only if archie wants to play online

****...

Archie Karas is the definition of degen for sure...what an awesome guy. He brags about always winning HU against everyone though, i wonder if this is completely true or not.

Final part of the Karas story found here.

how can this story not be a movie already...

Thank you to Tom Sexton for documenting one of the greatest Las Vegas gambling stories of all time.

What's really WOW is how bad Tom Sexton writes. It's just sooooooo bad. I'll at least give him props for scooping up the story though.

Go archie! Should he not be able to get staked pretty easily?

What's even more WOW is that Sexton, a cab driver, ends the series by giving Archie advice and motivation on how to make a comeback. Awesome article, regardless. The most complete of Archie so far. Someone named Konik wrote about Archie years ago but it was limited to the 40 million streak but didn't cover the "mini-comebacks".

I didn't buy the part where the guy sinks the 9 on the break like 8 out of 10 times or something ridiculous like that. Even on a bar table, the odds are like millions to one if the balls are racked correctly.

Also, if you know anything about taking odds in craps, I find it hard to believe that at the limits he was playing WITHOUT being allowed to take any odds at all that he wouldn't have went busto with Bill Gates' bankroll over the course of playing as much as he did for 2 years. You are giving away a HUGE edge to the house by not taking odds. Only tourists who are in Vegas for the first time and want to say they played craps don't (know how to) take odds and blow through their money in no time. The laws of mathematics would eat him alive in no time at those stakes. So I don't really buy this story as far as the craps part goes. Maybe sometimes they wouldn't let him take odds, but he couldn't possibly be that stupid to shoot for that kind of money for that long without odds on the pass line and cum bets. He'd have been better off being a 5 pack a day chain smoker lighting up his cigs with $100 bills than playing craps like that.

It sounds to me like he took a few liberties with the truth in his story, but it was entertaining (sort of) for the most part. You just want to smack the guy in the head and say bank some of your bankroll you idiot.

Also, if this guy is that good at poker, why isn't he crushing games still in Vegas? I'm sure he could find some guys to play him. Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonious and the rest of the "big names" out there would surely take him on.

Saw him playing 10/20 NL at Bellagio a while back...he did not seem to have any patience for a full ring game.

Did not understand what Sexton was talking about regarding WSOP 2008...Archie was never a tourney player...he played mostly hu.

During "the run" the great Chip Reese told Archie to take some of his millions and buy a few McDonald's or Pizza Hut franchises so that he has something to fall back on..but he did not listen.

Great story overall..Thanks Tom

You don't really understand craps, do you?

Just becuase there is no implicit edge in a bet does NOT mean it isn't in the casino's favor. I'll put it to you like this. Let's say You and I flip coins for $100 a flip, the coin is 100% neutral. We are going to play until one of us is broke. You have $1000, I have $100,000. Who has the edge? No one, cuz it's 50/50, right.......?

^^^ the guy above me is pretty smart, sick example

dali,

i think you're misreading the point of the post you quoted. while it's probably true that he would have gone broke faster if he had been allowed to take full odds, he was giving up a lot of equity by betting the way he was betting rather than betting a smaller base amount with more odds keeping the total amount wagered the same. (for every million bet if 800k is at true odds with 4x odds you're better off than if just 500k is at true odds because you only got 1x). it's pretty obvious that's the point the poster was trying to make.

unless you take the least charitable interpretation of the previous poster's intentions it seems obvious he would agree with what you said, so why be a dick?

Love that his "biggest mistake" was playing without odds on the way up to $40 mil since everybody knows that $80 mil is "enough" while $40 mil just can't cut it. Ha!