The regulatory body, Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC), has kicked out Archie Karas from the community of professional gamblers! Karas, who is 64yrs old, has been gambling since 1992 but cannot now partake of poker and other gambling activities within casinos in the state of Nevada.
Fancy stories can be told by players of poker and other gamblers, but if the story of rags to riches be told around the gambling tables, the name of Archie Karas cannot miss to come up. The full name of this legendary gambler is Anargyros Karabourniotis. In the betting world, and that includes online gambling, stakes can be as low as a dollar and can be as high as an amount that can bring a person’s business empire down. Hence, in 1992, this Greek born optimist plunged into the gambling scene with little earnings from waiting tables, since there was nothing in the US poker laws to stop a foreigner from gambling. He played pool and later poker with zest. He had the tendency to have a long winning streak followed by a period of losses but that did not keep him from playing as long as the state poker law allowed.
It was after such a streak of losses and with just $50 to his name that Karas proceeded to Las Vegas to continue his poker playing. Las Vegas is renowned worldwide for its gambling culture and Karas fitted in exemplary well. From the boy who had left home bare handed at the tender age of fifteen, Karas grew his wealth within no time, amassing a staggering figure of $40 million from gambling by1994.
Big Fish Beaten By Karas in His Hey Days
David Edward Reese
This heavy gambler who went by the nickname, Chip Reese, even had three bracelets from winning the World Series of Poker before passing on in 2007. Still, Archie beat him in poker hands down.
Doyle Brunson
Doyle, who is now over 80yrs old and has been inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame, has two bracelets from winning the World Series of Poker. Yet with decades of experience, he was felled by the ferocious poker player, Archie Karas.
Johnny Chan
This professional poker player, who must have gotten his nickname, Orient Express, from his marathon wins, holds ten bracelets from winning the World Series of Poker. Yet he happened to have fallen victim to Archie’s single-mindedness in poker. However, unlike others, Chan had his turn to retaliate.
Interesting Side of Archie Karas
First of all, although nobody can speak of the Nevada state laws and US poker laws in general without thinking of Archie because of his many cheating controversies, it is also interesting to note that despite being feared around the poker tables, Anargyros Karabourniotis neither has bracelets nor titles from poker winnings. His attitude may also interest upcoming gamblers who may soon realize that state laws cannot protect you from losing your life savings in a sitting. Karas has been quoted as expressing his stand that he does not attach too much value to money and so he is not emotionally affected when he loses big on the poker tables. In short, he has psyched himself to the fact that in poker, the winnings can disappear as fast as they came.
What next for Archie Karas?
It will be interesting to see if Archie will try and continue his casino adventures in other states where state poker law is accommodating or whether he is going to call it quits and rejoin his family in Greece. However, considering the many run-ins he has had with the law and also the financial turmoil his country is undergoing, the next step for Archie cannot be obvious.
Have you heard of this new gambling game that is the key to soaring casino profits in Las Vegas? Poker has been the in-thing around here, but this new game, though not for just any betting Joe has stamped its presence in this city of casinos. As would be expected, when casinos benefit, it is usually at the expense of someone – the gambler. This time round, the game causing havoc is not online poker or poker played over real tables – it is baccarat.
What, exactly, is baccarat?
Well, call it a betting game that requires no wit or tact. It is nothing like poker in execution. You basically have the banker to deal with as the player, and all you do is play a guessing game. Of course, there is something known as standoff that you invoke once in a while, but otherwise all you need is your lady luck. And what is the form of guessing involved? Simple – indicate the banker’s hand with the highest value of money. The banker could win and you lose; you could win; or you could tie with the banker. And you play with numbered cards just like in a normal cards game.
Any other names for Baccarat…?
Yes – the game has variations and in North America it sometimes goes by the name, Punto Banco. Sometimes, too, players talk of playing chemmy, which in full is, baccarat chemin de fer. Other times when you hear of playing à deux tableaux, the players are referring to the variation, baccarat banque.
How much different is baccarat from poker?
Apart from the obvious difference that poker calls for tact in playing unlike baccarat, the participants are also significantly different. Poker is a game for anyone irrespective of their financial muscle but baccarat tends to attract only people with huge monies. The fact that they conduct their betting game in VIP rooms and not in an open hall like other betting games speaks volumes as to what caliber of players belongs to the clique.
What is the figure reported by Poker News as baccarat gamblers’ losses?
Well, it is September now and for the span of twelve months just passed, without any state laws being broken, baccarat players have lost a whopping $1.3 billion! That is a huge figure even if the loss had emanated from online gambling or betting from a brick and mortar casino. Yet this game could go on for quite some time before the number of players withdrawing in caution become noticeably big.
