The story of Anargyros Karabourniotis It starts in Greece. He worked as a bricklayer’s laborer with his father, but at the age of 15, after complaining to him and being violently reprimanded, he decided to run away from home forever. He worked as a waiter on a ship and ended up arriving in the United States, where he decided to stay despite not knowing a word in English.
He was born on November 1, 1950 in Antypata, a small Greek island in Kefalonia. He was raised in extreme povertyin a hostile environment, especially from his father, who died 4 years after the teenager left home. After getting the job on the ship, and passing through several ports, he eventually settled in Portland.
He was quite adrift until he arrived in Los Angeles, where he got a job as a waiter in a restaurant. Next to his work, there was a club with a pool table, a game in which he became an expert and made him more money than the restaurant. Furthermore, clandestinely, in that same club there were poker.
Unexpectedly, He became an excellent player and amassed a profit of 2 million dollars. But what he won with cards, he lost with dice and roulette. He went from millionaire to poor in just hours. When they asked him why he did it, he said that money meant nothing to him. He was only looking for health, freedom, love and happiness, he was not afraid of losing money.
poker legend
Archie Karas: from extreme poverty to millionaire in Las Vegas
At 40 years old, already was once again in ruinsbut willing to make a fortune again. He borrowed $10,000 from a gambling friend and quickly turned it into $30,000. He returned the loan and 100% interest, and continued playing to find his fortune again.
He returned to poker games, and in a short time he managed to collect around 4 million dollars. This caught the attention of different bettors, who continually challenged him and even plotted to make him lose, but he fleeced absolutely all of them.
The winning streak that transformed him into a legend
The first of the high rollers to challenge him was Stu Ungar, 3-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) champion, whose challenge cost him $1,200,000. Chip Reese, Doyle Brunson and Johnny Moss followed in line. And finally Puggy Pearson. They were all well-known legends in poker, and they all ended up biting the dust.
In this way he achieved what was known as “The Run”, the longest winning streak in casino history. This meant that he no longer found rivals who wanted to challenge him. His aggressiveness and level of betting made rivals uncomfortable and made them nervous. His absolute contempt for money disconcerted them.
However, his luck did not end there. He went somewhere else to play dice and increased his fortune to US$40,000,000. Archie Karas, as he was known in the US He went from being the poor boy who played pool to be able to eat, to being a millionaire poker legend.
The decline of his fortune and fall from grace
But luck is not the most stable thing in the world, and in 1995 it began to elude him. In just 3 weeks he lost 13 million dollars between dice and poker and decided to move on to the baccarat tables, where he lost another 17 million. He returned to his country, trying to protect his remaining US$10,000,000, but his gambling addiction was stronger than his well-being.
Before long he returned to Las Vegas and lost everything at craps. A few years later he was caught cheating with marked cards in black jack, which landed him in prison.
Source: Ambito
