I said, “One of the most fascinating things about your story to me, and probably most people, is you were a one-man army. You transported literally millions of dollars back and forth around town here, trying to get it in and out of banks. You didn’t do this a few times, but did it several times each week, for over two years! Can you tell us a few inside details on how you managed to do this, without getting hurt or heisted?”

Archie began, “The Horseshoe had a designated parking space for me in the valet, close to the door. I never let anybody know when I was coming, because I brought $3,000,000 to $5,000,000 with me all the time when I was going to shoot dice.”

Karas: Ready to Roll

I said, “Archie, moving this kind of money around by yourself simply boggles my mind. Weren’t you worried about being heisted?”

Archie said, “I was moving the money in and out, a very dangerous process. I was doing a masterpiece with it, because I felt like every heist man in the world was hanging around. I had bought a new home in Summerlin, and a friend of mine asked if anybody knew where it was. I said ‘no’, as he didn’t know where it was either. So he said, ‘Get in the car,’ as he then drove me about 12-13 miles straight to my house! He made his point, as he advised me to be extremely careful, as he heard there were a lot of heist men in town. From the beginning, I tried never to repeat how I did things, and took extraordinary precautions at all times!

“Bringing money from my bank boxes down to the Horseshoe to shoot dice is probably how I survived playing the highest stakes in the world for two and a half years I might add, that when I transported big money from the bank to Binion’s Horseshoe, I did it in my car by myself. Only one time did I let someone go to the bank with me in my car to pick up $4,000,000 for the day’s play, and that was my brother, who was visiting from Greece. He was so nervous to be transporting such a large sum of money, it looked like the color of his face had changed. Although I carried two guns with me for protection, it gave him very little comfort, I guess. I had an Austrian Gluck 40, which had 18-bullet clips, like a mini machine gun, and a German Sig Suier 45, that would go off like a cannon. After that one trip to the bank in my car, I asked him if he wanted to do it again, and he quickly said, ‘No thanks!’”

Archie continued, “Even though I had my bank run strategy down well, every once in a while those chips in the box at the Horseshoe would cost me dearly! One day when I wasn’t planning to gamble, I went down to Binion’s Horseshoe for a Chinese dinner. The next thing I knew, I was at the dice tables, losing 2 ½ million dollars from chips I withdrew from my money box! It ended up being a pretty expensive dinner!” (As Archie lets out a big laugh.)
Archie, I have a couple of questions for you: “Do you have any idea how much $1,000,000 might weigh?

Archie said, “I once weighed $2,000,000 and it was 80 pounds. So each bag with a million in it weighed 40 pounds.”

I then asked, “So, if you carried two bags of money into the Horseshoe it was almost like weight lifting. When you hauled $3,000,000 to $5,000,000 in your car, did you go back and get the other bags yourself in valet?”

Archie said, “I mixed up my routine a lot. I was very unpredictable. Many times I would return to the car with two security guards to get the rest, and quickly move the money inside. Quite often I would circle the hotel, looking for a door that had no strange people standing there, and would stop my car, sometimes leaving the motor running, while quickly scooting $2,000,000 through the door straight to the cashier’s cage! I’d tell them to count it, while I’d go back and move my car around to the valet. If I brought three to five million to gamble with that day at a side door, I’d lock the car door, and quickly round up two security guards to help me haul the big bags inside to the cashier’s cage.”

“Again, I never let anybody know my arrival schedule. I was very careful. I might add, whenever I drove my car to the bank to pick up several million to play with for the day, I might drive around for an hour, checking my rear view mirror, making sure I wasn’t being followed. I would try and time it so I would get to the bank about a half hour before the bank closed.”

“Why was that, Archie?”

“If I lost what I gambled on that day, I couldn’t return to one of my banks to get more. I’d have to wait until the next day. It was one of my tricks to self-manage my losses for one day.”

At this point I asked Archie, “When you transported your winnings from the Horseshoe to a bank, did you drive your car or use the hotel’s limousine with security?”

Archie answered, “From the Horseshoe, I would almost always be driven to the bank in one of their limousines, with two security guards. One would drive, and the other would sit with me and my bags of money.”

I asked, “Did your brother ride with you from the hotel in the limousine with the security guards, when you took money to the bank?”

“Yes, he did that several times, and he felt more comfortable with the security guards. I told Jack Binion once, ‘Jack, we are going to get heisted one day,’ and he said, ‘Archie, I’ll give you two limousines with four security guards if you want,’ but I never took him up on it, as keeping a low profile was the most important thing.

“When I did take the one limousine with the two security guards to a bank, I sort of had to train them. When they helped me take several million in money bags into the vault, they might stare at me as I would pour all the money into each box. I would ask, ‘What are you watching me for? Watch the door, in case we get heisted, and the bank!’ Of course the bank might only have $50,000 to $100,000 on hand, while I was standing there with $5,000,000 plus more in the boxes many times. Which target do you think they might be after? I would tell the two guards from Binion’s to pay attention to potential robbers, who were perhaps following us. ‘Come on guys, get with it, guard the open door when we are inside the vault. Keep your backs to me and your guns pointed out there!’

