Changes

{{Infobox_Person  

{{Infobox_Person  

| name        = [[Person_First_Name::Les]] [[Person_Last_Name::Golden]]

| name        = <font color="blue">Les Golden</font><font color="black">

| other_names = <small>AKA "Cut the Taxes" (political candidate)</br>Leonard Running Bear (political candidate spoof)</br>Scooter (boyhood athlete)</br>Clete (college baseball player)</br>Moe Silver (character in cartoon strip and stage play "Shrubtown")</br>Les Morris (bandleader)</br>Subrahmanyan Berkowitz (stand-up comic)</br>Jeffrey Clayton Maxwell (stand-up comic)</br>Flash Golden (play-by-play announcer and jazz radio disc jockey)</small>

| other_names = <small>AKA "Cut the Taxes" (political candidate)</br>Leonard Running Bear (political candidate spoof)</br>Scooter (boyhood athlete)</br>Clete (college baseball player)</br>Moe Silver (character in cartoon strip and stage play "Shrubtown")</br>Les Morris (bandleader)</br>Subrahmanyan Berkowitz (stand-up comic)</br>Jeffrey Clayton Maxwell (stand-up comic)</br>Flash Golden (play-by-play announcer and jazz radio disc jockey)</small>

| residence  = Oak Park, [[State_Name::Illinois]], and [[City::Reno]], [[State_Name::Nevada]]

| residence  = Oak Park, [[State_Name::Illinois]], and [[City::Reno]], [[State_Name::Nevada]]

}}

}}

'''Les Golden''' is an internationally-known gambling writer based in Oak Park, Illinois. He has written for <i>gambling.com</i>, <i>iGamingBusiness</i>, <i>gamblingonline</i>, and <i>Bluff Europe</i> print magazines. He became aware of card counting systems and became a card counter at the popular casino game of blackjack while a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, by reading the 1966 revised edition of Beat the Dealer,<ref>Thorp, E. O.  (1966) ''Beat the Dealer: A Winning Strategy for the Game of Twenty-One'', Random House, New York</ref> the seminal work of mathematician Edward O. Thorp, who was aided in his computer simulations by programmers Julian Braun and Harvey Dubner.<ref>Thorp, E. O. (1966),''Beat the Dealer: A Winning Strategy for the Game of Twenty-One'', Random House, New York, pp. 93-94</ref>  As a graduate student in astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, Golden made monthly trips to Reno, Nevada and played blackjack using Thorp’s systems.  He is the developer of the Golden Diagram technique for countering casino countermeasures at blackjack and the Magic Circle system for winning at biased roulette wheels.  He currently resides in Oak Park, Illinois, and Reno, Nevada.

'''Les Golden''' is an internationally-known gambling writer based in Oak Park, Illinois. He has written for <i>gambling.com</i>, <i>iGamingBusiness</i>, <i>gamblingonline</i>, and [[Bluff Magazine|<i>Bluff Europe</i>]] print magazines. He became aware of card counting systems and became a card counter at the popular casino game of blackjack while a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, by reading the 1966 revised edition of Beat the Dealer,<ref>Thorp, E. O.  (1966) ''Beat the Dealer: A Winning Strategy for the Game of Twenty-One'', Random House, New York</ref> the seminal work of mathematician Edward O. Thorp, who was aided in his computer simulations by programmers Julian Braun and Harvey Dubner.<ref>Thorp, E. O. (1966),''Beat the Dealer: A Winning Strategy for the Game of Twenty-One'', Random House, New York, pp. 93-94</ref>  As a graduate student in astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, Golden made monthly trips to [[Reno]], [[Nevada]] and played blackjack using Thorp’s systems.  He is the developer of the Golden Diagram technique for countering casino countermeasures at blackjack and the Magic Circle system for winning at biased roulette wheels.  He currently resides in Oak Park, [[Illinois]], and [[Reno]], [[Nevada]].

