Biggest Gambler Busted By Casino

I actually won 180k and then got stiffed for 800k.

Beard

Anyone who wins 180k off some sucker playing pool is a legit ninja. Way more impressive, imo.

Didn't you act like you were an arms dealer from Russia or something? Did you have to work on your accent?
 
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You got wrong information if you are saying that he started with $50 and won $40mil playing dice from that original $50.

When he started playing dice at the Binion and went on to that historic run, his bankroll was about $1 mil +/-.

He got that bankroll from beating Baldwin playing pool. He was originally staked and won a large sum. When they changed the spot and up the bet, his backers didnt like it. So he bet his own and won huge. That was how he got the bankroll to play at the Binion. And as they say, the rest is history.

This is correct! He beat Baldwin out of close to a mil playing pool at 40K a game the final bet. He then beat him for anther mil playing heads up poker. He also beat most of the top poker players (Brunson, Chan, Ungar, Reese) for another mil plus change. He was sitting on a big bankroll when he took on Binions. He was the greatest dice player of all time and perhaps the only one barred from playing in many casinos. They were afraid of him!

Archie Karas was the greatest gambler of this generation, bar none. There is a story about him in my next book (More Pool Wars). We played a little 1K a game One Pocket in my last pool room. That's all for now.
 
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Anyone who wins 180k off some sucker playing pool is a legit ninja. Way more impressive, imo.

Didn't you act like you were an arms dealer from Russia or something? Did you have to work on your accent?

So Freddie is a legit ninja (which he is) for beating Archie the Greek out of 180K, but Archie himself doesn't achieve ninja status after beating Baldwin out of almost a million?

Maybe you ninja measuring device needs an adjustment?
 
I've personally dealt to a player who bought into an empty craps table for $100 and an hour later left with 17,000. I'll always remember it because he tipped me $2 dollars :D He made 1700 times his initial buy in. It doesn't happen very often but with the randomness of gambling and the ability not to worry about the money and just fire away at the right time it can happen.

As for the dice cheating, many tables have an indentation in the prop area to help the dice "roll". What certain cheats do, is develop a technique to slide one die so that it remains a 6 and the other die will tumble and hit the wall. You can do it pretty consistently with practice. Another player will make a large bet in the field, with a 6 then a field number will turn up 2/3 of the time with a 12 paying double. The cheats will look for weak crews box and dealers that don't really pay attention to the roll and be able to do it a few rolls before getting noticed and then they are just warned.

If it makes you feel any better, it was only 170 times his buy in. :smile:

J
 
He didn't start with the mil, he started with $50. He won 1000000x his buy-in. Nobody starts with 50 and runs it to 40M without cheating unless they bought a lotto ticket or bought some crap at a yard sale that was worth a fortune.

Logic may not apply but odds def do.

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Actually, he started the pool with a small roll, a flash roll of a $100 bill wrapped around a bunch of dollar bills. Using this he beat Baldwin out of a lot at pool. Then he went to the Horseshoe and bet the no limit dice game. The owner of the Horseshoe Benny Binion allowed him to keep gambling because he had a reputation for taking on all high rollers.

The story is true that Kara's literally turned a small bankroll into 50 million.

I have seen a friend sit down at blackjack with $500 and get up with $65000. She was courted by Ceasars for years after that, limos suites meals....and she would go down and play about $3k worth sometimes winning sometimes losing and then go party.
 
If it makes you feel any better, it was only 170 times his buy in. :smile:

J

There's the story of Cornbread and Wade Crane splitting a $100 buy in on a craps table with Crane losing confidence and cashing out like 8K snd Red going on to cash more than 10K. The way I remember the story, Crane was in such a hurry to get out of Vegas with the cash, he left in the middle of the night when he was also set to cash in a pool tourney the next day. Red, of course, was not so lucky. Vegas is a very tough town to hold the cash in. Ask Archie.
 
