Customer Reviews

The Theory of Blackjack: The Compleat Card Counter's Guide to the Casino Game of 21 (6th Edition, Indexed)

5 star:		(9)
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I ran across this book many years ago in a used bookstore (mine was the 2nd edition). I must say this book changed my opinion of books about gambling books. Up to that point, all the gambling books I've come across were laughable. But this book was startlingly different. It thoroughly explains the mathematics behind basic strategy and card counting techniques in a way that really made sense.

This may sound too advanced for many folks, but frankly the math is fairly easy to understand (it mostly uses basic statistics that you probably learned and forgot in high school).

If you are serious about card counting, the information in this book will help you evaluate BJ counting systems (or even systems you invent). It will also help you subtly modify your play for changes in rules at different casinos.

Do you need to be a computer programmer to use this book? No, but it wouldn't hurt. Is this book useful for writing BJ simulators? Yes, but it's also great for really understanding what it takes to be a really good card counter.

Personally, this book convinced me that I don't have the patience (or time) to become a good card counter. But at least now I know why.

Although this is a great book you really need to know what it is and what it IS NOT!
It is not an introduction to blackjack. It's assumed you already know how to play the game.
It is not an introduction to card counting. The author assumes you already know a card counting system, or at least have a basic understanding of what one entails.
It is PROBABLY not going to make you a better player. It's not really a "how to" guide for the game as much as it's a guide to show you how to effectively ANALYZE the game.

As the title suggests this book is a fairly comprehensive review of the theory of blackjack. While a traditional counting book will tell you the HOW of card counting, this book will show you WHY it works, how card counting systems are derived, how to compare the power of different card counting systems (the so-called "efficiences") and contrast them to an (linearly) ideal system. You will also learn how to calculate exact probabilities (well, really how to write a program to do this) that could be used to determine the values (in terms of expected return) of different hands or to design a tool that will give you the optimal play in any situation that may arrise in blackjack. This tool isn't to be confused with "basic strategy", which only gives you the optimal play off the top of a freshly shuffled shoe.

This book is ideal for someone who is comfortable with playing blackjack in a casino environment, has a basic understanding of the difficulties faced by card counters, and is comfortable with mathematical formulas and their derivations (although a lot of concepts can be understood without a strong background in math, you'll get a lot more out of the book if you can follow its derivations). After reading it you should be in a position where you COULD develop your own card counting system, calculate expected values (essentially probabilities) for given hands and given plays, and have the satisfaction of knowing that you have a better understanding of the inner workings of blackjack than 99% of the people who play the game!

I'll start off by saying that this book is a tool for those interested in the underlying mathematics of the game of blackjack. For those people who just want the numbers, many blackjack simulators are currently on the market. In fact, most of the simulators would be more accurate than the numbers in these books due to the fact that you can customise then to your exact table conditions and playing strategies.

Even for those who are mathematically inclined, this book is very heavy reading. I've completed university level statistics courses and much of this text is still beyond my grasp. Griffin often does not explain why particular statistical methods are appropriate presumably he assumes familiarity with the underlying mathematics.

The theories in this book are rock solid, but unless you have a degree in mathematics, it will be a very tough read. There are lots of complex theories and equations that the everyday Joe might have a problem following.
Also, this book mostly covers 1 deck blackjack which is not played in any casino in the world these days. Most casinos use 6-8 decks, but the theoretical aspect of the book holds true regardless on how many decks are used.

This is the "textbook" for counters. What I mean is that it reads like an excellent textbook, but is not useful for the beginning blackjack player. If you are that, purchase KO blackjack or Basic Blackjack. Then, when you begin to develop an interest in the theory of BJ (hence the title) this is a must buy.

Why does the other review insist on calling him Miller?

if you are a beginner to the field of pro blackjack, don't buy this book. buy "blood blackjack" and learn all you can until you achieve high skills at this game. then, and only then, you can go to this book which is a treasure to expert players - it sharpens your game, gives you mathematical backround to your methods, and can especially give you an edge on the hard-to-win-but-fast-to-play internet blackjack games.

Peter Griffin is the blackjack authors blackjack author, respected and referenced by everyone in the field. This book is extremely heavy-going and mathmatically sophisticated, fully understood by virtually noone. No system is presented as such. This is, as the book title indicates a book about theory rather than the practice of winning blackjack. To give you some indication of the influence of this book it helps to list some of its achievements:- Griffin created virtually every balanced count system, was the first to develop a plausible method of rating such systems, and created "perfect-play" analysis of every possible hand total. In addition, mysteries such as the decade-old "floating advantage" conundrum are solved. Many many insights are contained herein which have not yet been fully exploited. I have never stopped re-reading it.

