It won’t be the first time that pros winning big money have taken it straight to the casino gaming tables, but for Ben Lamb, Jonathan Depa and reigning WSOP Main Event champion John Cynn it might be unique that the chips in play were part of the winning prize!
On the way to @EnjoyPDE in Uruguay after his SHR win in Rio @JonathanDepa is with @BenbaLamb and @john_cynn trying to turn a profit on $500,000 in casino chip added value. They turned a $200,000 profit. Living the life! see also https://t.co/UeJWXFY6P0 pic.twitter.com/WSlbRZeJYx
— partypokerLIVE (@partypokerlive) 26 March 2019
The trio hit the big time in Rio de Janeiro a few days back, Depa winning the Enjoy Punta del Este $25k Super High Roller – part of the partypoker LIVE South America series.
Ben Lamb shares the story on Twitter
With Cynn finishing 4th, and Lamb busting just out of the money, all that was left was the small matter of what to do with the $500k casino chips bonus – a three-way deal forcing the men to come up with a solution…
…to the prize pool in way of casino promo chips to the top 5. Not wanting to go alone if I won the promo chips I swapped (only on the promo chips) with @JonathanDepa, who won the tournament, and @john_cynn who got 4th. So we split a jet from Rio to Uruguay and now are at…
— Ben Lamb (@BenbaLamb) 25 March 2019
Hop on a jet to Uruguay and gamble the $½million– why not! And that’s one hell of a lot of chips in play on the right, Cynn watching on hopefully in the background.
Round 1 pic.twitter.com/eYUYN4tvZm
— Ben Lamb (@BenbaLamb) March 26, 2019
Quite how much the poker pros know about other casino games is unclear – but Punto Banco was the game of choice to start with…
Update. Depa just took two free hands. He’s obviously a vet. pic.twitter.com/6hob8Xo5s1
— Ben Lamb (@BenbaLamb) March 26, 2019
…a penthouse suite apiece in the luxury Punta del Este resort on the southern tip of Uruguay’s coastline as they attempted to run their bonus up – and they did! A $200k profit from their big money casino freeroll.
Of course, not all winning poker players have had their gambling funded by a sweet casino-only bonus, the history of the game littered with degenerate tales of wasted $millions.
Craps tables, roulette, baccarat, racetracks, sportsbetting – there are many ways for the unwary, reckless or downright addicted to spew their hard-earned poker winnings…
Nguyen wins and loses the lot
Though he would become one of the most famous pros in the world, Scotty Nguyen’s first WSOP victory payday didn’t even make it out of the casino.
The short and sad tale of his $150,000 win in his own words: “By the time I made it to the front door I was busted. I lost everything at the craps table. I had to borrow $5 to pay the valet guy,” and it wouldn’t be the last time either.
Archie Karas – from boom to bust
A remarkable run playing firstly high-stakes pool, then poker – including $multi-million wins against Stuey Ungar and Chip Reese – saw Archie Karas sitting with $40million as 1995 came around.
A life of easy-living beckoned, but unfortunately so did the casino’s dice – half that fortune blown away in double-quick time.
Then came the baccarat tables, another $17million spewed away chasing his losses.
Soon down to his last $1milllion, he doubled up again at poker but…the dice had Karas’ name and fate written on them, the remaining $2million gone for the man who once claimed “Money means nothing to me!”
We’ll finish with the ‘all-American’ story of Erick Lindgren – once the great hope of modern poker…
Erick ‘E-dog’ Lindgren loses the lot
Two WSOP bracelets, another two from the WPT, a Full Tilt Poker sponsorship deal and more than $10million in tournament winnings.
Every poker players dream…but one that would become a nightmare for Lindgren.
It wasn’t the craps tables, or roulettes wheels of Vegas that would cause him to fall into disgrace and multiple bankruptcy courts, however, but an addiction to sportsbetting.
“I was betting very big, $50k to $100k per game,” Lindgren publicly stated after he was outed by poker pro and sportsbetting legend Haralabos Voulgaris – and it quickly transpired that debts totaling several $million were owed by Lindgren across the board.
A spectacular fall from grace for Lindgren followed and a painful lesson every poker player should learn from. Unless your money is from a casino and for a casino – as with Lamb, Cynn and Depa this week – then do as Chris Moneymaker did with his $2.5million WSOP win back in 2003, and sit on it for 6 months!
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