The idea is pretty simple, but implementation is challenging.
Combinatorial analysis involves examining every possible outcome on a hand, weighting them by the probability of that branch of the tree of possibilities, and using the information to choose the strategy that returns the highest value to the player.
It gets really sticky when you get to splitting pairs.
There is more information available at
http://www.bjmath.com
If you're interested in this stuff, you really should buy Peter Griffin's
Theory of Blackjack.