Brief: ‘Dean of blackjack’ dies at 61

Wednesday, Oct. 28, 1998 | 4:10 a.m.

A mathematics professor at California State University, Sacramento, Griffin wrote "The Theory of Blackjack" and "Extra Stuff, Gambling Ramblings."

"He was not a gambler at all. He really didn't like gambling. But he enjoyed the mathematics of it and the people he met through it," his wife Lydia Griffin told the Sacramento Bee.

He was a consultant for Las Vegas and Reno casinos.

"There's a case to be made that there's no bigger name in the world of blackjack," said Las Vegas publisher Anthony Curtis. "Peter was considered the dean of the science of blackjack. His 'Theory of Blackjack' was literally the bible for all serious blackjack players."'

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