a series of failures, it is necessary to await about as many gaining blows to find a positive balance.
The first advantage of this method is in our example to obtain a positive test in spite of a number of blows losers superior to the number of successes. The other favors, compared to other martingales with compensation of losses, is to have a progression of the relatively limited setting. One also appreciates his ease of use.