The winner of your office's Final Four pool scored more than that $200 kitty. He also gained an aura of celebrity — going from nameless guy in accounting to water-cooler A-lister faster than co-workers could mutter "worrisome devotion to college hoops." Society loves a triumphant risk-taker, and we're fascinated by folks to whom Lady Luck isn't as kind. Odds are you'll enjoy the following stories of 10 gamblers who won fame (and often fortune) through games of chance.

William F. Bennett
Nothing illegal about blowing an estimated $8 million at slot machines and video poker. But when the loser in question is a high-profile moral crusader, eyebrows rise. Newsweek revealed in 2003 that Bennett, who as President H.W. Bush's drug czar had scolded illegal-substance abusers for not confronting their addictions, faced a costly habit of his own. The "Book of Virtues" author denied he'd risked his family's security — "I don't play the milk money" — and vowed to quit gambling.

Doyle Brunson
What Babe Ruth and Joe Namath did for their sports, Brunson has done for poker. Not only is Brunson a world-class player — he won the World Series of Poker twice, in 1976 and 1977 — he's introduced millions to the game. Famously honorable, Brunson raised poker's respectability by example and boosted its popularity with his best-selling how-to-play guide, "Super System." A former NBA draftee sidelined by injury, Brunson, now 70, is also famous for betting up to six figures on a single sporting event.

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Fyodor Dostoyevsky
One of literature's greatest writers was one of history's worst gamblers. Dostoyevsky achieved early success as a novelist in the 1840s, only to spend a decade as a political prisoner and soldier. His wife died young. He gambled unsuccessfully with money he didn't have. Silver-lining alert: Hardships inspired Dostoyevsky's signature themes of human struggle, expressed in his novels ("Crime and Punishment") and short stories ("The Gambler").

Wild Bill Hickok
Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and Bat Masterson knew when to hold 'em, knew when to fold 'em, knew when to walk away, knew when to run. But Hickok, although he wasn't the best player among pardners, remains the Wild West's most notorious gambler. His days as frontier sheriff behind him, Hickok was murdered in 1876 during a poker game. Still grasped in his stiff mitt were two black pairs, of aces and eights — forever referred to as "dead man's hand."

Poker Alice Ivers
As a psychological rule of thumb, women enjoy privately played games, like slot machines. Not so with Ivers, one of the few famous female gamblers, who remains a celebrity even 72 years after her death. She earned the nickname Poker Alice after taking to the table to support her husband (an unlucky chap) and seven children. Her smarts and expressionless mug often proved unbeatable — Ivers sometimes pocketed up to $6,000 a night, no small sum in 1870s South Dakota.

John Montagu
This 18th-century English aristocrat played cards, and we all won! Next time you tuck into PB&J, say a word of thanks to Montagu, Fourth Earl of Sandwich. Loathe to leave the gaming table even to grab grub, the earl commanded his servants to slap some meat between two slices of bread, thus inventing a meal, which we know today as the sandwich), he could hold alongside his (hopefully) royal flushes. No word on whether the creator of Hot Pockets was also a gambler.

Ashley Revell
In April, this 32-year-old Londoner sold all his possessions, down to and including his underwear. Total take: $135,300. Revell then borrowed a tux and traveled to Las Vegas, where he bet his entire wad on one spin of the roulette wheel, placing it all on red. "I was just pleading that it would come in," he told CNN, "and that I'd get lucky this time." He did, and returned to England with $270,600, enough to buy plenty of new undies.

Pete Rose
No surprise, given their fondness for competition, that professional athletes are often avid gamblers. NBA gods Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley (who won $787,000 betting on Super Bowl XXXVI) are notable examples. Neither fellow, however, got caught betting on their own teams — unlike Pete Rose, former Cincinnati Reds slugger and manager. Charlie Hustle, who fessed up in January after 14 years of fibs, gambled with something more valuable to him than money: a spot in the Hall of Fame.

Jimmy "the Greek" Snyder
Snyder helped many armchair quarterbacks of the '80s win sports bets with his uncanny ability to predict victorious teams, including 18 of 21 Super Bowl winners. The former Vegas PR rep became a popular odds maker in 1945, when he conducted a survey on facial-hair preferences and correctly forecast that clean-shaven Harry S. Truman would be elected president. After 12 years of NFL commentary, CBS fired Snyder in 1988 for making racially insensitive comments.

Amarillo Slim Preston
Dubbed the Bobby Fischer of poker for his skill and the game's Imelda Marcos for his cowboy-boot collection, this smooth-talkin' Texan was a teen-age pool hustler and later a proposition gambler, meaning he'd bet anyone anything. (Victims include Willie Nelson, who allegedly lost $400,000 at dominoes.) Since the '60s, Slim has concentrated on cards. He won the 1972 World Series of Poker, became a popular talk-show guest, and remains, at 76, one of the world's most famous pro gamblers.

Ian Hodder is a freelance writer based in New York.

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