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This book reveals the life of Nick the Greek. Through these pages, the true life of the legendary gambler, which might well be a novel, is disclosed. For over four decades Nick’s presence has been particularly noticeable in the United States, not only in the world of gambling but also in general, as he socialized with the elite of almost all social groups. And behind all this, was his love for philosophy and poetry. Nick found practical ways to express his philosophy of life. Just as he did for his other love, the women. Nick was a practical man, a man of action. So he used his mathematical knowledge in poker as well. He was the first to highlight the importance of the mathematical dimension of the game, analyzing thoroughly the chances of the card combinations. This was a great weapon for that time, in which overal skills was measured, skills that Nick did to the fullest. These were to be able to psychologize your opponents, to be cool and courageous. Nick was the best in the most famous game of the era, the 5 card stud poker. As a newspaper from that time wrote . Nick was perhaps the player who played the most money on the dice, and he participated in the biggest games of his time. His appeal to quick action that dice offered was the root for most of his bankruptcy. These losses of money never dropped his morale, and starting again from scratch, he would soon find himself on top. Players with years of experience and friction at poker know that from one point onwards, poker progresses hand in hand with each one’s evolution as a person. This is a truth that any person will meet slowly or quickly, in any profession he is struggling to succeed. In addition to Nick;s fairy-tale life, this book wraps his psychography, from which all external events emerge. Other truths are also revealed. Like that the famous game with Johnny Moos, which was published as a gospel in the media 10 years after Nick’s death, never happened. Another not so known event was his rich charity action.
A few words about the hero of the book, which will keep the reader’s interest from scratch to the end. Nikolaos Andreas Dandolos was born in Rethymno, Crete, in 1883. His rich family send him to his wealthy godfather at Smyrna where he studied Philosophy and mathematics. From then until his death he had a particular weakness for Plato and Aristotle, as well as for good poetry. He became known as Nick de Greek, as the biggest legend of poker and gambling in general. He has gone through history as America’s most famous gambler because of his risky but also contemplative way of playing. His appeal to mathematics and his photographic memory complemented his philosophical education (necessary for any real gambler), and his love of risk. He won and lost the biggest amounts in the history of gambling. He climbed the stairs of wealth, dropping from the nadir to the zenith, and on the contrary, 73 times. The gambling king, as they called him, thought luck was a beautiful lady, and that’s the love of his life. He was the man who became a legend for consistency, devotion, polite nature and his misty smile.
The contempt for money was one of his main features, as he said that what counts is to play. He was interested in the emotion of action, not the money itself, which was simply a tool for the game. He knew how to win, as he also knew to lose with enviable dignity. This sparked the imagination of the world to an extent that they wanted at all costs to get to know him. Frank Sinatra, Telly savalas, Aristotle Onassis, Frank Costello, Einstein, and King of Egypt Faruk were impressed by Nick’s temper in a game and wanted to become his friends. In this legendary game, Nick won all the players on the table and moved to the door to leave with hundreds of thousands of profits. Then a lawyer who had lost most of the money told him “Greek, are you always in a hurry to leave when you win? “Nick turned slowly to the point where the lawyer sat, shuffled the deck several times, and spread it to the table with the figures facing down. “Any one of us pulls the bigger card, he earns 500,000 dollars,” Nick said coldly. The attorney stared at the decked play in a deafening style, unable to make any move. Nick saw in the lawyer’s face a traumatic situation,and he moved quietly toward the exit.
Nick was inevitably involved in a world of conflicting activities, as gambling tables were gathering all sorts of social strata. Thanks to their common passion, politicians, mobsters, entrepreneurs, actors and artists shared the same table, the same room. Nick’s prolific personality magnetised all these different characters , and Nick had the talent of not letting anyone out of his water. The world of gambling was a tank that fueled Nick’s encounters when he was out of action. He had a particular weakness in university professors with whom he said he was drawing his brain lobes.
His charismatic nature led him to an explosive and unique way of life in which his love for gambling, philosophy and the beautiful women was expressed in a unique way. Nick was known for his horrible humor and his cold philosophical insight into human drama. His compassionate nature was another side and he did not like it when it became more widely known. When he once jumped with his suit in a pit to relieve an old man from digging, he justified it as follows: “I just wanted to prove that the commonly accepted view of death with a shovel in hand is not valid.” The unknown side of his life, says that Nick donated at charities over 5million dollars. In the last game, Nick played his last game in the hospital with death and lost . He died in Christmas 1966 at the age of 83. His friends buried him in a gold coffin, and Frank Sinatra gave him a tearful saying, “You were so pure and honest that your only fortune was your charity.” On his journey, the real gambler is looking for an unknown country, an uncharted island. He may only feel for some moments in his life the existence of this other dimension, a piece of which is now Nick and Greek Dandolos.
