The Theory of Blackjack: The Complete Card Counter's Guide to the Casino

This is not a good read for beginning or advanced BJ card counters. It is for those "experts" who try the fringes. Furthermore, having a BJ computer in a casino is now illegal in NV.


The Most Advanced Blackjack Book Ever Written   September 27, 2002
 1 out of 2 found this review helpful

The Theory of Blackjack is must reading for the advanced card counter. It is unquestionably one of the best books ever written on card counting. The great thing about this book, is that it is highly accurate, written by a mathematics professor formerly of California State University. The author also possesses some playing experience.


Not for the faint of heart   March 6, 2002
 10 out of 10 found this review helpful

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.


John May   June 15, 2001
 6 out of 6 found this review helpful

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.


for the highly advanced players only!   January 11, 2001
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

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.