The Ultimate Gambler... Archie Karas

I first hear about this guy... from a friend in LA... told me some amazing stories about him... how he managed to win over 50 million dollars... and loose it all...

Now, he is getting a lot more attention... cuz he played at the Main Event this year... and they did a little bio on him...

He once... beat, Chip Reese, and Stu Ungar... at a cash game... for a combine total of $1,700,000.

He had a table at the Horseshoe... where he would take on any player... and he did just that.... and won every time... it was almost like a carnaval attraction... "Step right Up folks" one man would shout...

after the action slowed down in Poker, cuz no one wanted to play him... he turned to dice... and started winning... in fact that's were he won the craps championship... over $40 Million... and managed to loose it all by 1995.

What would you do with all that money?

I would probably go crazy

Tom Sexton wrote a series of 10 articles on Archie Karas for PokerNews, FWIW - first installment is here: Sexton's Corner, Vol. 31: Archie Karas, 'The World's Biggest Gambler,' Part 1 | Poker News

Should be able to find the rest of them if you look up the Sexton's Corner archive. I don't recall him winning any "craps championship" being part of the story though, he just played for truckloads of cash on every roll.

Anywho, let this be a lesson to you kids about staying away from -EV games and being mindful of gambler's ruin. Stick to good solid games like Razz, like Archie should have

This man is my hero.

they talked about this in the wsop on espn last week. he won over 40 million in 3 years playin craps and then lost it all back in 2 years. he was also a heckvua poker player and beat basically anyone and everyone and this is a big reason why he switched to craps. doyle said on the broadcast that it didnt even bother archie that he lost the money, it didnt mean anything to him. go figure.

I saw that piece on TV.

I would have to guess that switching to craps is how he lost so much $.

Being a good poker player is one thing, a high rolling gambler is another. Casino gonna take your money sooner or later.

heck i like playin craps. its fun and easy to make money when you on a roll, but unike most games, in craps, its to some extent a group game because everyone wants the shooter to keep rolling, and if your the shooter you dont wanna crap out and let yourself and everyone down so to speak.

TexasPokerStar said:

after the action slowed down in Poker, cuz no one wanted to play him... he turned to dice... and started winning... in fact that's were he won the craps championship... over $40 Million... and managed to loose it all by 1995.

What would you do with all that money?

I would probably go crazy

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The first thing I would have done with the money was PUT IT IN THE BANK!!!!! I understand this guy looks at money differently than most people, but he needs slapped in the face a couple of times for losing that much money.

The question that needs to be asked is..... What the hell were you thinking to lose all of that money? Do you not know when to stop?

ythelongface said:

he was also a heckvua poker player and beat basically anyone and everyone and this is a big reason why he switched to craps.

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Not to take away from the mystique or anything, but if you read the full story what you've said there is only kinda the truth.

Yes he beat the likes of Ungar, Reese and Chan for big amounts of money in single sessions. But I think a big part of the reason his poker action dried up was because he pretty much refused to play anything other than games where he had a big edge.

Occasionally that game was stud, but it was usually heads-up razz (a game which he's still supposed to be among the best in the world at - he final tabled the razz event at this year's WSOP, FWIW). Now most poker players don't like playing razz at the best of times, let alone for nosebleed stakes against someone who's really good at the game. I suspect he probably would've got more action if he was willing to mix it up and play some other games with people, or if he had've taken his money along to whatever the equivalent of the Big Game at the time was. But reading the Tom Sexton articles, it sounded like he was pretty stubborn about only playing the couple of games he specialised in.

Also, he's supposed to have lost back what he won from Chip Reese and then some in a later session.