Oscar’s Grind

Sounds more like a lap dancing move than a gambling term, but Oscar’s Grind is indeed another betting system.

The Oscar part of the name comes from the system’s claimed inventor, a craps player who used to boast about his gambling successes to reporters. The Grind bit evolved by virtue of the fact that the system seeks to extract small gains from the casino over long periods of time.

It’s a progressive betting system where bets are increased following wins, (as distinct from a negative progression system like Martingale) and it is applied to even money bets, like roulette’s red/black, odd/even or high/low.

Employing Oscar’s Grind

The aim of the system is to give the player a single unit gain at the completion of a sequence of even money bets.

You start the sequence with a 1 unit bet, then follow these rules:

Loss rule: If a bet loses,  next bet is the same amount.

Win rule: If a bet wins, next bet is increased by 1 unit.

Overriding rule: Never bet more than you need to produce a 1 unit win for the sequence.  The overriding rule may mean that in certain cases after a win, the next bet remains the same, or is decreased.

Example of Oscar in action

For simplicity’s sake, our units are $1.

Bet number	Applicable Rule	Bet Amount	Win or Loss	Net Position
1		1	Loss	$ -1
2	Loss rule	1	Loss	$ -2
3	Loss rule	1	Win	$ -1
4	Win rule	2	Loss	$ -3
5	Loss rule	2	Win	$ -1
6	Overriding rule	2	Win	$  1

In this example the sequence is complete with a $1 net position, after the sixth bet.

The sixth bet also illustrates the overriding rule coming into play. Rather than increasing the bet to $3 following a win on bet number 5, the bet is limited to $2 as a win here ends the sequence with a $1 net position (and no more).

With your $1 gain banked you continue the grind, and begin the sequence again.

Does Oscar’s Grind guarantee a win every session?

I don’t profess to be an expert on this system. I’ve never actually used it playing roulette. Still, I can confidently say the answer to this question is an emphatic NO.

Why?

1. Common sense: If the answer were yes the name Oscar’s Grind would be far better known than it is. You’d know it from all those signs you’d walked past at casino entrances over the years, stating,

‘Players identified to be using Oscar’s Grind will asked to leave the casino immediately’

Seen any of these in your travels, either at traditional or online casinos?

2. Logic: More often than not you’ll complete your sequence and bank your single unit gain. There will be occasions, however unlikely, when the sequence is not completed and damage will be considerable.

Consider the below sequence, where your net position continues to drift further into the red as bet amounts are increasing.

Bet number	Applicable Rule	Bet Amount	Win or Loss	Net Position
1		1	Loss	$ -1
2	Loss rule	1	Loss	$ -2
3	Loss rule	1	Win	$ -1
4	Win rule	2	Loss	$ -3
5	Loss rule	2	Loss	$ -5
6	Loss rule	2	Win	$ -3
7	Win rule	3	Loss	$ -6
8	Loss rule	3	Loss	$ -9
9	Loss rule	3	Win	$ -6
10	Win rule	4	Loss	$ -10

3. Probability: The system doesn’t come up with a solution to that unfortunate roulette truth, that each outcome is an independent event with a house edge. No matter how you mix, match, increase, decrease or cycle your bet amounts this doesn’t change.