re:worlds greatest gamblers

i was watching a show on Hannibal (the general not Lecter) and started thiunking about Mason's gambling theory book where he rates the best gamblers of all time, such as General Lee, JFK Muhammad Ali etc. Hannibal seems like a worthy contender; what could be more non-self weighting than using elephants to cross a mountain range?


SO i was wondering what others thought about some other great "gamblers" who were not mentioned in the book. I am sure mason also has some other honorable mentions also.


Pat

Branch Rickey?

I never really understood how Hanibal spent 17 years on the Italian penisula without conquering Rome. What was he doing all that time? If you read Livy, it seems that the Romans couldn't win anything. Yet Hanibal couldn't administer the kill.


Maybe the real gambler was Scipio when he took the war to North Africa.

Alexander the Great has GOT to be one of the most daring gamblers of all time.


He constantly defeated citadels and cities that were considered to be impregnable. At one point, his army was struggling to overcome the walls of a particularly staunch defender, and to "inspire" his army he threw himself over the wall and fought single-handedly until his men could get over to relieve him. This of course is probably an exaggerated account but these kinds of stories weren't spawned from nothing. The man was a gambler.


His exploits are simply a long string of one ambitious gamble after another as he slowly conquered almost every nation and people he came across.


Except the Afghan tribes. Afghanistan was the sole region to withstand his army and they were never conquered.


natedogg

nate-web@thegrovers.com