Nick “The Greek” Dandolos

Whether it is because of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle or one of the myriad of the world’s great thinkers, philosophy and the country of Greece often go hand in hand.

For Nick “The Greek” Dandolos, things are no different. Born in Rethymnon, Crete, in 1883, Dandolos studied philosophy at the Greek Evangelical College. Aged 18, he left for America and his wealthy family sent him $150 a week – a big sum at the turn of the century – to get him settled.

He arrived in Chicago, Illinois, before moving across the border to Montreal, Quebec. Whilst in Canada he befriended a jockey and soon began gambling on horses. By the end of the racing season he had racked up half a million dollars and moved back to Chicago before losing it all on various card games.

Whilst this setback obviously damaged him financially, Dandolos reckoned that playing against top professionals so early in his career gave him the edge he needed to build up his bankroll.

Over the years Dandolos would constantly bounce between being broke and being rich, he stated that he came back from having nothing more than 70 times. One reason for this may be that he was prepared to bet on anything. Legend has it that once, after winning more than $1million from a player, Dandolos offered to go double or quits on the draw of a card. His opponent declined.

During his career he beat nearly everyone of note on the east coast and wanted a new challenge. Nevada had legalised gambling in 1931 so he set off for Vegas. After making his name in this state he spoke to Benny Binion, asking him to find the best player around for a public spectacle of a game.

Binion called on Johnny Moss, who was fifteen years younger than Dandolos, for a grand heads-up challenge in what became a precursor for the World Series of Poker. In 1951, the two played variants of poker from January to May before Dandolos - who had lost at least $2million by this time - said, “Mr Moss, I have to let you go.”

Playing poker for Dandolos was about the thrill of the game rather than about the money. By the end of his career, he had very little money left but was still playing $5 limit games in California. As well as losing money in casinos and at card tables, Dandolos also donated more than $20million (estimated to be more than $400million in today’s money) to charity and education.

Dandolos died on Christmas day in 1966, aged 83, and was in the original batch of inductees to the Poker Hall of Fame in 1979.

Two books have been published posthumously about Dandolos – Ted Thackrey’s 1968 Gambling Secrets of Nick the Greek and Harry Marks Petrakis’ 1978 Nick The Greek.