Archie Karas Story

Archie Karas is a Greek-American gambler who drove to Las Vegas with $50 in 1992 – He turned it into $40 million by 1995 — Vegas Never Sleeps (@VegasNvrSleeps) August 7, 2019. Archie Karas: The Poker Player. Karas was an all-around hustler, however poker was the game in which he shone the brightest.

1. High Roller Gambler
2. Greek Gambler

• Archie Karas is known for “The Run,” which is generally regarded as the greatest gambling run in history. The Greek-born gambler took a $10,000 loan from a poker buddy and turned it into $40 million. Karas’ story began in December 1992, when he drove from L.A. To Las Vegas with just $50 in his pocket.
• Karas's story was documented in Cigar Aficionado by American author Michael Konik and also was featured, along with Stu Ungar, in an E! Documentary special called THS Investigates: Vegas Winners & Losers. Konik also wrote an article about Karas which was featured in a book about Las Vegas gamblers called The Man With the $100,000 Breasts.
• In 3 hours, Karas repaid the loan with 50% interest and still had a pile of cash to keep playing. He played for another 3 years and simply couldn’t lose while accumulating 40 million dollars in the process. Archie was on top of the world and king of the casino.

Playing games of chance for money, otherwise known as gambling, can be a fun way to pass the time and test out how your luck is running that day. Unfortunately for some people, it can be a little too much fun and those who lack self-control will find themselves in a downward spiral of increasing stakes and a decreased concern for anything outside of gambling.

Whether you are a minimum-wage worker or a multi-billionaire oil tycoon, there is a limit to the amount of money that you should be risking on any given day. No one has unlimited money, and the thrill of hitting a big score can sometimes drive people to gamble far beyond their bankroll.

I will now take a closer look with you at some of the most famous gambling addicts that have ever walked the face of the Earth. Even though some of these stories may sound like these people led an exciting life on the edge, I do not recommend trying to pull these stunts at home.

Archie Karas

It only makes sense that the first famous gambling addict I talk about today is the king of them all. Archie Karas’ story is almost like it was written for a movie, but I assure you that this all happened in real life and that he was actually crazy enough to let all of these things happen.

Born way back in 1950, Archie was a gambler from the very beginning of his life. His first gamble was running away from home after his father threw a shovel at his head, and he proceeded to shoot marbles with other people on the street in order to feed himself.

He soon got tired of living in Greece and decided to get a job as a waiter on a ship for around $60 per month. Once his ship arrived in the USA, Archie decided to test his luck by staying there, and he ended up in Los Angeles with another boring waiter job.

In addition to this new job, he became such a monster at billiards that he began to play people for money. It turns out that he was so skilled at the game of pool that no one would gamble with him anymore, as he was pulling in more money every week than his waiter job was paying.

After his pool hustle came to a halt in Los Angeles, Archie turned to playing poker for a living. He valued money so little that he was a very tough opponent for most people, as he was constantly raising and re-raising, which really put people to the test. He amassed nearly $2 million from his poker hustles and got such a big ego that he thought he would start to take on poker legends like Doyle Brunson.

As you can imagine, this did not end well for him, since high stakes poker professionals are not rattled by intimidating antics such as Archie’s. He blew through his entire $2 million bankroll in these poker games, even though he was just working for $60 a month not too long before that.

At this point, Archie did the exact opposite of what most people would do and decided to move to Las Vegas with his last $50. In true gambling addict fashion, he convinced someone he knew from Los Angeles to loan him $10,000 based on his fierce reputation in the poker world.

This “small” loan was the turning point for Archie Karas, since he took it straight to the poker tables and turned it into $30,000. He then started pool hustling again with this money against a bunch of local sharks and proved himself to be superior by running his bankroll up to $1.2 million. There were reports that he was playing for as much as $40,000 per pool game.

One of the players that Archie took the most money from in pool then decided to challenge Archie in poker, which filled Archie’s pockets even further. Before long, Archie had dominated this poor fellow and found himself with a $7,000,000 bankroll.

Most people might call it a day once they had $7,000,000 locked up, but Archie would proceed to sit at a poker table by himself every day with $5,000,000 on the table waiting for any challenger who had the mental fortitude to gamble that high. This was almost his entire bankroll, which meant that one bad beat could erase all of his fortunes.

Somehow or another, Archie managed to dodge any cruel twist of fate for the following six months as he proceeded to stomp all of the best poker players in Vegas with his fearless approach. He amassed $40 million, at which point no one would play him in poker anymore.

Instead of resting on his laurels at the top of the poker world with $40 million and living a life of luxury, Archie decided to start playing casino games with the same aggression and carelessness that he used in the poker and billiards worlds. Anyone who understands what “house edge” means can probably see how this is going to end.

