Archie Karas, Legendary Las Vegas Gambler Dead at 73

Posted on: September 30, 2024, 04:16h. 

Last updated on: September 30, 2024, 04:55h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.

Archie Karas, the fearless gambler and sometimes casino cheat, who pulled off perhaps the most famous winning streak in Las Vegas history, known as “The Run,” has died at age 73.

Archie Karas, Anargyros Karabourniotis, The Run, Las Vegas, Bobby Baldwin
Archie Karas, above, became the stuff of legend when he went on perhaps the biggest lucky streak in Las Vegas folklore, but did later casino cheating charges throw shade on his achievements? (Image: PokerFirma)

Karas, known in gambling circles as “The Greek,” is understood to have been in poor health for some time.

He was born Anargyros Karabourniotis on the Greek island of Kefalonia in 1950. After falling out with his father as a teenager, he ran away from home. Finding work as a waiter on a ship, he eventually made his way to the United States.

Karas settled in LA where he waited in a Greek restaurant that happened to be next door to a pool hall. The young man discovered he had a talent for the game, and he honed his skills in his spare time. He was soon drawn into LA’s thriving poker scene.

In the early 1990s, now in his early 40s, Karas had won $2 million playing poker. By the time he arrived in Las Vegas, sometime in early 1993, he had lost the lot and had (so the story goes) just $50 in his pocket.

The Run

Soon, he began winning enough at the poker tables to convince an acquaintance to lend him $10K so he could play higher. Karas quickly won $30K playing $200/$400 Razz and returned $20K to his friend.

Next, he hit the pool hall where he began playing a “wealthy pool and poker player,” whom Karas has always declined to name. It’s been rumored this was 1978 World Series of Poker champion Bobby Baldwin, later a prominent casino executive.

Over two months, the two men played pool for increasing stakes until Karas had beat his opponent for $1.2 million. Then they played poker, and Karas won an additional $3 million.

Karas had a reputation as a good high-stakes poker player, but not the best. So as word got out that he had millions burning a hole in his pocket and was willing to take on all comers, the best players in Las Vegas formed an orderly line.

Legends like Stu Ungar, Chip Reese, and Doyle Brunson were all dispatched. The only player to book a win against Karas during “The Run” was Johnny Chan, who pocketed some $900K. But it barely mattered to “the Greek,” who was up $17 million by the time the poker games dried up.

Next, he turned to the pit games at Binion’s Horseshoe, playing craps for $100K a roll. Soon, he was sitting on a pile of $40 million, cleaning the casino out of all of its highest denomination chips.

Never Say Die

Quit while you’re ahead? Not Karas, whose luck nosedived when he proceeded to lose $30 million in roughly three weeks. Then he took a break, went to Greece, came back, and lost the rest. “The Run” became the stuff of legend and was documented in numerous books on gambling history.

But one book Karas would have preferred not to feature in was the Nevada Gaming Commission’s “Black Book.”

In 2015, the commission voted unanimously to place Karas on its list of those excluded from all Nevada casinos for “ongoing and grievous offenses against the casino industry.”

Tainted Rep?

The commission said Karas was guilty of numerous infractions against casinos since he first came to its attention back in 1988. These mostly related to advantage play or downright cheating at the blackjack tables.

The commission’s verdict damaged Karas’ reputation as a gambler, and perhaps even threw shade on the legitimacy of “The Run.”

Karas reportedly died broke, but he lived a full life.

“Money means nothing to me, I don’t value it,” he once told Cigar Aficionado magazine. “I’ve had all the material things I could ever want. Everything. The things I want money can’t buy: health, freedom, love, happiness.”