Dip into the subject of the greatest poker players of all time and you won’t find Archie Karas……at least not right away. He’s never won any major poker tournaments, and he doesn’t have the young, high stakes poker swag that people like Tom Dwan and Patrik Antonius have. No Karas is simply a gambler who’s quietly beaten some of the biggest names in poker history thanks in large part to one attribute: he doesn’t care about money.
Perhaps Karas’ carefree attitude towards money began because he never had any in the first place while growing up in Greece. In fact, there were plenty of nights where Karas didn’t eat when his family was struggling. Seeing as how Karas’ family had nothing, he started shooting marbles for money with some friends and found that he had a talent for gambling. Of course, it would be a few years before Karas got to use these talents since he was still just a teenager.
When his father threw a shovel at his head during an argument one night, Karas ran away from home and worked on a cruise ship for $60 a month. Eventually, Karas just got off of the ship in American and went to Los Angeles. It’s here where he began playing pool and poker in the back room of a bowling alley. At just 19 years old, Karas already showed a propensity towards these games and found that he could make more money playing pool and poker than with real jobs. What follows is a great legend that few people know about……..
Through his combination of pool and poker, Karas built his bankroll up to $2 million. However, Karas lost all of this money and eventually moved to Las Vegas where he needed a friend to stake him $10,000. Karas won $20,000 with the loan and eventually challenged a very wealthy unidentified man to some high stakes pool games.
At the end of their pool games, Karas was up over $1 million. The wealthy action junkie and Karas then agreed to play some high stakes poker; the results were even better for Karas as he ran his bankroll up to $3 million.
With a new found bankroll, Karas sat down to the poker table with some of the best players in history such as Stu Ungar, Chip Reese, Doyle Brunson, Johnny Moss and Puggy Pearson. Amazingly, Karas beat every one of these players to the tune of millions of dollars. By the end, Karas was up over $20 million.
Not yet content, Karas took to the craps tables where he ran his bankroll over $40 million! Sadly, Karas didn’t know when to quit playing and he eventually lost $23 million playing craps and another $17 million playing baccarat. This hasn’t stopped Karas from continuing to gamble though as he still says the money means nothing to him. Lately, Karas was spotted at the 2009 WSOP where he cashed three times for over $77,000. If I were a betting man, I’d guess that Karas will be a millionaire again one day…..then lose it all again.
