Table of Contents:

FOREWORD TO THE READER

1  INTRODUCTION
      Why This Book?
      Difficulty Interpreting Randomness
      Blackjack's Uniqueness
      Use of Computers
      Cheating
      Are Card Counters Cheating?
      Appendix
      Bibliography

2  THE BASIC STRATEGY
      Definition of Basic Strategy
      Hitting and Standing
      Doubling Down
      Pair Splitting
      Summing Up
      Condensed Form of Basic Strategy
      House Advantage
      Appendix

3  THE SPECTRUM OF OPPORTUNITY
      An Example
      Bet Variation
      Strategy Variation
      Insurance is 'Linear'
      Approximating Bet Variation
      How Much Can be Gained by Perfect Play?
      Averaging Disadvantage for Violating Basic Strategy
      Volatility
      Appendix

4  EXPLOITING THE SPECTRUM—SINGLE PARAMETER CARD COUNTING SYSTEMS
      The Role of the Correlation Coefficient
      Efficiency
      Betting Correlation
      Strategic Efficiency
      Proper Balance Between Betting and Playing Strength
      Simplicity Versus Complexity
      Appendix

5  MULTIPARAMETER CARD COUNTING SYSTEMS
      Keeping Track of a Single Denomination
      The Importance of the Seven When You Have Fourteen Against a Ten
      Ultimate Human Capability
      The Effect of Groupong Cards
      John Henry vs the Steam Engine
      Appendix

6  TABLES AND APPLICATIONS
      Insurance and Betting Effects
      Virtually Complete Strategy Tables
      How to Use These Tables
      Quantify the Spectrum of Opportunity at Various Points in the Deck
      The Normal Distribution of Probability
      Chance of Being Behind
      How Often is Strategy Changed?
      Gain From Bet Variation
      Appendix

7  ON THE LIKELY CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS IN CARD COUNTING SYSTEMS
      Two Types of Error
      An Exercise in Futility
      Behavior of Strategic Expectation as the Parameter Changes
      An Explanation of Errors
      Appendix

8  MANY DECKS AND DIFFERENT RULES
      The Effect of Rule Changes
      Opportunity Arises Slowly in Multiple Decks
      Betting Gain in Two and Four Decks
      No Hole Card
      Surrender
      Bonus for Multicard Hands
      Double Exposure
      Atlantic City
      Appendix

9  MISCELLANY
      More Than One Hand?
      Shuffling
      Previous Result's Effect on Next Hand
      Appendix

10  CURIOS AND PATHOLOGIES IN THE GAME OF TWENTY-ONE
      Some Extremely Interesting Facts
      The Worst Deck
      Effect of Removal on Dealer's Bust Probability
      The World's Worst Blackjack Player
      The Unfinished Hand
      Appendix

11  SOME TECHNIQUES FOR BLACKJACK COMPUTATIONS
      Dealer's Probablilities
      Distinguishably Different Subsets
      Random Subsets Stratified According to Ten Density
      Stratified Sampling Used to Analyze Expectation in a Particular Deck
      Use of Infinite Deck Approximations
      Cascading Process for Determination of Best Strategy
      Appendix

12  UPDATE—FIFTH NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON GAMBLING
      Improving Strategy Against the Dealer's Ace
      A Digression on Precise Pinpointing of Strategic Indices
      When Reshuffling is Necessary to Finish a Hand
      Percentage Advantage from Proportional Betting Schemes
      Games Which Have an Advantage for the Full Deck
      Final Thoughts
      Appendix

13  REGRESSION IMPLICATIONS FOR BLACKJACK AND BACCARAT
      The Problem
      Woolworth Blackjack
      Digression: The Count of Zero
      Actual Blackjack, 10, 13, and 16 Card Subsets
      Linear Approximation to the Infinite Deck Blackjack Function
      Can Baccarat Be Beaten?
      Ultimate Point Counts
      Appendix

14  POSTSCRIPT 1986
      Multiple Deck Strategy Tables
      Unbalanced Point Counts and the Pivot
      Volatility of Advantage for Various Rules
      Some Very Important Information
      Kelly Driterion Insurance
      The Small Player
      Appendix

15  INTERACTIVE APPROXIMATIONS TO FACILITATE RAPID BLACKJACK COMPUTATIONS
      Applications to Determining the Player's Expectations
      The Problem of Pair Splitting
      Multiple Decks