“In fact, every time we would start out from the Horseshoe, they would inevitably ask me the name of the bank we were headed for, and I would always tell them, ‘Don’t worry about it… just drive. Turn here, turn there, and go straight here for the next ten miles.’ I never announced where we were going, as I had about six different banks. I didn’t trust anyone, and only veered them to our destination when I felt we were safe and not being followed.

“Jack Binion, in a fatherly tone of voice, used to tell me, ‘Archie, if anyone ever gets the drop on you, just give it up… give it up. Let them have the money.’ I loved Jack, as he gave the true gamblers the best chance to win, offering them the highest betting limits. He also was a very smart man, who knew how to give good advice.

“I ended up winning every $5,000 chip at Binion’s Horseshoe, which was about $18,000,000 worth, that I kept in the boxes at the Horseshoe to gamble with. Each rack of chips had $500,000 in it, so I had accumulated about 36 racks of chips. Finally, one day, Jack Binion asked me to sell some of the $5,000 chips back to the Horseshoe, and I agreed to sell back about $10,000,000, leaving about $8,000,000 in chips to gamble with.

“Mike Sexton will tell you, ‘I was sitting next to Doyle Brunson in the poker room at the Horseshoe, when Jack Binion walked over with a rack of $25,000 chips and said, ‘Look what Archie did to us. He won all the $5,000 chips in the casino and we had to mint these new $25,000 chips just for him!””

Stay tuned for Part 6, as we go back in time and look at the high betting limits Archie played at, as well as his biggest single-day win, plus his six biggest losses in one day during his legendary two-and-a-half year gambling spree.

The Cab is Parked,

Tom Sexton

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Potter was struck in the back of the head by his assailant as he walked across the Spencer Street Bridge in central Melbourne, not far from the Crown Casino. The attacker had possibly ‘cased’ Potter earlier in the evening, perhaps selecting his victim. After striking Potter, the robber reached immediately into the stunned Potter’s hooded pocket where Potter still had $30,000, in large part his winnings from the 2008 Aussie Millions Main Event, where he placed 31st.


The money taken from the the young Oklahoman was mostly in U.S. $100 bills and large Australian notes, and authorities have issued a notice to banks and travel institutions to look out for anyone attempting to exchange large quantities of American currency. Authorities are also examining surveillance tapes from the area to see if the crime or the assailant may have been captured on camera.

Potter briefly attempted to fight his attacker before seeing the knife, at which point he ceased resistance. According to one Australian newspaper report, Potter remained philosophical. “It’s not life changing,” he said. “It definitely hurts really bad, but nothing in my life will change because of it. I’d come back here – I’ve had a really great time.”

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Aside from taking in the sights and culture of Australia’s most beautiful city, Team PokerNews got down to some serious poker with seven out of the original 17 making it to Day Two. This included Thierry Radovanovic, Cedric Segato and Tony Pruvot from France, Kairit Leibold from Estonia, Sebastiaan van Kempen from The Netherlands, Melbournian David Wyatt and German Michael Wolf.

Michael Wolf managed to outlast the rest of Team PokerNews to finish in the money. Michael came up against Bong Vongsykeo’s Aces as he moved all in for his last 4,000 with A-Q. His hand did not improve and he was eliminated in 70th place taking home AUD$15,000 in prize money. Not bad for three day’s work, considering it cost Michael nothing to compete in the Aussie Millions.

“I am really excited,” explains Michael, “this has been an amazing trip, plus it cost me nothing to come here… I had a very good vacation and I am very happy.” The German, who qualified through a freeroll on Full Tilt Poker liked the way he played. “I know I didn’t play bad, I played good… I had a really tough Day Two starting on a table with some of the world’s best poker players and I survived that.” Michael smiles, “I also met some really great people.”

Congratulations to all Team PokerNews members for such a tremendous effort at the 2008 Aussie Millions in Melbourne.

Think you have what it takes to represent Team PokerNews at the next major poker event? PokerNews is giving you over 100 chances to win a fantastic €1,500 package to the 2008 PokerNews Cup Austria. Stay tuned to PokerNews and our freeroll page for more details.

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Clonie Gowen’s Day 2 was short and less than sweet. Gowen pushed all in preflop with
and ran into pocket kings. No ace appeared on the board, and she was eliminated early. Joe Hachem went to the rail early when he got into a big hand with Peter Ling. Hachem raised from the button, and Ling defended his big blind. The board came down 7-3-3 with two spades, and Ling bet out. Hachem raised, Ling moved all in over the top, and Hachem called with 5-3 for trips. Ling revealed , but caught a runner-runner four-flush to eliminate the world champ. Other early eliminations included JJ Liu, Ari ‘BodogAri’ Engel and Graeme ‘Kiwi G’ Putt.

