If you study the history of blackjack you will notice that many of the game's experts were math geniuses who applied their knowledge and brilliance to figuring out how to beat the casinos and win at the blackjack tables.

Peter Griffin was just such a mathematician and his classic book "Theory of Blackjack" is one of the greatest tomes written on the subject of the connection between math and blackjack. The book in particular, and Griffin's contribution to blackjack in general, earned his posthumous election to the Blackjack Hall of Fame as one of the seven original members in 2003.

Gambling always fascinated Griffin, though he was not very good at it at first. He taught a course about the mathematics of gambling but when he went to Vegas to practice what he preached he lost big time and came back more determined than ever to analyse and break down the game — mathematically.

A few years after Edward O. Thorp's book "Beat the Dealer" taught the world how to count cards, Peter Griffin published "The Theory of Blackjack," which shed even more light on statistics and math as they relate to the game of blackjack.

Griffin's book is an academic work on the comparison of existing blackjack card-counting methods. Most of the book is too esoteric and complex for the average blackjack player but it was considered a landmark publication for the serious researchers of the game and the various card-counting systems.

Even today, any blackjack card-counting system can be related to Griffin's betting-correlation and playing-efficiency theories, proving that his ideas were as far-reaching as they were groundbreaking.

Along with "The Theory of Blackjack," Griffin also wrote "Extra Stuff: Gambling Ramblings" as well as numerous technical reports about math, gambling and the connection between them. Although erudite and brilliant, Griffin's works and lectures were also known for their humour and wit. He will long be remembered as the professor who loved blackjack.