Never Split Tens! (PDF)

Leslie Morris Golden received the B.A. with Distinction and Masters in Engineering Physics from Cornell University, where he studied astronomy under Frank Drake of SETI fame and was the award-winning editor-in-chief of the Cornell Engineer magazine. He received his M.A. and Ph.D in astronomy from the University of California, Berkeley. He performed his dissertation, "A Microwave Interferometric Study of the Subsurface of the Planet Mercury," under William J. ("Jack") Welch, the Watson and Marilyn Alberts Professor of Extraterrestrial Intelligence Emeritus.

Mr. Golden obtained a National Research Council Resident Research Associateship grant to continue studies of Mercury at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory before obtaining his academic appointment at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he became affiliated with both the physics department and the Honors College. He has also taught probability and statistics at the Heller Graduate School of Business of Roosevelt University, Chicago. He applies probability and statistics to blackjack, craps, and roulette as a columnist for five London-based gambling magazines and has published peer-reviewed papers in the field. He has won numerous awards for both fiction and non-fiction writing, including the prestigious Lili Fabilli-Eric Hoffer Laconic Essay Prize. As detailed in a series of columns, he developed the Golden Diagram system for blackjack and the Magic Circle strategy for roulette. He was named a 2016 Scholar by the International Gaming Institute of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Mr. Golden has additional careers as a professional trumpet player and vocalist, bandleader, stand-up comedian, professional actor, music notation software developer, and cartoonist. At the University of California, he was one of the founding fathers, a trumpet player and vocalist, and the long-time announcer for the prestigious University of California Jazz Ensembles as well as a popular emcee for jazz festivals

“Never split tens!, Golden’s prose evokes for the reader the aura of casino action and the excitement of card play in the midst of counting cards and verifying theorems. … Golden’s book is a celebration of how Thorp secured his.” (Andrew James Simoson, Mathematical Reviews, April, 2018)

“Never Split Tens is a semi-biographical novel that travels back in time to the story of Edward O. Thorp, a probability theorist who revolutionized the casino industry. … This is a nice book to read and can be read by anyone. … In short, even though the book is about mathematics, a wider audience can enjoy it.” (Peter T. Olszewski, MAA Reviews, January, 2018)