You know them as Hall of Fame hoop stars, but Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan readily admit to dropping millions at the tables in Vegas and elsewhere. Barkley ?fesses up to dropping $10 million or more. ?it's not a problem,? he says, ?because I can afford it.?

In 1993, Jordan admitted to losing heavily at the gambling tables. Businessman Richard Esquinas claims to have won $1.3m from him over 10 days on the golf course. In 2002, The Washington Post spent an evening at a casino with Jordan, who managed to lose $500,000 before recovering to end up $600,000 ahead.

A-Rod likes to cruise the high-stakes New York poker rooms with a buddy, World Series of Poker Champ, Phil Hellmuth, Jr. Pete Rose gambled his way out of the thing he wanted most ? recognition by baseball?s Hall of Fame. And of course, the 1919 Black Sox World Series scandal is one of baseball?s darkest hours. Even though the eight players in question were acquitted for lack of evidence in a courtroom, they were still banned from baseball for life by the then-Commissioner, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis.

Along comes pro golfer Big John Daly. John is one of only six players to win two majors (PGA and British Open) before the age of 30. Pace off about three football fields before you start looking for his drive. Keep him on the course ?cause otherwise John might head for the slots where he claims to have dropped $55 million dollars. His wife was just released from jail because of a money laundering scheme around an illegal betting operation.

Lee Trevino, the self-proclaimed ?Merry Mex,? who won six major golf titles, tells of his early days on the golf course with this story: ?I teed it up for $5, but that's all I had. If you lost, you were broke. And that's as much pressure as betting $100 or $500 or $1,000." He also admits to sometimes not having the $5 that he just bet.

?Betzky,? ran a headline in the New York Post, when hockey?s Wayne Gretzky and his wife, Janet Jones Gretzky, recently wound up in the news. Janet was accused of placing $500,000 in bets with a sports gambling ring. By inference, some say, she was placing bets on behalf of her husband, ?The Great One.? When the dust (lawsuits) settle, we'll see how this one comes out.

Why be shocked that sports heroes bet? The common denominator among all of them is their fierce competitive drive. Once they make it big, playing for nothin? is borin.? To rephrase a Willie Nelson song, ?Our heroes have always been gamblers.? And they always will be.

Return to Poker-A-Z.Com's - Online Poker Index