Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji is one of the most famous manga you (the reader) have never heard of, now an anime that will start airing in October. It's also authored by Nobuyuki Fukumoto, the legendary manga-ka behind Mahjong Legend Akagi which many of us have testified to having "shat bricks" many times over the course of the show. It's animated by Madhouse (like Akagi) and will even sport the same director.
The story basically revolves around Ito Kaiji, an epic fail guy who gets shouldered with an enormus debt and gets lured onto a boat that holds special gambling games, with the incentive that Kaiji might not only pay off his debt, he'll earn some money on the side.
In contrast to Akagi Shigeru, Kaiji is a luckless, lazy git who only shows hints traces of talent when he's being put on a tight-rope between life and death about to die. He's also extremely emotional, but put in the circumstances he gets stuck in anyone would be overwhelmed.
Suffice to say, late 2007 and early 2008 will be a ride.