Compare the $1.3 billion baccarat players lost in one year with betting losses made by general gamblers in the recent past and it is easy to see the impact of baccarat in the gambling arena. This 2015 June, casinos in Nevada in entirety were able to retain just $831 million from betting activities. It is important to note that baccarat takes up relatively few casino tables.
What else is known about baccarat?
Well, baccarat is most popular with gamblers from the Asian community. Note that US poker laws and other gambling laws are not discriminatory. Anyone can participate in the betting and you can even play baccarat online just like any other form of online gambling. It is also evident that casinos are prepared to put up huge stakes for baccarat, a single bet sometimes being as huge as $250,000. However, just like in other betting activities conducted under respective state laws, casino revenues from baccarat have been on a decline in Las Vegas, with the big stake players causing a decline of 23% and the lower stake players – what they call, mini-baccarat players – causing a 34% drop.
Yes you are not dwelling in the land of rumors; it’s true that significant changes have been done in the world of Online Gambling. iGaming is developing its roots vastly, People are sending greatly on online gambling, moreover it has been witnessed that each year the bar rises, it never fell down.
Well, it calls for a big chance!
Online poker rooms are high in demand, Online gambling lovers you must have played online poker in the world’s famous poker room “Poker Star” but do you know that it makes $1 billion from it? There is a list of small companies, striving to get successful in Online Gambling world but the real point is “Innovation”. Poker star takes the competitive advantage over all of them and yes its innovative approach can’t be ignored.
If innovation is the real key, then can you think of new possible ones in the world of iGaming?
Online Casinos are on the go!
Thanks to the Goddess of Internet, now you can easily access any online casino just in no time and the credit goes to the internet speed. Connectivity issues are often faced by the online gambling lovers but now the super enthralling broadband speed has made it possible for them to join the live streaming.
Now you can access the perfect Live HD streaming, one big thing you are missing on! Now entrancing renowned casinos are offering “Live casino”. For an online gambler what else can be better than accessing the live HD streaming and enjoying the game in famous casinos? Nothing else can be.
Right now there are about 30 casinos that have marked their presence all over the globe.
E-sport is a new big thing
Day by day people are getting addicted to e-sports, previously all used to see e-sports as nothing but the casual past time. Now things are changing, e-sports has taken itself to the new ravishing level, It is no more a casual past time now.
Wherever there is potential there is a chance of wagering. Many online sport-books likewise Pinnacle sports are offering wagerers a chance to take the e-sports as a serious thing, now they can place bets on their favorite e-sport stars.
Software based casinos
Visualize playing your favorite games in 3D environment, just imagine playing roulette. Fiction or non-fiction? You might be thinking that it is all fiction! No, you are wrong, of course it is possible now.
Undoubtedly Roulette is one of the renowned and most played games of casino. Whether roulette is played online or either played live. It has a beauty inside it, which appeals the players. Most importantly it is not a complex game at all; it is such an easy understandable game. At roulette you don’t require any such strategy; moreover the house edge is low.
All eyes on Holo lens! Online gambling world is going to witness the exciting things in near future. The hand behind this amazing invention is Microsoft. Holo lens is basically transparent like 3D glasses, what actual appears is the holographic projection but you see the augmented thing.
A future notion is that Virtual casinos are going to take hype.
Bottom line
Future will tell the best what it has to offer but before that, the current scenario is telling that the live casinos are becoming too mainstream; people needs are changing so with it there is a demand for something new. Most probably in days to come the whole thing will get change and the Virtual gambling world will become the new trend.
Did you know that the very first casino to operate as a stand-alone in Pennsylvania was licensed in 2006? That applies to the licensing of real money poker. And with that progress on the poker gaming front came anxiety on the part of gaming commissions within the states of New Jersey as well as Delaware. Poker proceeded to become a serious pastime with twelve brick and mortar casinos opening within Keystone state park. Here, even betting places for real cash poker proceeded to open doors to the public.
Does that mean poker playing is as legal as any other business in Pennsylvania?
Poker playing within brick and mortar venues – the state poker law allows. Online poker playing – Pennsylvania is yet to permit that. Of course, it does not mean that residents of Pennsylvania do not play poker online. Many do engage in online poker on famous sites hosted elsewhere, where they often play games such as Texas Hold’em poker. Right now, the Pennsylvania gaming community remains hopeful that legislators pushing for legalizing of online poker will soon succeed. And the anticipation is greatest within the gaming community in Keystone state park where people are relatively liberal in their way of thinking. In fact, many here are already engaged in online gambling.