For anybody who wishes to develop, innovate or understand blackjack systems this is an essential purchase.

Amidst the hype of most blackjack authors, Miller is refreshingly candid: "His winnings are reputed to be in the hundreds." Casinos everywhere have modified rules and added decks, so systems published before 1995 are likely incomplete and/or obsolete. However, Miller isn't supplying a system. He supplies the mathematical underpinnings for analyzing card-counting systems. A mathematically-inclined reader can modify other systems' calculations and tables for six-deck shoes. Unfortunately, the results confirm the sad truth of gambling-as-business: the casinos read all the books, too, and have stripped down the player's edge. (To test this empirically, I suggest you purchase the MASQUE CASINO PAK software, and play as long as you want, using a six-deck shoe, 75% penetration, and whatever counting technique you prefer.) I haven't read Wong's PROFESSIONAL BLACKJACK, so I can't compare his mathematics to Miller's, but I found this book entertaining and useful -- for card-counting analysis, and for bursting hype-bubbles floated by other authors. To quote a friend and long-time big-stakes gambler: "You should only play if you enjoy it. The real point of the game is to play as long as possible before you run out of money."

"The Theory of Blackjack" is a mathematical tour de force. This is Peter Griffin's Magnum Opus.

"The Theory of Blackjack" lays out the mathematical substrate underlying the game of blackjack like no other. It is almost definitely of theoretical interest only (however, you never know; see Chapter 16 of "The Ultimate Edge"). This book is not for beginners of *any* kind. That is:

It is not for beginning blackjack players.
It is not for beginning basic strategy players.
It is not for beginning card counters.

If your interest in the game of blackjack is limited to a week-end in Vegas with your buddies, or even as a card counter who is in it for the money, this book is not for you. However, if you are fascinated by the game, you must buy this book. No one has mined and purified the mathematical reality underlying casino blackjack like Peter Griffin. His love of the game is apparent, and quite infectious.

Although "The Theory of Blackjack" is in some ways akin to a mathematical textbook, Griffin has a terrific, dry sense of humor. And, perhaps lost amongst the normal distributions, sigmas, and assorted formulae is the fact that Peter Griffin is an absolutely great writer.

So, if you admire blackjack in its purest form (the way a teen-age boy might admire the *idea* of his favorite actress, before the reality of the human being beneath sets in), buy this book. For those of us who are endlessly facinated by the underlying complexity and beauty of the game of blackjack, Peter Griffin is the first of our prophets.

I attempt to wrap up each blackjack book I review on two levels:

(1) The *current* practical value of the specific information provided in the book (e.g., basic strategy, counts, betting strategy, etc.)

(2) The *meta-value* of the information contained (meta-value: includes entertainment value, what the book teaches you in general about the game of blackjack, and the practical value of the book given the circumstances of the game at the time the book was written).

1 - This is not a how-to book that will teach you how to count cards, or how much to bet, or how to act, or anything like that. It will teach you what lies beneath all of the systems and all of the strategies that are out there. There is almost no practical value to the player who simply wants to go into a casino and win money. The value of this book lies on a much higher plane of existence. Per Maslow, Griffen is for the fully self-actualized (or self-actualizing) blackjack player only.

2 - Most of what Peter Griffin focuses on is the single-deck game. Griffin himself viewed the game as an intellectual challenge and was not interested at all in the mundanities of beating shoe games. (Griffin himself wrote that multiple-deck games bored him to tears. I feel his pain.) Nonetheless, one could argue that Quantum Mechanics has very little to recommend itself to the average person. However, I would argue that everyone should know something about the almost unbelievable unreality undergirding the world in which we find ourselves, despite the lack of tangible value of such knowledge. Similarly, it can only help professional blackjack players to familiarize themselves with the complexity that underlies the game that so many of us love so well. Those underpinnings are as valid today as they were when Griffin wrote his book.

The Ultimate Edge

if you are a beginner to the field of pro blackjack, don't buy this book. buy "blackjack for blood" and learn all you can until you achieve high skills at this game. then, and only then, you can go to this book which is a treasure to expert players - it sharpens your game, gives you mathematical backround to your methods, and can especially give you an edge on the hard-to-win-but-fast-to-play internet blackjack games.