SUPPLEMENT I—RULES AND CUSTOMS OF CASINO BLACKJACK
      Blackjack
      Insurance
      The Settlement
      Hitting and Standing
      Pair Splitting
      Doubling Down

SUPPLEMENT II—Card Counting
      A System
      Betting by the Count
      Varying Strategy by the Count

INDEX

INDEX OF CHARTS AND TABLES

Excerpt:

 "There are three subjects you can count upon a man to lie about: sex, gas mileage, and gambling."
     —R.A. Rosenbaum

     I played my first blackjack in January 1970, at a small club in Yerington, Nevada. Much to the amusement of a local Indian and an old cowboy, I doubled down on (A,9) and lost. No, it wasn't a knowledgeable card-counting play, just a beginner's mistake, for I was still struggling to learn the basic strategy as well as fathom the ambiguities of the ace in "soft" and "hard" hands. The next day, in Tonopah, I proceeded to top this gaffe by standing with (5,4) against the dealer's six showing; my train of thought here had been satisfaction when I first picked up the hand because I remembered what the basic strategy called for. I must have gotten tired of waiting for the dealer to get around to me at the crowded table since, after the dealer made 17 and turned over my cards, there, much to everyone's surprise, was my pristine total of nine!
     At the time, I was preparing to give a course in The Mathematics of Gambling, which a group of upper division math majors had petitioned to have offered. It had occurred to me, after agreeing to teach it, that I had utterly no gambling experience at all; whenever traveling through Nevada with friends, I had always stayed outside in the casino parking lot to avoid the embarrassment of witnessing their foolishness.
     But now I had an obligation to know first hand about the subject I was going to tech. An excellent mathematical text, R.A. Epstein's Theory of Gambling and Statistical Logic, had come to my attention, but to adequately lead the discussion of our supplementary reading, Dostoyevsky's The Gambler, I clearly had to share this experience.
     At first I had no particular interest in card counting or blackjack, but after totaling up the losses of my brief, between-semesters novitiation, I vowed revenge on the casinos. What the text informed me was that, short of armed robbery of counterfeiting chips (and I had considered these), these was only one way to get my money back. With this in mind, I anted up $1.95 for Ed Thorp's class, Beat The Dealer, which even today at $2.45, I still consider the best buy on the subject.
     Soon, indeed, I had recouped my losses and was playing with their money, but it wasn't long before the pendulum swung the other way again. Although this book should prove interesting to those who hope to profit from casino blackjack, I can offer them no encouragement, for today I find myself farther behind in the game than I was after my original odyssey in 1970. I live in dread that I may never again be able to even the score, since it may not be possible to beat the hand held game and four decks bore me to tears.
     My emotions have run the gamut from the inebriated elation following a big win which induced me to pound out a chorus of celebration on the top of an occupied Reno police car to the frustrated depths of biting a hole through a card after picking up what seemed my 23rd consecutive stiff hand against the dealer's ten up card. I've stared at the ceiling in the mockingly misnamed Victory Motel, wondering how in the name of Probability I could be good enough to win $400 in six hours of steady play downtown and bad enough to then lose $100 in each of nine Las Vegas Strip casinos in only three and a half hours that evening.
     My playing career has had a sort of a Faustian aspect to it, as I began to explore the mysteries of the game I began to lose, and the deeper I delved, the more I lost. There was even a time when I wondered if Messrs. Thorp, Wilson, Braun, and Epstein had, themselves, entered into a pact with the casinos to deliberately exaggerate the player's odds in the game. But after renewing my faith by confirming their figures for the basic game, I threw myself once again into the fray, alas with the same results.

Description:
     Generally considered the bible for serious blackjack players, Peter Griffin's classic work provides insight into the methods and numbers behind the development of today's card-counting systems. Contains the most complete and accurate basic strategy. New edition is updated and revised.

Reviews/Media Mentions:

Blackjack Confidential, Casino Player

“The Theory of Blackjack is a fundamental contribution to our understanding of the game … unusually well written and amusing … a pleasure to read.”
   —Ed Thorp, author of Beat the Dealer

“An innovative masterpiece … must reading for every serious player.”
   —Allan Wilson, author of the Casino Gambler’s Guide

“Peter Griffin’s sense of humor is refreshing and pointed, even while he presents the authoritative work on 21.”
   —John Luckman, Gambler’s Book Club, Las Vegas