Who do you think the Greatest Poker Degenerates of all time are? The guys who made millions playing poker and went on to blow all or most of it on crazy gambling binges, insane lifestyle choices and basically an overall degenerate way of life. Here are my choices:

-Stu Unger
-Mike Matusow
-Tom Dwan
-Shawn Sheikhan
-Eric Lindgren
-Gus Hansen

Viktor Blom
Mohammed Ibrahim

Ivan Leow (RIP) apparently blew through $20m playing GG high rollers, Andy Beal as well played HU 100/200k limit against a group of the best players in the world as a wealthy businessmen who just wanted to play high stakes. The group was called "The Corporation", which was Doyle Brunson, Jennifer Harman, Phil Ivey, etc. There's a really cool video on YT about it

It's a mean-spirited topic, but a lot of legends like Stu Ungar, TJ Cloutier, Layne Flack, and Archie Karas seem to fit the bill.

By all accounts, even respected people like Doyle, Sexton, and Reese were fiends for sports betting.

The number of "name" players who were smart with their money is probably dwarfed by the number who gave most or all of it away.

That's why I almost think Pius Heinz is the WSOP GOAT for just taking his bricks of cash and noping out of the poker scene instead of trying to prove something.

Are you looking for people who won specifically through poker? Or poker players who blew their fortunes through gambling or other means?

If the latter, my vote is for Archie Karas, as DogFace noted. However, I recall most of his winnings came at the craps tables, not the poker tables, although I think the initial bankroll boost came from poker.

Does anybody else also like to type out posts, but then - 80% of the time - simply decide to delete them, before posting?
I do that all the time...

Phil Ivey?

Grimstarr

There is a name that comes to mind that I don't want to say. But he was among the biggest earners in the 1990s, lived lavishly, bet sports, and is not really in the scene anymore...rumored to play small stakes now.

Ilari Sahamies (Ziigmund)

Playing drunk often, 100k flips etc

Everyone who plays 3/6 limit

For what it's worth, Archie told me that he just couldn't beat baccarat.

Mason

I would put Paisting on the list

Hahaha I don't know why that tickles me so much... a guy with that kind of history and tendencies also had a handle on one of his leaks.

Reggie
Jayz
Tupac
Biggie
Andre from Outkast
Jada
Korrupt
Nas
then me

Geez - no Guy Laliberte? He padded many a high stakes player's wallet, and yet he kept coming back for more because he had an unlimited bankroll.

And for nowadays, I think Keating deserves a mention at least.

Don't know, but Patrik Antonius could be the greatest non-degenerate.

urubu22 was pretty bad. Used to dust off several hundred k via flips and then beg for $100 from the guy that busted him, with the intention of running it up at micros. When told no he would complain on 2p2 about how rude it was.

Bonus shoutout to Harry Kaczka for what he managed to do over that brief period of madness

Imagine grinding your way from PLO50 for like a day straight up to 6 figures, then dusting it HU to Galfond.
And then doing it again.

lol

Its so crazy to think how different that 100k meant to galfond after winning it vs Harry after losing it. Big balls but god damn you know he stared at that screen for a solid 5 minutes in silence.

Beals far from a degen. The money he lost isn't even a rounding error to him.

Sports betting do be like that. Once you hit your first big parlay it's over lmao

My Mo Ibrahim story. In my very first WSOP tournament I made it to the final table. It was the 2003 2K Limit Hold'em event. When it got down to the final five players Ibrahim had about half the chips in play and the rest of us had nearly equal stacks. We all took a break to discuss a deal. After several minutes of discussion we agreed that Mo would get second money of 145K (First paid 290K) and we would get 100K each. Mo agreed and we were all very happy. Then Huck Seed and Ted Forrest entered the scene. They had staked Mo in the tournament.

Seed and Forrest killed the deal, telling Mo he could beat these four bums (I'm paraphrasing here, but in essence that's what they told him). Play now continues and a few hands later I get QQ and raise. Only Mo in the big blind calls (with 5,7s). The flop comes T,4,8. He checks, I bet and he calls. The turn is a 6 and I end up going broke on the hand. I win 35K but am feeling very disappointed about the 65K I lost.

Forrest and Seed were correct and Mo wins the tournament and the full 290K. A few years later he disappears from the tourney scene. I heard he had returned to his homeland in the Middle East.

Sammy "Raisy Daisy" Farha

Nick "The Greek" Dandalos surely should get a mention.

Managed to lose an estimated $2-4m Heads up to Johnny Moss in 1949 (roughly $25m-$50m in today's money)