How serious have attempts been to legalize online poker within Pennsylvania?
Well, first of all, there was the online poker bill that was presented by Tina Pickett who was chair to the House Committee on Gaming Oversight. That happened in April of 2014. The gaming community was very hopeful that the bill would go through, but Tina herself had her reservations on the bill being passed before its expiry time which was end of that year. She was, however, determined to resume pushing for this long awaited poker law in 2015.
2015 is here – how is the state poker law in Pennsylvania now?
On the legal front, online poker in Pennsylvania is in a state of wait-and-see. Nobody seems to know how quickly online poker will be legalized or if online gambling will be legalized at all. The only significant development that brings a glimmer of hope is the success the state of New Jersey has had with the online poker market once they legalized the online gaming. New Jersey being in the neighbourhood of Pennsylvania, there is likelihood that Pennsylvania may wish to borrow a leaf and make online poker legal.
Any signs legislators are considering legalizing online gambling?
Well, even before the effort shown by Tina Pickett, there was some study that legislators had commissioned towards end of 2013, and that was meant to reveal the state of gambling and betting within the state of Pennsylvania. The firm bestowed the onus was Econsult Solutions. That makes it clear that there is still a good number of lawmakers who hold the opinion that online gambling would be good for the local economy.
Is there hope of the state online poker law being passed soon?
Actually, if legislators think that legalizing online poker will bolster the economy, they are likely to support the passing of its bill overwhelmingly. And going by the report by Econsult, the situation is encouraging. Econsult found that online poker was capable of bringing the state of Pennsylvania a whopping $300 million in annual gross revenues from activities related to poker gaming. If this forecast were to come true, then it means that Pennsylvania would be ahead of its neighbor, New Jersey in revenue gains from online poker. In general, whereas Pennsylvania is yet to put its state online poker law in place, a lot that is happening gives indication that legislation is, very likely, just around the corner.
The attack this September was by no means an attempt unseen before. Last December, 2014, Poker News reported a similar attack on the website that offers online poker to serious players. That incident saw the site cancel a major online poker tournament that had massive amounts of money at stake.
Any idea how that kind of cyber attack manifests?
Well, the culprits enter the site and begin making requests just like any other interested poker player. Any problem with that…? Nothing really – there is no problem at least at face value. However, their requests are not genuine. And they are massive in number! In essence, the online poker site experiences:
Uncountable communication requests solely intended to flood the site machines
Great overwhelm on the site with heavy communication traffic
Inability to handle genuine and legitimate gaming requests
In fact, the attack of December 2014, and now the one of last Sunday, caused serious problems during the respective poker tournaments when:
Gaming tables froze
The freezing of the gaming tables led to players unfairly timing out
That experience was, without question, frustrating to genuine players of poker.
Is WPN giving up on hosting poker tournaments following the attacks?
Well, in some pastoral communities where herders drive heads of cattle to streams to quench their thirst, they have a saying that cows do not cease to drink from the streams just because the waters are infested with croaking and gaping frogs. It seems that is the same attitude WPN has taken. After terminating the tournament worth a million dollars in December 2014, they decided there is no more room for panic.
Therefore on 13th September when signs of a similar attack surfaced at a time when another million dollar tournament was underway, WPN had its guard up. It did not let the attack ruinthe online poker tournament. This particular attack, just like the one of 2014, came as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) – only this time it did not culminate in termination of the poker tournament.
So how did WPN handle the attack on its online poker site?
Well, granted the tournament had five minutes of pause, but that was it. WPN considered the nature of the attack where they observed that beyond the massive non-genuine requests flowing in there were messages of extortion as well. Poker News has it that the bullies thought they would get a quick buck by demanding bit coins as the price for stopping their invasion of WPN. Of course, being aware that the prize for the tournament winner was pegged at $200,000, the cyber bullies would have stretched their figure pretty high. But boldly and decisively, Phil Nagy, the CEO of WPN stood his ground and did not concede to the bullies whom he equated to terrorists.
So, how did the September 13th 2015 online poker tournament go?
Great, everything considered! After halting the poker for about five minutes, gaming resumed with WPN’s technical staff on full alert. They monitored every activity ready to protect the genuine competitors. And though there may have been some sparse pauses, the whole online poker tournament was generally a success.
Does that mean that WPN was in no way affected financially?
Well, there was a little shake-up. The attack on the poker hosting site had an adverse effect on target earnings. Whereas the prize pool WPN was targeting was $1 million dollars, this online poker site only managed to raise $775,500. The overlay, therefore, came to $224,500. This is because only 1,549 players managed to participate in the poker tournament following the serious connectivity issues that emerged.
