Last week I said the Razz poker article that was coming up included one of my favorite all time poker stories. Instead of writing your standard how to play Razz article which you’ll be able to find in about 5 seconds on Google I’m just going to dive straight in and try to write something that’s exciting and more importantly interesting!
If you didn’t catch my first article then you can find it here: Introduction to Low Ball poker
Some of you might have heard of Archie ‘The Greek’ Karas but most of you probably haven’t. His story is one of true greatness. Archie is a man who is considered to be the greatest gambler of all time and when he arrived in Las Vegas to shoot pool in 1992 no one could have guessed what was about to go down.
Archie was in town to shoot pool but his love of gambling and natural talent for poker was where his story really stars. With just $50 in his poker Archie rocked up to Binions Horseshoe and started playing in the Razz poker games. In no time at all Archie had ran his $50 into a massive $30,000. During this heater Archie player only Razz and by the end of it he was sat in one of the biggest games in town a $200/$400 fixed limit Razz cash game.
With $30,000 in his pocket Archie then began shooting pool and after some truly epic battles with a player who to this day remains nameless Archie had turned his $30,000 in to a staggering $7,000,000!
It was at this point that Archie entered Binions Horseshoe sat at a heads up table with $5,000,000 in front of him and presented an open challenge to anyone with the bottle to come and play him. Of course the game was Razz and the first challenger was the legendary Stu Ungar. The two greats of the game battled for 3 straight days until finally Archie broke Stu Ungar taking a total of $500,000 from him. At the time it was the biggest game the poker world had ever seen. After Stu Ungar challengers came and went but no one ever got the best of Archie.
In fact the only person to ever get the best of Archie was Archie himself. He got bored with playing poker, the action wasn’t fast enough and the stakes weren’t high enough. Archie moved to the craps tables where his Vegas heater would finally end. At his highest point it’s said Archie was up over $50,000,000 but slowly and surely he went broke shooting craps for over $200,000 a point.
The years Archie spent gambling in Vegas will always be remembered and his reputation as the worlds greatest ever gambler is firmly set in Las Vegas history.
If this story has sparked an interest in Razz poker for you then you should check my new Razz poker website. It covers everything you’ll need to learn the game and play online.
OMG… what a way to go down… at the craps table! 🙁
Very good ROI at just $50 investment! The 30K to 7M takes the cake though! I wish I could do this too!