An Introduction to Oscars Grind

by on April 27, 2012

This is is probably not one of the well known system but it was actually developed way back in the 1950s. It was devised by a Craps player named Oscar.  The system was used pretty effectively for about a decade before becoming popular namely thanks to the efforts of a writer and journalist called Allan Wilson.  He learnt the system after speaking with Oscar and documented it for the first time.  This gamblers system was apparently his main source of income, generating modest but very regular profits.

I should warn you that if you want a wild, exciting strategy to take into the casino then Oscar’s Grind certainly isn’t it. You suspect that the system was devised by someone with an appreciation of numbers perhaps and auditor or accountant.  I’ve tried it once in a casino, and twice online and to be honest although it was fairly successful for me – it was simply too dull!

The core of the system like many others centers around the even money bets which you can place in both roulette and craps.  The system is simply based on sequences, each series of bets is defined as a single sequence and you must follow the system exactly during each sequence.  Every sequence is devised to bring a profit of a single unit of stake, no more and no less.  When the win has been completed you start a new sequence or leave the casino and stop playing.

It’s not too difficult so let’s try and explain the basics. The first step is to place a single unit on the even money bet of your choice.  If you win initially then the sequence ends straight away (the sequence always ends the moment you make a single unit of profit).  If you lose you continue to bet that same unit again.  If you win next, then your next bet is one unit larger than previously – this progression is follwed until you reach that goal of single unit of profit and the sequence is finished.

Bet and OutcomeAccumulated Loss/Wins
Bet 1 Unit and Lose-1
Bet 1 Unit and Lose-2
Bet 1 Unit and Lose-3
Bet 1 Unit and Win-2
Bet 2 Units and Win0
Bet 1 Unit and Win 1
SequenceEnds

You can see in this example that we’re placing those single unit stakes on a even money wager.  In this example the first three bets are all losers, so teh bet stays at a single unit until we win.  As soon as this happend we increase the amount of the bet by one unit.  As you can see we recover back to zero/break even and then reduce the bet to a single unit. This is because our target for each sequence is a single unit and nothing more.  Notice how there are no large figures, the idea with Oscar’s Grind is to complete lots of little winning sequences in order to maximise overall profit.   Let’s take a slightly longer example, remember that the goal is to reach a single unit of profit in each sequence. You should never make any bet that could potentially take your profit above this level.

Bet and OutcomeAccumulated Loss/Winnings
Bet 1 Unit and Lose-1 Units
Bet 1 Unit and Lose-2 Units
Bet 1 Unit and Lose-3 Units
Bet 1 Unit and Lose-4 Units
Bet 1 Unit and Win-3 Units
Bet 2 Unit and Win-1 Unit
Bet 2 Units and Lose-3 Units
Bet 2 Units and Lose-5 Units
Bet 2 Units and Win-3 Units
Bet 3 Units and Win0
Bet 1 Unit and Win+1 Units

Hopefully you can follow this example through until you see it’s a winning sequence of one unit.  Oscar’s Grind is certainly now what you can call a reckless roulette system, and many people accuse it of being too conservative.  It should also be remembered that like every single roulette system in existence it does nothing to alter the fundamental odds. There is still a house edge in existence so you should always set a maximum loss and stick to it.  Just like Martingale you can end up in a position where you are placing a very large bet in order to make a very small overall profit.

It’s a cautious and sensible system – simply designed to maximise profits. It’s not very exciting but would perhaps be best suited to something like making the most out of a large casino sign up bonus or perhaps on the Zero Edge game at Betfair.

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