Oscar’s Grind is a positive progression betting strategy used in even-money bets. This staking plan was developed to counteract some of the worse aspects of strategies like the Martingale. Namely, with most positive progression betting systems, a losing streak can drive your bankroll into the dirt.
Oscar’s Grind is completely based on streaks – both losing and winning ones. It’s also more conservative than options like the Labouchere and the Fibonacci, allowing you to play longer at a net-zero. In this article, we’ll take an in-depth look at how Oscar’s Grind strategy works in various popular casino games.
What is Oscar’s Grind Strategy?
Oscar’s Grind essentially works through a simple algorithm, divided into several smaller “sessions”. No worries- this sounds a lot more complicated than it really is.
First of all, you need a game with an even-money bet. In other words, a wager with a roughly 50/50 shot at success that doubles your money on a win. Next, you need to divide your bankroll into units that you’ll use as a stake. We recommend that you have at least 10 units on hand, but that’s up to you.
Also, one unit will serve as your winning goal. Essentially, every session ends after you win 1 unit as a profit. How you achieve this, however, depends on the context. For example, if you win your first bet, the goal is already won and you restart the session. Once you lose, though, the Oscar’s Grind betting strategy kicks in.
On a loss, you pretty much just repeat the initial wager. Put up the same stake and hope for a win. This happens no matter how many times you lose in a row. Once you get at least one win, though, you increase the stake to two units. Continue betting like this until you meet the winning goal. If you lose and then win again, keep increasing the stake by one unit.
Pros and Cons
The big benefit of using Oscar’s Grind is that the strategy is able to handle many losses in a row very well and can quickly turn these into a profit under the right circumstances. As the stake always remains the same on a loss and is only increased by one unit on a win, it usually takes a very long time before the stake reaches any high amounts and the risk is therefore relatively low. See the below example showcasing the strength of Oscar’s Grind:
Example of Oscar’s Grind working well
| Round | Stake | Win | Loss | Net Result |
| 1 | $1 | x | – $1 | |
| 2 | $1 | x | – $2 | |
| 3 | $1 | x | – $3 | |
| 4 | $1 | x | – $4 | |
| 5 | $1 | x | – $5 | |
| 6 | $1 | x | – $6 | |
| 7 | $1 | x | – $7 | |
| 8 | $1 | x | – $8 | |
| 9 | $1 | x | – $7 | |
| 10 | $1 | x | – $9 | |
| 11 | $1 | x | – $7 | |
| 12 | $1 | x | – $4 | |
| 13 | $1 | x | – $1 | |
| 14 | $1 | x | + $1 |
Even though we’ve had a total of ten losses and only five won rounds, we have during these 15 rounds managed to reach a net profit of £1.
The downside to the strategy is that it’s based on winnings and losses coming in streaks. When this doesn’t happen, which it many times won’t at the tables, it’s easy to dig yourself a hole which can be hard to recover from. See the below example:
Example of Oscar’s Grind not working well:
| Round | Stake | Win | Loss | Net Result |
| 1 | $1 | x | – $1 | |
| 2 | $1 | x | – $2 | |
| 3 | $1 | x | – $1 | |
| 4 | $2 | x | – $3 | |
| 5 | $2 | x | – $1 | |
| 6 | $3 | x | – $4 | |
| 7 | $3 | x | – $1 | |
| 8 | $4 | x | – $5 | |
| 9 | $4 | x | – $1 | |
| 10 | $5 | x | – $6 | |
| 11 | $5 | x | – $11 | |
| 12 | $5 | x | – $6 | |
| 13 | $6 | x | – $12 | |
| 14 | $6 | x | – $18 | |
| 15 | $6 | x | – $24 |
Oscar’s Grind Strategy in Roulette
It’s quite easy to devise a working Oscar’s Grind roulette strategy. Just pick an even-money bet like Odd/Even, Red/Black, or Big/Small. Keep placing the same bet over and over again and happily collect your winnings.
The good thing about using Oscar’s Grind in roulette is that rounds go by quite quickly. We mentioned that this strategy is all about small but consistent returns, so you can cut down on the time required to turn a worthwhile profit. Still, remember why this wagering strategy is called a grind.
Our advice is to also keep in mind that you may not see a profit at all. With some bad luck, you could just end up with your stake higher than your total bankroll. This is one of the pitfalls of all staking plans – though such a scenario is harder to achieve than with some others. Keep in mind that you can always simply walk away if things are going poorly. It can be hard to know when to cut your losses, though, since this strategy is essentially based on chasing them.
Alternatively, you can check out our thorough overview of roulette betting systems.
Oscar’s Grind Blackjack System
For one reason or another, the good old game of 21 is where Oscar’s Grind is the most popular. There are several advantages to using Oscar’s Grind in blackjack. First of all, the extremely narrow house edge makes the staking plan less likely to fail. This is true for all blackjack strategies, of course. However, since Oscar’s Grind is a relatively slow strategy, the difference is more likely to be felt. Remember, the house edge is more noticeable in the long run.
However, the natural progression of Oscar’s Grind can be interrupted while playing blackjack. For instance, you may win blackjack, or the optimal blackjack strategy might call for a double. In the case of a natural 21, simply take the extra winnings aside and treat them as a bit extra. If you need to double, though, things might get trickier. You will need to adjust the total stake size of your Oscar’s Grind blackjack strategy according to how much the stake changes.
Oscar’s Grind Strategy in Baccarat
As it essentially boils down to a coin flip, baccarat and Oscar’s Grind naturally go hand-in-hand. Baccarat also has the added benefit of quick successive rounds. This allows you to take advantage of the small, slow winnings with less patience.
The disadvantage is that the two bets are not equal. Still, we recommend the banker bet for the Oscar’s Grind baccarat strategy. The reasoning is simple – in standard baccarat, banker bets have a smaller house edge. This goes well with long-term sustainably and slowly building up profits.
As we mentioned earlier, though, Oscar’s Grind works with pretty much any even-money wager. This means that it can be applied to a variety of games like Sic-Bo, Andar Bahar, or other specialty games.
Conclusion
Oscar’s Grind is an incredibly efficient strategy for what it’s based on – winnings and losses coming in streaks. The problem is that it relies on something that is inaccurate as every round in roulette is unique and the probability of a certain outcome is always the same. Therefore there isn’t such a thing as the table being hot or cold.
The strategy could work very well by quickly turning several lost rounds into a profit. Under the right circumstance only a third of the rounds need to be won to reach a net profit. The downside is that if the winning rounds don’t happen after each other, which many times they won’t, there’s a risk that the stakes will just become higher and higher, which leads to the losses also becoming higher and higher.