Archie Karas Profile

Archie Karas had a six month run of success. He borrowed $10,000 and turned it into $17 million. Karas is a modern gambler who is now 43 years old. You might think he is more like John Gotti in appearance though, given the hairstyle and gold/ diamond pinkie rings. Karas is a gambler who probably won’t stop until he is dead. Karas loves it when he is called “the undisputed champion of gambling.” He stated in an interview that he has gambled more money than anyone else in history on this planet.

Archie Karas was born Anargyros Karabourniotis and was often called The Greek. He was born in 1950. As a gambler he is a high roller who enjoys poker and pool. There is one streak in 1992 to 1995 that he is best known for. According to the historical information and Karas, he had the longest documented winning streak. It is called The Run. He took $50 in December of 1992 and managed to make it $40 million by 1995. He lost all of it later in 1995. Many consider him to be one of the best gamblers of the century, and perhaps even of all time. He has been compared to Nick the Greek several times.

Archie Karas did not come with money. He was born to poverty, but shot marbles as a way to make certain he didn’t go hungry. His father was in the construction industry, but always struggled. At 15 Karas decided to leave home permanently after his father threw a shovel at him. He never saw his father again. His father died four years later. When he ran he started working on a ship as a waiter for $60 a month. The ship eventually came into port in Portland, Oregon. From there he took a journey to Los Angeles. He managed to gamble successfully getting a bankroll of $2,000,000. He lost it all playing in a high stakes game.

Much of his early years in Los Angeles were spent playing pool and bowling to make a little money. When he found he could make more money hustling at pool he quit his waiter position. His victims eventually dried up so he had to move on to playing poker. In 1992 he’d already become a millionaire many times only to lose it with new wagers. It was also at this time he decided to take his $50 and go to Las Vegas. It was his initial run that became $17 million. At Binion’s Horseshoe he got a fellow poker player to loan him $10,000 which turned into $30,000. He gave $20,000 back to his backer.

He then played pool to rack up $40,000 per game after he started earning several hundred thousand dollars with each play. He always wagered large. At many points he had to wait until someone willing to take on high stakes would sit in front of him. He was challenged by Stu Unger, a three time WSOP champion at the time. Stu was backed by Lyle Berman, but Karas managed to win $500,000 in Razz before gaining another $7000,000 from Stu on 7-card stud.

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