After three years of nonstop winning in a town that is extremely tough to win in at all, Archie proceeded to punt off his entire bankroll in a matter of just three weeks. He lost over $10 million playing craps for $100,000 a roll, lost over $17 million playing baccarat at $300,000 per hand, and then decided to take a break with his last $12 million or so.

Archie then moved back to Greece to clear his mind and reconsider his questionable life choices up to this point, but the gambling addict that he had inside called him to Vegas again. When he returned, he proceeded to dust off the rest of his fortune in craps, baccarat, and poker against Johnny Chan, who is a two-time WSOP champion.

This ended one of the sickest gambling runs to have ever occurred in the history of gambling itself, which begs the question of whether he was cheating or not. He was arrested recently in 2013 after being caught marking cards at a blackjack table, so the idea that he fraudulently earned that $40 million is not so far-fetched.

Michael Jordan

This man needs no introduction, since he is known worldwide as the best basketball player to ever live. However, this confidence that he could be the best spilled over into gambling and the results were not what he had hoped.

There is not much information about Michael Jordan and his gambling addiction before he became an NBA star. I assume that he picked up this habit later in life once he came across hundreds of millions of dollars.

He was a heavy sports bettor as well as a heavy blackjack player. There are also reports that he owed as much as $1.25 million to one person just for losing to him in golf.

One of the biggest gambling controversies surrounding Michael Jordan was in 1993 when he was caught gambling in Atlantic City casinos the night before a big playoff game. He should have been resting up and focusing on the task at hand, but gambling was more important to him.

The funny thing is that Atlantic City was a full 2-hour ride away from where his team was staying in New York. He had only lost $5,000 that day, but this whole incident just goes to show that sometimes even rich celebrities do not have their head on straight when it comes to gambling.

As soon as the NBA launched an investigation into Michael Jordan’s gambling habits to make sure he did not break any league rules, he abruptly retired from the NBA for the first time. This begs the question of whether he felt like he needed to hide something or if he simply needed to get away from the game to get a grip on himself and his addiction.

Leonard Tose

Leonard Tose is not as famous as the first two gambling addicts that I have mentioned thus far, but he certainly was just as big of a risk-taker. He was the owner of a trucking company early in life, and once he amassed a fortune of around $20 million from this company, he became the owner of the Philadelphia Eagles from 1969 to 1985.

He bought the team for a total of $16.1 million, which set a record at the time for the most expensive team purchase. Some might say that this was a gamble in and of itself, but Tose was accustomed to taking such heavy risks.

He reportedly tried to sue the casinos for getting him too drunk to know the difference between $50,000 and $500,000, but he predictably lost that court battle.

He was known for his reckless nature when gambling, and blackjack was his game of choice. It had been reported that he played up to seven hands of blackjack at a time and bet $10,000-$20,000 on each hand.

Throwing caution to the wind in this manner contributed to his eventual downfall, as he continued this rapid gambling pace even after he sold the Eagles. When all was said and done, he was completely broke and had lost his entire $65 million fortune and was evicted from his home.

Harry Kakavas

Harry Kakavas was an Australian real estate salesman who made a giant fortune from his houses located on the Gold Coast. It was a classic case of being lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, but Harry insisted on testing his luck even further in casinos.

It turns out that Harry was clinically diagnosed as a pathological gambler who was unable to control himself or think rationally when in a gambling environment. This problem became quite clear after he punted off an astounding $1.5 BILLION in just 14 months to casinos all over the world.

His game of choice was baccarat, and he was known for betting up to $300,000 per hand. Once he got tired of losing millions to casinos in Australia, he would travel to Macau and Las Vegas to try his luck, but to no avail.

For the next seven years, he proceeded to stop selling real estate and focused his attention on suing the casinos for taking advantage of him. They had provided him with private jets to and from the casinos, millions of dollars in gambling credit, and even drove him to the bank to take out an extra $345,000 one day when he had already punted off $1 million.

As is the case with most of these high-stakes gamblers suing the casinos, Harry came away empty-handed. After losing all of his court battles, he returned to selling real estate on the Gold Coast in 2013. He is reportedly cured of his gambling addiction now and is back to living a normal life at this point, but very few people on the planet can claim that they have felt the exquisite pain of losing as much money as he did.

The Takeaway

Ever hear the saying, “don’t try this at home?”

This blog was written solely to keep you entertained and to open your eyes to some of the most reckless gamblers who have ever lived. I wasn’t trying to give you any ideas for next time you are at the casino or playing on the best sites. Call them degenerates, call them superstitious, call them whatever you want—these guys loved to gamble and had a tough time saying no.

