People

Alan Woods was born in 1945 in New South Wales, Australia. He was a mathematician and Professional gambler and was well known in gambling circles in Australia and Hong Kong.

The Early Years

Alan Woods studied Mathematics at the University of New England in Armidale, Australia. However, He never completed his degree as he dropped out of University a year before his graduation.

He initially played poker machines in around the Australian casinos, but when he moved to Sydney, poker machines were not available, so he stopped playing.

He then started working as an actuary, and it was here that his job was to calculate the odds on all of the games for the Wrest Point Casino in Tasmania.

He initially felt that the house always had the edge on Blackjack and could not be beaten. However, his mind changed when his fellow bridge players told him about card counting. He tested this method at various casinos in Australia and started winning and developing a gambling habit at the same time.

Alan Woods Meets Bill Benter

In 1979 his wife left him due to his gambling habit, and he moved to Las Vegas where he met Bill Benter.

By this time numerous casinos had banned Alan Woods, so he started focusing on Horse Racing.

Bill Benter and Alan Woods developed a mathematical horse racing strategy to predict the winners, but initially failed miserably and lost a lot of money between them. In their last year together they started making money, but by this time they had decided to go their separate ways.

Alan Woods Gambling Career

Alan Woods continued to use the financial algorithms for betting on Horse Racing and landed up becoming a very wealthy man.

He never, however, stepped foot on a racecourse but instead spent most of his time at his home leading a playboy lifestyle with weekly parties.

He died of cancer in Hong Kong in 2008.

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Introduction

Nick the Greek, was born Nikolas Dandolos, and he was a professional Gambler and High Roller. What made him unique was that he was a well-rounded gambler as he excelled at betting on horses and playing Poker. In addition to his gambling achievements, Nick donated over $20 million to various charities, thousands in tips to servers and funds to anyone in need.

Nick the Greek, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1979. This was 13 years after he passed away and is today still known as The King of All Gamblers.

Nick the Greek’s Gambling Career

Nick lost large sums of money at various casinos as well as more intimate tournaments. His first significant loss was in 1949 against Johnny Moss, a well-known Poker player. The game was set up by Benny Binion as a tourist attraction and widely credited to be the inspiration for the World Series of Poker.

Nick had a particularly favourite card game called Faro, and he was overly confident in his skills when it came to this game. He received backing from Carl Laemmie and luck was not on his side, and he lost all of Laemmie’s money.

Nick then competed against an up and coming pro gambler named Ray Ryan at the luxurious Flamingo and Thunderbird Resort in a game of five-card stud Poker and lowball draw that lasted 15 days straight. When this two-week tournament was over, Nick had lost over $500, 000 which baffled him as he was sure it was going to be an easy win. Nick later found out that Ray had hired somebody to hide on the roof and give Ryan Nicks hole cards. Nick turned to the Mafia for assistance and rumour has it he was able to get most of his money back.

Conclusion

Nick the Greek won and lost over $500 million in his lifetime and claimed he went from rags to riches over 73 times. He died on Christmas Day in 1966.