For those of you who don’t know Archie Karas – again, have you been living under a rock? – he’s the bloke who managed to turn a mere $50 into a whopping $40 million in just three years. He’s a prime example of why millions of people from around the world play online casino, waiting for that one lucky spin to make it big and live a life of luxury. Karas didn’t win his money by playing slots though, no, he won it playing poker and a variety of the game called ‘razz’. Let’s take a look at his amazing story below.
The humble beginnings of Archie Karas
Karas was born in Greece to very poor parents, and would spend his days playing marbles to earn cash to eat. As a young adult he ran away from home after an argument with his father and ended up working as a waiter on a cruise ship. After landing in Portland, he made the journey to Los Angeles, where he began his epic gambling career hustling pool. Unfortunately, reputation go the better of Karas, and soon nobody wanted to play him anymore. He then turned to another popular pub game at the time – poker. Things started off well for Karas, and by well we mean really well, winning £2 million dollar. Again, misfortune struck Karas, when he went on a losing streak and eventually lost everything again.
A small loan of just $10,000 later…
After bumping into his buddy in Las Vegas, he was offered a $10K loan at 50% interest. Karas, a gambling man, decided why not and over the course of the night won enough to pay back his lender and had cash left over to play with. He played a game called ‘Razz,’ which instead of awarding money for highest hands, the winner would be the person with the lowest hand. In just 3 hours Karas had won enough, and more, to continue his career as a gambler.
With the money he won he continued to play for 3 years and accumulated a grand total of $40 million playing at the casino. It wasn’t just poker he was playing; taking part in games such as blackjack, roulette, video poker and even baccarat. Karas became the ultimate gambler – the ultimate winning machine. Good things don’t last forever though, and the same applies for Karas.
$11 million in just one night playing craps
In just one night Karas managed to whittle away $11 million playing craps. Angered, he decided to win this money back the next day, but managed to lose a further $17 million. Going back to what he knew best, he headed back to the poker table, but unfortunately lost another $2 million. Broke, he then went on to borrow $40k off a friend, and amazingly, managed to turn into $3 million. Of course, after these losses and wins, Karas came out to say ‘I don’t really value money.’ If nothing was more blatantly obvious, it was this.
Archie Karas was caught cheating at blackjack in 2013 and has now disappeared out of the public eye. Shame really, as he’s potentially the man who has won and lost more at the casino than anybody else. It makes for interesting reading anyway, and that’s all that counts!
