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Nicholas ‘Nick’ Dandolos, affectionately known as ‘Nick The Greek’, was a Greek professional gambler who once said, ‘The next best thing to playing and winning is playing and losing’. That philosophy was reflected by his gambling career, in which, by his own estimation, he won and lost around $500 million and went from rags to riches, and back again, on dozens of occasions.

Born in Rethymnon, on the Greek island of Crete, in 1883, Dandolos travelled to the United States alone, as an 18-year-old, and after a spell in Chicago settled in Montreal, Canada. He was introduced to Canadian jockey Phil Musgrave – who was later killed in an accident at Havre De Grace – and formed a partnership in which he won, and lost, $500,000 in six months. Thereafter, Dandolos travelled throughout the United States, gambling in cities in Illinois, New Orleans, New York and Nevada, garnering a reputation as the ‘Gentleman of Gambling’.

Later in his career, in early 1949, Dandolos played the ‘Grandfather of Poker’, Johnny Moss in an exhausting, five-month, heads-up poker match, arranged by Benny Binion to promote his casino Binion’s Horseshoe, now Binion’s Gambling Hall & Hotel, in Downtown Las Vegas. Finally, having lost $4 million, Dandolos conceded defeat, famously telling his opponent, ‘Mr. Moss, I must let you go.’ Thirteen years after his death, on Christmas Day, 1966, Dandolos was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.

Daniel ‘Kid Poker’ Negreanu currently lies second on the all-time money list, behind only Justin Bonomo, with $41.9 million in total live earnings. Born in Toronto, Canada, to Romanian émigré parents, he collected his first live cash, $1,050, for a tenth-placed finish in the $ 200 + 30 Limit Hold’em event at the Orleans Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas in July, 1997.

However, the following April, Negreanu won his first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet, and $169,460, in the $2,000 Hold’em Pot Limit event at Binion’s, Las Vegas. He has since won five more WSOP bracelets, plus two World Poker Tour (WPT) titles, and achieved his best live cash, $8.3 million, in WSOP The Big Drop for One Drop at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas in 2014. That same year, he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame and named Player of the Decade by Global Poker Index (GPI).

Although no longer a member of Team PokerStars Pro, from whom he split amicably in May, 2019, Negreanu ranks first for all-time popularity – that is, in terms of unique hits for each player – according to The Hendon Mob. As recently as July, 2019, he collected $1.73 million for a second-place finish in the $100,000 No Limit Hold’em High Roller event, again at the Rio.