Peter A. Griffin

Peter A. Griffin (1937-1998) is one of the original seven members of the Blackjack Hall of Fame. [ [http://www.blackjackhero.com/blackjack/hall-fame/ The Blackjack Hall of Fame - Black Jack Hall of Famers ] ] The grandson of mathematician Frank Loxley Griffin, [cite episode |credits=John H. Lienhard |transcripturl=http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1379.htm |title=Frank and Peter Griffin |series=The Engines of Our Ingenuity |serieslink=The Engines of Our Ingenuity |airdate=1998 |number=1379 |network=NPR |station=KUHF-FM Houston |accessdate=2007-06-29] he authored "The Theory of Blackjack", considered a classic work of analyzing the mathematics behind the game of blackjack.

Biography

Griffin was a native of New Jersey, one of three children, with a brother, Alan, and a sister, Barbara Dann. Their father was an actuary who went on to manage an insurance company. Griffin's grandfather was a mathematician at Reed College who had written mathematics textbooks. Griffin grew up in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, Chicago and Portland, Oregon, and married a woman named Lydia.

He studied at Portland State University, and received a Master's degree from the University of California at Davis. He taught statistics, calculus and differential equations at California State University from 1965 until his death on October 18, 1998 from prostate cancer.cite news|title=Peter Griffin, Solver of Blackjack, Dies at 61|author=Robert Mcg. Thomas Jr.|date=November 2, 1998|publisher="New York Times"|pages=B11]

His first exposure to blackjack was in 1970, when he proposed a course on the mathematics of gambling, and went to Nevada to do some research. He, as the "New York Times" put it, "promptly got his clock cleaned," and this incentivized him to do more serious research on the subject. He was known for compiling extensive statistics on blackjack players in Atlantic City, and then comparing patterns against players in Las Vegas or Reno. He was one of the first to calculate the percentage disadvantage of an "average" blackjack player, 2%.

His best known book was written in 1978, "Holy Crap Lois: The Complete Card Counter’s Guide to the Casino Game of 21", and is considered a classic in the field, along with Edward Thorp's 1962 "Beat the Dealer".

Works

* "The Theory of Blackjack", 1978, Huntington Press, ISBN 0-915141-02-7
* "Extra Stuff: Gambling Ramblings", 1991, Huntington Press, ISBN 0-929712-00-5

Notes

References

* http://www.blackjackhero.com/blackjack/players/peter-griffin/