Anyone looking for a system that is conservative, looks to minimise losses and that attempts to extend play time would be suited to the Oscar’s Grind roulette strategy.
It’s not designed to make anyone rich or win them lots of money in a short space of time, but it is designed to maintain bankroll and build slow and steady profits over longer periods of play.
This is why it is called Oscar’s ‘grind’, because you really have to grind out those profits.
As for Oscar, no one really knows who he was, other than the gambler who came up with this system.
It’s also known as Hoyle’s Press in some circles, but no one really knows the background here either.
Like all roulette systems, it can’t do anything to get around the house’s edge so players will still be operating at a disadvantage, but it can work out nicely if your betting units are proportional to your bank roll and you are happy to wait for gradual profits.
How Does Oscar’s Grind Roulette Strategy Work?
This system can actually be used on any game which has 50/50 outcome probabilities and an equal payout for both outcomes.
Obviously, the outside bets in roulette pay 1:1 even though their odds are not truly 50/50 because of the zero (the house’s edge), but it’s as close as you’re going to get at a casino.
This is a positive progression system because the stake goes up after a win instead of after a loss, and the rules around when to increase your bet and when to reset to the default are very simple to understand.
You start by deciding on a default stake, and one betting unit is probably as good a start as any here, but it will depend on your budget.
You then choose one of the even money bets such as odd/even or red/black, and the result of the first spin will dictate how you bet on the next.
A loss on the first spin would see you keep your stake the same and continue the cycle, whereas an win on the first spin would end the cycle.
Assuming you started with a loss, you would keep betting the same amount on each losing spin until you eventually hit a win, at which point you would add 1 betting unit to your stake size.
Another win would see a further unit added and so on.
A loss after a win would not reduce the stake, but keep it at the same level. So if your last 3 spins were:
- Win – +1 unit to 2 units
- Win – +1 unit to 3 units
- Win – +1unit to 4 units
…and your next bet lost, the following bet would still be 4 units.
The only time you bet less after a win is if the profit from a further win would leave you more than 1 betting unit richer than you started.
The system just wants to make 1 unit per cycle, trying to win more upsets the risk management that is built in to the strategy.
Oscar’s Grind Roulette Example
Remember, this system is played in cycles, with the aim of winning 1 betting unit per cycle.
Once a cycle is complete, however long it takes, you start the process over again. You could even pocket each unit of profit you make and only ever play with your starting bank roll, so that you can set a win target and stick to it.
So if you win on your first bet, that is a completed cycle – you are 1 unit up and you start again.
A cycle with wins and losses might look like this:
*£1 per betting unit, bankroll of £100.
| Bet | Stake | Result | Profit/Loss | Bankroll Remaining |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bet 1 | £1 | Loss | -£1 | £99 |
| Bet 2 | £1 | Loss | -£2 | £98 |
| Bet 3 | £1 | Loss | -£3 | £97 |
| Bet 4 | £1 | Win | -£2 | £98 |
| Bet 5 | £2 | Loss | -£4 | £96 |
| Bet 6 | £2 | Loss | -£6 | £94 |
| Bet 7 | £2 | Win | -£4 | £96 |
| Bet 8 | £3 | Win | -£1 | £99 |
| Bet 9 | £4 | Loss | -£5 | £95 |
| Bet 10 | £4 | Loss | -£9 | £91 |
| Bet 11 | £4 | Loss | -£13 | £87 |
| Bet 12 | £4 | Win | -£9 | £91 |
| Bet 13 | £5 | Win | -£4 | £96 |
| Bet 14 | £5 | Win | +£1 | £101 |
You can see that Bet 14 wasn’t increased despite the previous bet being a winner.
This is because raising the bet to 6 units would have pushed us over the 1 unit profit target we were after, leaving us with £102 instead of £101.
Had we done so and lost the bet, it would have messed up the system and made it more difficult to recover from.
FAQ
Does Oscar’s Grind Guarantee a Profit?
No.
Although the system is solid in theory, you would need an infinite bank roll and infinite time to guarantee a profit after each session.
Long losing streaks followed by a few wins where stakes are increased can drain your funds to the point that you don’t have enough left to keep going, at which point you bust out.
If you could keep going indefinitely you would eventually climb your way back up to break even and an eventual profit, but losing streaks can be long and roulette results have no predictable pattern.
Is Oscar’s Grind Roulette System Legal?
Yes, there’s nothing wrong with playing this system openly in a casino.
Not only are casinos unlikely to mind, but they probably won’t even notice because your wins will be relatively small when they happen, so you are unlikely to draw attention to yourself in the same way that someone consistently winning on straight up bets would.
A tap on the shoulder would be most unlikely for anyone playing the Oscar’s Grind system.