I based the 50 off what the newspaper article said. If he's marking cards with dye...you're all suckers to think he bet any sizeable cash on the square. Even if he did, you must assume he didn't moving forward. That doesn't mean he's a bad guy...in fact, I love it. He's just not the legend ninja you think he is. Sorry.

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I don't agree. He could have won on the square for years then had a bad run and turned to using cheat methods to hustle money. I think we all know that a lot of good people will do desperate things when times are tough.

Saw this on Facebook. Zombies are not the undead. They are unprepared people who will kill your family for food and shelter.
 
I don't agree. He could have won on the square for years then had a bad run and turned to using cheat methods to hustle money. I think we all know that a lot of good people will do desperate things when times are tough.

Saw this on Facebook. Zombies are not the undead. They are unprepared people who will kill your family for food and shelter.

Yeah he was on the square until he wasn't. He was able to amass the fortune he had because he was willing to bet it all all the time. He was as broke as he was for the very same reason.

There are old pilots.

There are bold pilots.

There are no old bold pilots.
 
Actually, he started the pool with a small roll, a flash roll of a $100 bill wrapped around a bunch of dollar bills. Using this he beat Baldwin out of a lot at pool. Then he went to the Horseshoe and bet the no limit dice game. The owner of the Horseshoe Benny Binion allowed him to keep gambling because he had a reputation for taking on all high rollers.

The story is true that Karas literally turned a small bankroll into 50 million.

I have seen a friend sit down at blackjack with $500 and get up with $65000. She was courted by Ceasars for years after that, limos suites meals....and she would go down and play about $3k worth sometimes winning sometimes losing and then go party.

The fish is getting bigger every year . :eek::grin-square:
First I heard it was $26M.
Saw him outside of HT one night talking to Keith and whoever had ears for his story. He told a story about his vault full of chips and had guards with Uzis.
Later I saw him play $20 a game of one hole.
Pretty sad story. Reminds me of Joe Louis.
Or the kids of Different Strokes.
 
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what sounds funny to me is the whole story lacks proof,without the phoney chip that supposedly
applied ink to the underside of the chip.
even if the casino now claims to have the exact cards with the alleged markings,i would be reluctant to use that evidence with a chain of evidence that was in their possession for months

this sounds like a good case for a lawyer that might make a big splash defeating the casino and defending the alleged cheater,perhaps Harry Platis could get a piece of the movie when this frivolous lawsuit and defamation suit plays out

i am surprised how quickly you guys pass judgement on a person who has only been arrested,not even convicted.

we all know that pool players are fair people

but since the public seems to have already rushed to judgement i will take 20 to 1 that archie
is released with no conviction in court

rather modest odds since we all know you guys have already declared the poor guy guilty
 
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Nevada gaming agents have arrested Karas four times since 1988 for allegedly cheating at blackjack in Reno, Las Vegas and Laughlin casinos.
 
So Freddie is a legit ninja (which he is) for beating Archie the Greek out of 180K, but Archie himself doesn't achieve ninja status after beating Baldwin out of almost a million?

Maybe you ninja measuring device needs an adjustment?

Yeah well if rubbing dye on your cue made you play like an alien, his cue would prob look like a lightsaber.

If Balwin played "pro speed" and lost a mil to Archie....Archie was walking behind Bobby when it fell outta his pocket. Otherwise, it was a rich cripple losing to a slightly better rich cripple.

At least Beard suckered someone who had zero chance. That's exactly what Archie did to that BJ table. Ironic eh?

Nothing like having a casino "drawing dead" .... lot easier than hiding speed and still winning the caaash.

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Nevada gaming agents have arrested Karas four times since 1988 for allegedly cheating at blackjack in Reno, Las Vegas and Laughlin casinos.

That explains why he was caught cheating in California this time.

My question is how he is still alive and in good health if he has beaten that many people out of that much cash and is known to cheat. Seems like somebody would have evened the score by now.
 
How long does it take to mark a 6 deck shoe?