Archie Kara’s story is hard to fathom, but it happened. From 0 to $40 million, and back to 0, it’s quite unbelievable. You and I both know all about Michael Jordan’s premier talents on the hardwood floor, but not everyone knows that this guy can’t play a hole of golf or a game of poker without massive amounts of money on the line.

Leonard Tose was a case of letting the lavish lifestyle get the best of him. Everything was going great for the distinguished businessman until he let his gambling addiction ruin everything.

Last but not least, Harry Kakavas lost sums of money that you won’t ever have to worry about losing. To say the ups and downs of Harry’s gambling ordeals were like a rollercoaster would be an understatement. I am talking about the most extreme levels of highs and lows on a Baccarat table that one could ever imagine.

I hoped you enjoyed the cases of these individuals who just couldn’t get enough of the thrills of gambling. Like them or hate them. Respect them or think they are completely unethical and irresponsible. These are facts. These are the stories of four of the most notorious “gambleholics” known to mankind.

The casino may hold the advantage over the long run, but anything can happen over the short run. Those nights when all the right cards turn up just when we need them, when the dice seem loaded in our favour – those nights are the reason we keep coming back for more. Taking £50 to the casino and turning it into £200 is such a great feeling.

As nice as it is to go on a good little run, it’s also nice to imagine what it would be like if all the planets aligned one day and we went on the run of a lifetime. If you hang around Vegas or browse gambling discussion forums long enough, you’re bound to hear the occasional story of some lucky gambler hitting it big and making a ridiculous amount of money in a short amount of time.

A Greek gambler by the name of Archie Karas may very well lay claim to the biggest run in the history of gambling. At the very least, his run in the early to mid-90s was the greatest that the public ever became aware of. His subsequent downfall may have also been one of the most painful of all time.

Over a course of three years spanning from 1992 to 1995, Archie Karas turned a measly $50 bankroll into more than $40 million. This includes an initial stretch in which he turned that first $50 into $17 million over the first six months. Archie had some incredible downswings over that period, but he always managed to turn things back around – until he didn’t. Sadly, Mr. Karas lost it all within a year.

The early stages of his run read like some kind of motivational piece – a guy with $50 in his pocket hops on a boat, makes his way to Vegas and turns himself into a multi-millionaire within just a few short years. However, the final chapters of story reveal that Archie Karas provides us with a prime example of how not to gamble.

Let’s start from the beginning.

The Early Years

Archie Karas, birth name Anargyros Karabourniotis, was born in Greece in 1951. An old Tom Sexton article reveals that Archie had a tough childhood with a father who built houses but had little money to show for his hard work. At some points, Archie resorted to shooting marbles just to try and win enough money to buy another day’s worth of food.

As he recounts for Tom Sexton, Archie said:

“…those early days when I was growing up, having to gamble to win money by shooting marbles! Back in those days, we would play for drachmas, which was the currency then. It took 30 drachmas to make one dollar, so to win two and a half drachmas, it meant I could win a half of loaf of bread to avoid going hungry that day.”

We can see from an early age that Archie had a propensity for gambling habits that today we would call “unhealthy.” One of the basic rules of smart gambling is to never gamble to get money you need. But back then, the young Archie either didn’t know, didn’t care or had no other choice. These gambling habits would one day play a part in both making him rich beyond his dreams and dead broke once again.

The story goes that Archie ran away from home at the age of 15 after a particularly nasty argument with his father. His father, enraged over some long-forgotten disagreement chucked a shovel at Archie, nearly striking him in the head. What their relationship was like before that is anyone’s guess, but this was the last straw. Archie decided it was time to make his own way in the world. He would never speak to his father again.

At some point, he took a job as a waiter on a cruise ship and eventually made his way to Portland, Oregon. He headed south from there and eventually landed in California where he took up a job waiting tables. It was there that things began to change for the young and directionless Archie Karas.

Legend has it that Archie could play a mean pool game. The then-17-year-old did not cut an imposing figure, but he amassed a sizable bankroll reeling in unsuspecting suckers and taking them for their money. The money in pool eventually dried up as Archie earned a reputation as a skilled player. It was around this time he began hitting the California card rooms to play poker.

Thus began Archie’s first run to the big time. He hit the California poker scene hard, move up to ever-higher stakes and eventually amassed a seven-figure bankroll. That would have been a epic rags-to-riches tale in its own right had it ended there. Archie, however, was just getting started.

He persisted on the California poker and was said to run up a million-dollar bankroll, blow it all and then do it all over again. Paul McGuire of Bluff Magazine reports Archie was said to repeat this process dozens of times in California card rooms.

At one point, Archie’s poker bankroll hit a high water mark in the range of $2 million. The high stakes poker games got the best of him once again and Archie Karas soon found himself with just $50 to his name. The former millionaire was nearly dead broke.

