Archie Karas, full name Anargyros Karabourniotis, was a Greek immigrant who came to Los Angeles, USA in the early 1990s to make a fortune. In the city of angels, he initially worked as a waiter in a bistro, where he learned to play billiards and play poker.

In Los Angeles, he was so good at cards that he won a full $ 2,000,000. However, he did not enjoy his fortune for a long time. He soon lost money and fell to the bottom for the first time. However, he never gave up a dream of making a living by gambling, and Archie went to Las Vegas in December 1992.

A Man Who Couldn't Lose

Archie arrived in Las Vegas with only $ 50 left after losing two million in Los Angeles. However, he soon met an acquaintance, whom he convinces to borrow $ 10,000, and then repays him twice as much. In a few hours, he won $ 30,000 in the Razz poker variation.

Archie treats the remaining ten thousand more carefully and relies more on his skill in billiards. He soon finds a rival whose name he refuses to say to date and has gradually won an incredible $ 1.2 million over him. With the same player, they then moved to another casino, where Archie increases his bankroll to $ 4 million.

The luck was not left him, and Archie won another $ 3 million in less than two months in poker. At that time, you could meet Archie sitting alone at a poker table with five million in chips, waiting for the best players in the world to beat them.

The then poker elite lasted to play with Archie Karas for half a year and earned him another $ 10 million. Now Karas is facing a problem. Nobody wanted to play with him. His reputation as a crazy gambler with incredible luck ensured that he would play as much solitaire.

So Karas took his $ 17 million and moved to the craps table, where he bets $ 300,000 on the hand. "I made million-dollar decisions with each shot, and I would bet even more if they let me," Karas described the time.

Karas' Fall from Grace

Archie's luck did not leave him until 1995. During this time, he won a total of $ 40 million, creating the legend of a man who came to Las Vegas with $ 50 and made a fortune. Karas lost this incredible wealth very soon. In craps, baccarat and poker, he lost everything in less than a month!

In the following decades, the world's greatest player, as he often called himself, succeeded and won several million more in craps and poker. But he lost the money again.

He was last heard about in 2013 when he made headlines in the news. This time not because of a huge win, but because of allegations of fraud.

Karas supposed to mark blackjack cards a the Baron's Casino in San Diego. For this, he was also sentenced to 3-year probation. He is also currently one of 33 people banned from entering Las Vegas for life.