People who believe in betting systems feel certain that by using them they put more money in their pockets, augmenting their winnings substantially. Non-believers are simply conservative gamblers who rely more on a good basic strategy, or even on card counting, than an erratic and unpredictable betting system. That being said, however, there are millions of fans of various betting systems and Oscar's Grind is a particularly popular one.

Oscar's Grind was actually created by a craps player named Oscar, but it is easily adaptable to the game of blackjack. Oscar's Grind is most advantageous if you're on a streak - hot or cold. The system keeps your bets low if you're on a losing streak and lets you increase your bets if you're on a winning streak. Oscar's Grind can actually work under these circumstances, though you have to remember that it's impossible to predict a streak and therefore unwise to rely on Oscar's Grind in the long run. Thsi is important advice to keep in mind, whether you're playing blackjack in a traditional land-based casino or in an online casino.

Oscar's Grind is a progressive system "rewards" wins; in other words, the Grind is considered a positive betting system. But it's a little more complicated than your average system whereby you double your bet after a win and go back to your original bet after a loss, etc. Oscar's Grind can be considered an anti-Martingale system, Martingale being a well-known negative system with which you increase your bet after you lose.

To use Oscar's Grind you start off by betting a minimum bet and we'll call it "one unit." The goal is to end up with a profit of one unit, thus ending a sequence. If you win your first hand you stay at that one-unit bet (the sequence actually ends with an initial win and you start from the beginning).

If you lose, you stick to the one-unit bet. If you win after that, you double your bet. As long as you win, you keep increasing the size of your bet until you recoup your losses and end up ahead by at least one unit and the sequence is over.

Oscar's Grind may be a bit hard to grasp but, as betting systems go, it's not too bad. It's a relatively conservative system with a goal of small wins over a short period of time. There is little chance of big losses (or big wins, for that matter). Like most progressive betting systems, it won't leave you in the money in the long run. And like all blackjack betting systems, you should have a budget and a limit when you use Oscar's Grind. Don't use the Grind in place of the basic strategy; using it with the blackjack basic strategy, however, could make the game a tad more interesting.