When gamblers go broke, they tend to do one of two things. The responsible types will call it a day, cut their losses and go on to tell the tale over rounds of beers for years to come. The irresponsible types take what little money they have left and gamble it all in the hopes of turning things back around. Naturally, Archie figured the best course of action was to stuff his last $50 in his pocket and make the drive to Las Vegas.

The Run: $50 to $40 Million

Archie’s streaks up to this point were impressive in their own right, but those would soon pale in comparison to what was to come in Las Vegas. Looking back, what happened next isn’t as surprising as it seems on the first read. Take a prolific gambler like Archie Karas, who was already riding 7-figure swings in California, put that guy in Las Vegas and wait for the fireworks.

Archie Karas made it to Las Vegas and did the only thing a dead-broke gambler should do to turn around a huge downswing: ran into a friend and immediately took out a $10,000 loan. (Editor’s note: this is actually the exact opposite of what a gambler should do in the midst of a bad run!)

His friend apparently knew Archie or knew of Archie from his California poker days. Archie had a reputation as a tough Razz player. According Tom Sexton, Archie took that money right then and there and joined a $200/$400 Razz table at the Horseshoe.

Archie paid off his loan plus 50% interest three hours later. With his loan paid off and then some, he had a bankroll of his own once again. Las Vegas was his for the taking.

He next met up with a wealthy pool and poker player whose name Archie would never reveal in later interviews out of respect for the man’s privacy. The two began playing games of pool at $5,000 a game and quickly ramped up the stakes to as high as $40,000 per game.

High Roller Gambler

Archie’s opponent dropped a million dollars relatively quickly, but then went on a heater of his own and took nearly $750,000 back off Archie. They met up again and again at various Vegas-area pool halls and Archie managed to win all of it back plus an extra half a million.

Later, they decided to switch to heads-up poker, and this where things really began to take off. The pool player was also a highly skilled poker player, but Archie played a fearless and aggressive game, eventually winning $3 million off the yet-unnamed player.

With new bankroll in hand, Archie returned to the high stakes poker games in Vegas and played all who dared to face him. At various points, Archie squared up with some of poker’s legends to include Stu Ungar, Chip Reese, Johnny Chan, Doyle Brunson and others. A combination of skill, insane luck and fearless play made Archie almost unbeatable at this time.

Within six months of his arrival in Vegas with $50 in his pocket, Archie Karas had a bankroll of $17 million. I know what you’re thinking right now. Yes, I too would have called it good right there and retired to a life of luxury. Archie Karas, however, was still just getting started.

He continued to play poker, shoot pool and play in high stakes craps games over the next two-and-a-half years. By the end of it all, nearly three years after he had started, Archie Karas was worth $40 million.

The Downfall of Archie Karas

A run as crazy as the one Archie Karas experienced in the early 90s was bound to come to an end at some point. Even accounting for his skill, Archie had run way too hot and the gods of luck were bound to come collect their due sooner or later. And considering how bold Archie was during his heyday, I’m sure you can imagine that the downfall would be brutal.

And indeed it was.

Archie lost every last dollar over a span of three weeks in 1995. Word of his skills had spread in Las Vegas and it was nearly impossible for Archie to get the action he needed to continue his run. In fact, Archie attributes the majority of his climb from $17 million to $40 million to craps. Dice would also be his downfall.

The downward slide began with a particularly rough session at the craps tables where he lost $11,000,000 in one night. He switched to poker but couldn’t get his head in the game and lost more there. As his descent continued, he switched back and forth between poker, baccarat and craps, losing money all the while.

What ever happened to Archie?

Greek Gambler

Even after his epic run and brutal downfall, Archie Karas remains a gambler to this day. He recounted with Tom Sexton that he went on several other memorable runs over the following years – including one time turning his last $200 into $1 million.

He continued to play poker and, until recently, could be seen around Vegas and at high stakes tournaments from time to time. He appeared in an interview with Poker News during the $10K Stud event at the 2008 WSOP where he talks a little more about his poker game, including one surprising tidbit in which he reveals that Stud was his main game even more than Razz.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sTwK6ZrmD4

It seems he never was able to shake his bad run. Archie Karas has been arrested numerous times since 1988 for cheating in cards. In the most recent case, Archie was arrested for marking cards at blackjack at a California casino in 2008. He has taken plea bargains in every case and has so far avoided jail time for his transgression. His latest case resulted in three years’ probation.

The Nevada Gaming Commission added him to the Black Book in 2015, which makes it a crime for him to enter any casino in Nevada. His name also appears on a similar list in California. We haven’t heard anything from him since, but hopefully he’s doing well and playing it straight these days.

Archie Karas Story