==Background==

==Background==

===Renaissance Man Description===

===Renaissance Man Description===

Les Golden is a Renaissance Man, a true polymath.  He has been so described in numerous newspapers and magazine.  "Let's say there was a local character who has a B.S. and M.S. in engineering physics from Cornell University; earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of California in Berkeley; is a professional actor; a former stand-up comedian in San Francisco and L.A. and an improv performer with Chicago's Second City, is a freelance jazz and theater critic and playwright; is president of his own software development company; gives lectures on UFOs and the possibility of extraterrestrial life; was listed in the Marquis "Who's Who in Science and Engineering;" and every July 4 either he or his twin brother lead the band that precedes the fireworks at the local high school.  You'd accuse us of making him up, right?  Wait, it gets better.  Let's say all of that is not enough.  Let's say this guy wants to make his mark in politics . . . only he insists on filing under a nickname which usually gets him tossed off the ballot . . . " <ref>(1997) Trainor, Ken, "Who is Les Golden?", ''Wednesday Journal of Oak Park and  River Forest'', April 2, p. 29-37</ref>[[File: LesGoldenJazzOaklandMuseum.jpg |thumb|left|250px|<small>Members of the University of California Jazz Ensembles in a publicity photo prior to a performance at the Oakland Museum.  From top, Gary Maas, drummer, now an optometrist, Les Golden, trumpet, vocalist, and announcer, and Larry Heavey, baritone sax, now a radiologist.</small>]]

Les Golden is a Renaissance Man, a true polymath.  [[File: LesGoldenAlkaSeltzer.jpg |thumb|250px|<small> Principal actor for Alka Seltzer national campaign. This photo appeared in every National Basketball Association program for every team during its season.</small>]]

  He has been so described in numerous newspapers and magazine.  "Let's say there was a local character who has a B.S. and M.S. in engineering physics from Cornell University; earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of California in Berkeley; is a professional actor; a former stand-up comedian in San Francisco and L.A. and an improv performer with Chicago's Second City, is a freelance jazz and theater critic and playwright; is president of his own software development company; gives lectures on UFOs and the possibility of extraterrestrial life; was listed in the Marquis "Who's Who in Science and Engineering;" and every July 4 either he or his twin brother lead the band that precedes the fireworks at the local high school.  You'd accuse us of making him up, right?  Wait, it gets better.  Let's say all of that is not enough.  Let's say this guy wants to make his mark in politics . . . only he insists on filing under a nickname which usually gets him tossed off the ballot . . . " <ref>(1997) Trainor, Ken, "Who is Les Golden?", ''Wednesday Journal of Oak Park and  River Forest'', April 2, p. 29-37</ref>[[File: LesGoldenJazzOaklandMuseum.jpg |thumb|left|250px|<small>Members of the University of California Jazz Ensembles in a publicity photo prior to a performance at the Oakland Museum.  From top, Gary Maas, drummer, now an optometrist, Les Golden, trumpet, vocalist, and announcer, and Larry Heavey, baritone sax, now a radiologist.</small>]]

   

   

"Where to start in introducing the complete one-off individual that is Les Golden?  Actor, stand-up comedian, humorist UFO lecturer, singer, astronomer, cartoonist, playwright, trumpet player, voiceover artist, political activist . . . we could go on.  You can probably tell that Les is a bit of a character.  Luckily for readers, he's also a great blackjack player,"<ref>(2009) Lines, Chris, "A Word From the Editor," ''Gambling Online'', August, p. 8.</ref>  

"Where to start in introducing the complete one-off individual that is Les Golden?  Actor, stand-up comedian, humorist UFO lecturer, singer, astronomer, cartoonist, playwright, trumpet player, voiceover artist, political activist . . . we could go on.  You can probably tell that Les is a bit of a character.  Luckily for readers, he's also a great blackjack player,"<ref>(2009) Lines, Chris, "A Word From the Editor," ''Gambling Online'', August, p. 8.</ref>