I am currently employed in the aforementioned casino. We have 36 double deck BJ (pitch) tables, not including the PGA (private gaming area), aside from the 6 deck shoes and a host of carnival games. We got the best BJ rules in the whole country. We offer "surrender" options, split aces 3 times for a total of 4 hands, double down after a split, you can also occasionally ask for a new deck if you're running bad...
 
I am currently employed in the aforementioned casino. We have 36 double deck BJ (pitch) tables, not including the PGA (private gaming area), aside from the 6 deck shoes and a host of carnival games. We got the best BJ rules in the whole country. We offer "surrender" options, split aces 3 times for a total of 4 hands, double down after a split, you can also occasionally ask for a new deck if you're running bad...[

I have never seen nor heard a casino that offered "surrender" in Double Deck, and I have played BJ through out the country.

If these rules are offered in Double Deck, then your casino truly offers the best rules in the country. I only "surrender" when the deck is very rich (positive).
 
I have never seen nor heard a casino that offered "surrender" in Double Deck, and I have played BJ through out the country.

If these rules are offered in Double Deck, then your casino truly offers the best rules in the country. I only "surrender" when the deck is very rich (positive).


You should check it out sometime. It's in Lakeside, one of San Diego's countless counties. We used to have a couple of single deck tables, not anymore. The only single deck game we have is Super Fun. We also have prop bets on some BJ tables like Perfect Pairs and Buster Blackjack, you should try BJ Switch too...
 
Actually, he started the pool with a small roll, a flash roll of a $100 bill wrapped around a bunch of dollar bills. Using this he beat Baldwin out of a lot at pool. Then he went to the Horseshoe and bet the no limit dice game. The owner of the Horseshoe Benny Binion allowed him to keep gambling because he had a reputation for taking on all high rollers.

Benny died on Christams day, 1989, his son Jack was the owner when Archie had this run.
 
"Where there is gambling, there is cheating." That saying has been around for a thousand years.

As for the dice part, one cannot be charged for having the "technique" to throw the dice. One can throw the dice whichever and however way one wants, as long as the dice have to hit the end walls. The end walls have those "pointed foam" which cause the dice to bounced off randomly, which in turn will yield random numbers. Since the odds are stacked in the house favor, the casinos want "random" outcomes ===> guarantee wins for the house in the long run.

When someone is throwing dice, and they don't hit the end wall, they will be warned. If they continue to do so, the casinos will not let them play.

If one is good enough to develop the skills or techniques to beat the casinos fair and square, the casinos have the right to refuse to let them play, and they won't. But the casinos cannot bring charges against the players for fair "skills". they have to believe and can probably prove that "cheating" was involved. This is exactly the same idea as card counting ==> legal (and card markings ---> illegal).

Just to clarify.

I will be sure to show your post to the guy who got arrested *and* charged for thrownig dice. ;)

Just to clarify for him your thoughts. :smile:
 
I guess I am a little weird. I love to hear how a guy either cheats or beats the casino. I mean the casino business is a license to steal really.

I was wrong years ago as I was one that thought allowing casinos throughout the country verses just in Vegas would be okay. But what I have seen is instead of seeing those communities improve, they decline too. The money is just sucked out of the areas. I thought since I didn't gamble in them and only the stupid ones did, how did it hurt me? What I have learned is stupid people go, drop their money and then when they are broke I have to support them..:rolleyes:

The local casinos also take the money from pool too.

The other thing that amazes me is pool players. They have a talent and win money and then blow it on race tracks and casinos. I heard the rumor that Keith McCready as soon as he was paid for the COM, the next day he blew the money at the track. Pool players who can be so savvy gambling at pool and then become even more stupid at casinos.

One of the arguments against Bonus Ball (yes I said it) is that it is in Vegas. IF it had worked out, most thought the pool players would still be broke from the life in Vegas.

But I also root for the bank robbers in the movies too...:thumbup:

Ken

Of course, it's fun to ridicule the stereotypical pro player's stupidity about gambling, but the rumor about Keith McCready losing his COM pay at the track is false. :p
 
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