Team Full Tilt had a rough run in the middle of Day 2, with several of their players hitting the rail in a short span. Howard Lederer came to the Aussie Millions and immediately won over a million dollars by capturing the top prize in the $100,000-buyin Event #9 earlier in the series. Lederer’s luck ran out when Raymond Rahme outflopped him with A-9 to Lederer’s A-K to eliminate poker’s ‘Professor’. John Juanda was the next Full Tilt pro to bust when he ran pocket fives into Kofi Farye’s pocket tens and failed to improve.

Phil Ivey’s day ended when he got it all in with Richard Teatum on a board of . Teatum led out, and Ivey raised. Teatum went all in over the top with , and Ivey called with . No ace appeared for Ivey, and he was eliminated. More notable Day 2 exits included Michael Binger, cricket star Shane Warne, Jon ‘Pearljammer’ Turner, Tony G and Allen Cunningham.

Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow played tight all day until he made a key double-up late in the action. After complaining earlier about his lack of quality cards, Matusow doubled up with pocket aces against pocket queens to finish the day with a decent chip stack. Matthew LaGarde finished the day with the chip lead among the final 98 players, in sight of the money bubble of 80, as the top ten chip counts looked like this:

Matthew LaGarde – 490,000
Alexander Kostritsyn – 445,000
Dale Townsend – 420,000
Dusan Stoevski – 410,000
Kevin ‘BeLOWaBOVe’ Saul – 400,000
Con Angelakis – 376,000
Erik Seidel – 330,000
Adriano Cendron – 280,000
Jason Potter – 279,600
Andy Black – 271,000

Other notable survivors of Day 2 included Kenna James, Erick Lindgren, Max Pescatori and Jeff Lisandro.

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Field achieved notoriety of sorts after being exposed as a 16-year-old using at least two accounts following a major online win, and issued a written apology published on major poker-discussion forums a few weeks ago. The apology preceded Field’s preparation for what was intended to be his ‘live’ debut, an appearance at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, running concurrently to the Aussie Millions at its Bahamas venue. However, PokerStars announced soon
after that Field, already banned from play at that site, would have that ban extended at least through the PCA.

Field promptly switched his plans and flew to the Aussie Millions instead, where he was corralled for a video interview by PokerNews’ own Amanda Leatherman. In the interview, Field talks a bit about his multi-accounting past, his reaction to being banned from the PCA, and his initial impressions of live tournament play. Field was bounced from Event #5 at the Aussie Millions, a $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em (w/ rebuys), not far outside the money bubble. Here’s the easy link to the PokerNews exclusive video with Field:

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Plenty of Australian poker stars were in the field, including ‘Aussie’ Sarah Bilney, Lee ‘Final Table’ Nelson, Billy ‘The Croc’ Argyros, and Graeme ‘Kiwi G’ Putt, who made the final table of Event #3, the mixed Stud tournament. Grant Levy, the winner of the APPT Grand Final Event in Sydney, made his first appearance of the 2008 Aussie Millions, as did PokerNews’ own Tony ‘G’ Guoga.

The rebuy period was typically fast and wild with Fricke taking advantage of the loose action with an early double-up. Anna Wroblewski needed all the rebuys she could find when she ran into several rough hands early. “I’ve lost with A-Q four times, and A-K twice!” exclaimed Anna. By the end of the rebuy period, the prize pool for the $1,000 buy-in tournament had swelled to $526,000, with a first-place prize of $168,320.

After the rebuy period ended, play returned to a more normal pace, and players began heading to the rail in fairly short order. Among the early eliminations were Kenna James, Nelson, Gary Benson and Karib Karib. 52 players remained at the dinner break, with Brandon Schaefer, Bilney and Sol Bergren busting soon after dinner.

Field’s exit came in the early evening, just short of the money bubble. Wroblewski raised from early position and found callers in Michael Russell and David Steicke. Field re-raised, and Wroblewski and Russell got out of the way as Steicke called for the rest of his chips with . Field tabled , and lost the race when the board came down .

APPT Macau High Rollers tournament winner Eric Assadourian was the bubble boy when he got his last few chips in with against Emmanuel Seal’s pocket fours. Assadourian became an extreme short stack in the tournament after running into Michael Russell’s pocket aces, and went to the rail when Seal’s fours held up to burst the bubble, leaving the final 18 players in the money. 14 of those players made it to the end of day, including Wroblewski and Kevin Saul, but the chip lead belonged to Tony Dunst when the action concluded. Dunst picked up a big pot on the last hand of the day to send Daniel Zink to the rail and take the chip lead. The final chip counts looked like this as players bagged up their stacks for the night, with these 14 players fighting for the winner’s share of the purse when action resumes on Wednesday:

Tony Dunst – 138,200
Dane Lomas – 110,700
Kevin Saul – 83,300
Julian Powell – 75,000
David Bach – 63,800
Emmanuel Seal – 48,700
Robert Wang – 48,200
David Steicke – 47,300
Michael Pedley – 44,200
Anna Wroblewski – 39,700
Erich Kollmann – 30,600
Larry Karambis – 27,200
Rayan Nathan – 17,500
Christine Klecz – 13,100

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