Archie Karas

[Alan Mendelson]

Of course it's legal to kiss the dice. But would you want to? In the course of an eight hour shift they've been handled by a bunch of people who handle dirty chips and dirty money, they've rolled on a table that's probably soaked with spit and cigarette fumes, they've been on the floor, and the last guy who held them didn't wash his hands after using the restroom.

[Vegas Vic]

Of course it's legal to kiss the dice. But would you want to? In the course of an eight hour shift they've been handled by a bunch of people who handle dirty chips and dirty money, they've rolled on a table that's probably soaked with spit and cigarette fumes, they've been on the floor, and the last guy who held them didn't wash his hands after using the restroom.

No concerns about the shooter surreptitiously adding some substance to the dice as you mentioned before? Seems it could be much less obvious than using your fingertips. (I certainly recognize how unsanitary it would be, but cheaters don't care.)

[Alan Mendelson]

This is a true story: about 8 years ago, I used to play craps at MGM a lot. One day the dice were so filthy dirty that they stuck to my fingers when I tried to shoot them. I stood there at the table with my arm outstretched, palm down and the two dice stuck to my fingers. I was wiggling my fingers trying to get the dice to drop off, and they wouldn't.

The floorman then used a tissue to hand wipe all five dice.

No concerns about the shooter surreptitiously adding some substance to the dice as you mentioned before? Seems it could be much less obvious than using your fingertips. (I certainly recognize how unsanitary it would be, but cheaters don't care.)

There are several well known stories about cheaters who have added sticky substances to dice. There is also the classic story (true, by the way) about a cheating ring that substituted loaded dice for the two legitimate casino dice. Then when they decided they had won enough and wanted an end to their roll, they had to switch back the legit dice for the loaded dice. And what did they do with the loaded dice? One of the "team members" put them in his mouth.

[bigfoot66]

This is from sextonscorner.com, which features the story on Archie Karas we have been discussing.

Archie: Jack met me at the steakhouse and said, 'What do I have to do to get you to play?' I said, 'Well Jack, I need to gamble. I don't want to knit around with my money, to grind me off. I want to be able to bet $300,000 per bet.' Jack said, 'You got it Archie, but when you choose to bet this high, it will have to be on the pass line with no odds, and $300,000 on the come with no odds. You can buy the 4 or 10 anytime for $100,000.' Although I asked Jack to let me bet higher at $500,000 per bet, he would always tell me, 'Archie, I'm doing the most that I can right now.' That meeting at the steakhouse would be the last time Jack would agree to let me bet any higher, and it is what I had to work with.

[Alan Mendelson]

Jack Binion was not doing him any favors. Chance of winning on the place 4 and place 10 was one out of three... 33%. Pass and come bets had a 1.4% house edge but the casino could lose ten in a row and then win ten in a row.

Unfortunately for every player at a craps table, the house is more likely to win every bet. The only way to beat the game is to get lucky or to have the skill to influence the dice. I've never seen this mentioned: Was Karas a dice influencer?

[bigfoot66]

If so he must have done something wrong, he lost all his money! He just is a degenerate gambler who happened to be very good at poker and had an unbelievably good run.