Nick the Greek on the left
Nicolas Andreas Dandolos (a.k.a. Nick the Greek) parlayed his $150 weekly allowance on horse race betting. He had an unmatched eye for the sport and soon made $500,000. He proceeded to lose it all on card games during what must have been the most expensive training session of all time. Thereafter he made his living betting on racing, card games, or any other imaginable action. Always a colorful character, Nick was either flat broke or filthy rich. He gave over $20 million to charity. He once lost $3 million to poker legend Johnny Moss in a poker showdown that spanned 5 months and featured every known poker variation. At the end of his career he played low stakes poker in California for room and board.
Rothstein at the track
Arnold Rothstein was a notorious racing bettor who was suspected of fixing and gathering insider information on events by any means. He was involved in the fixing of the 1919 World Series. Back in the day, professional baseball players earned salaries as little as $2000. After the owner of the Chicago White Sox refused to grant bonuses to his players, one of them approached Arnold Rothstein with the fixing proposal. Rothstein provided the bankroll and the muscle needed to coerce several other players into throwing the series. He was never convicted of wrongdoing. He was shot and killed over a $300,000 gambling debt he refused to pay, saying the game was rigged.
Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson
After suffering an injury that railroaded his dreams of becoming a professional basketball player, Doyle Brunson began a career in education administration. He quickly bored and started touring the American southwest with Amarilo Slim to form the Texas Rounders. They built their bankroll and honed their skills in some of the wildest and dangerous games. It was not uncommon to be beaten and chased out of town with a shotgun. Since those days, Doyle Brunson has won many World Series Poker events and written the first authoritative guide covering several variations of poker and is affectionately known as the granddaddy of poker.
Stu “The Kid” Ungar
Gambling was in Stu’s blood. His father was a bookmaker and Stu was a Gin Rummy child prodigy who soon ran out of combatants in his hometown New York. What he won playing rummy he lost betting on sports. He soon fled to Las Vegas, loan sharks in tow, to begin his dazzling career in Vegas. He possessed a photographic memory and could count down 6 decks of cards. At the poker table he was known for playing extremely loose and aggressive. He’s estimated to have won over $30 million at the tables, including three WSOP main events. Stu enjoyed fast cars, a cocaine addiction, and an early death.
Professor Edward Thorpe
Professional gambler’s had for many years known to raise their bets when they believed an Ace was likely to be dealt. Ed Thorpe was the first person to devise a systematic method for counting cards during a blackjack game in order to gain a player’s edge. Bankrolled by a mobster, he successfully proved his theory and was banned from many casinos in the process. He then wrote the book Beat the Dealer which was largely responsible for making blackjack America’s most popular casino game. He went on to make a fortune gambling in stocks.
Ken Uston
Uston quit his high-paying corporate job to play blackjack. He formed teams which used variations of Ed Thorpe’s counting method to extract millions of dollars from casinos. An excellent card counter and planner, Uston was also prone to bragging and angered many of his teammates by divulging secrets concerning team play, betting, camouflaging, and disguises. He wrote the book Million Dollar Blackjack, an entertaining collection of gambling savvy, outrageous tales, and megalomania. Much like Stu Ungar, he was a larger than life character who epitomized a true gambler.