Walter Pearson

Introduction

Walter Clyde “Puggy” Pearson is an American professional poker player who tweaked his poker skills in the Navy, which he joined at age 16. During his Navy career, he learned how to palm dice and calculate pot odds, and by the time he got discharged in the early 1950s, he had scooped up more than $20000 in winnings. Pearson was also a legend on the golf course and could putt and chip just as well as PGA Tour members and won $300 000 on a game of golf. Doyle Bronson said that if he ever had to pick anyone in the world to make a putt with his life on the line, it would be his best friend, Pearson.

Puggy Pearson’s Poker Career

After his career in the Navy, he moved to Nashville, where he spent a decade operating a small three-table pool hall called Pugs. Pearson then moved to Las Vegas in the mid-1960s, where he made the city’s card rooms his office alongside Moss and Roberts.

Pearson had an ultra-aggressive playing style and saw himself as the “boss”. Any poker player that wanted to win had to go through him; that was his attitude. He won four WSOP bracelets but none after 1973 and never missed a WSOP Main Event until his death, age 77, in April 2006.

Pearson was known for his marathon card sessions that would go on for 24 hours at a time, and there would always be a giant stogie clenched between his lips. When he passed away, dozens of newspapers published a photo of the RV with the mantra painted on the side “I’ll play any man from any land, in any game he can name, for any amount I can count, provided I like it”

Walter Pearson was a colourful character and lived life to the fullest, and he is still remembered as one of the toughest players and prop bettors ever to have lived.

5 most popular casino lucky charms

No matter how many techniques you learn and the experience you gain, gambling also is about luck. Sometimes even a pro doesn’t win the game, and sometimes a noob takes all the credits. This proves that luck is also the prominent factor that can make you a king in just one second or can take your everything.

To keep luck on their side, some players bring their lucky charms. According to them, keeping these lucky charms by their side helps them crack more cards at the table and help them win.

Here are the 5 most popular lucky charms that players often carry to casinos.

Four-leaf Clover

This is one of the well-known lucky charms that are also the most used. This leaf clover is related to Irish tradition and is used worldwide.

The leaf represents God’s grace; several casinos also offer games that are themed on the cloverleaf. Finding the four-leaf clover is considered extremely lucky if a person comes across it.

Horseshoe

Horseshoe is considered significantly lucky as per the folktales. This sign is related to luck and fortune in the common world as well, other than the casino world. That is why carrying a horseshoe charm is what many players do while trying their luck in gambling.

No evil power interferes in a place where the horseshoe is nailed. People believe that keeping it upside in a U position tends to collect all the luck inside it and provide the person with positive results.

Laughing Buddha

This is not a new thing to know; Laughing Buddha is related to Fengshui, and it is a significant charm in China. It represents a Chinese monk who brings wealth and prosperity if it is placed rightly in a home or any space. People also carry this Laughing Buddha that carries a pot of gold or gold nuggets in his hands.

Hamsa Hand

Hamsa Hand is another charm that is popular in Middle Eastern and Western culture. It is an open palm with an eye in the middle. The eye is believed to give such effects that neutralize the evil power and protect the keeper.

In Islam, the five fingers in Hamsa represent belief, worship, fasting, almsgiving, pilgrimage.

Nazar Boncuğu Amulet

The charm is typically made of dark blue, light blue, white, and black-colored glass. It is made in a circle shape which gives the illusion of a teardrop. This tear-like charm works to ward off any evil eye, people’s jealousy, ill-intentions, and such negativities. Carrying it during casino games keeps any bad luck and negative energy away from the person.

Kerry Packer

Introducing the Media Tycoon and Gambler

Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer, an Australian media tycoon, born was born on 17 December 1937 in Sydney. He became one of the world’s greatest gamblers, and his legacy was gambling away up to $200 million during his gambling career. He was well-known for his generosity and humbleness because, unlike many high rollers, he did not expect casino bosses to be at his beck and call. Furthermore, his requests were minimal, which were nice rooms for himself and his entourage and an empty table.

Packers Gambling career

Packer not only gambled in casinos but with his marriage. He had several extramarital affairs, including one with Carol Lopes, who reportedly committed suicide after being shunned by him.

Packer was known as a Whale as he gambled for stakes that kick-started the adrenal glands of even the most jaded casino executives. Gambling was Packer’s passion, and he wagered very high stakes. Terry Packer once lost 28.2 million in Blackjack losses to a London Casino, the most significant reported gambling loss in British History. He also had some huge wins like the $33 million he won at the MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas and often won as much as $7 million a year during his annual holidays in the UK.

His Generosity

Amidst his losses and wins, Terry Packer was known for his generosity and would often give his entourage $100 000 bankrolls before turning free-spending night on the casino employees doling out six-figure gratuities. On another occasion, he paid off a waitress’s mortgage highlighting his generosity amidst his sometimes volcanic temper and perennial contempt for journalists.

Terry Packer passed away on the 26 December 2005 from kidney failure nine days after his 68th birthday. His memorial was attended by big names like Russell Crowe, Prime Minister John Howard, Richie Benaud, Tom Cruise, and the Australian Cricket Team. Terry Packer lived a short life, but he certainly made it count.

Common Casino Myths

Like there are myths and misconceptions in every aspect of the world, any casino is not an exception. There are various myths that players still blindly believe. There are many rumors going around casinos and their functioning. Being a player, you should not pay attention to these rumors and play with the facts instead.

However, knowing these myths is always interesting. The same we are here to uncover here-

Casinos Pump in Oxygen to Keep You Awake

Air conditioning is a must in places like casinos to give the customers fresh air. However, there is a myth that says about pumping oxygen in the casinos. This is performed to keep the customers alert so they would keep gambling and spend their money.

However, the fact is, casinos don’t pump oxygen! Oxygen is expensive, and no casino would add up to their expenses by pumping loads of oxygen; otherwise, these casinos would also have to manage an oxygen factory.

Online Casinos Will Not Pay Out

This is another misconception that has been around for years now. Actually, scamming lies in every field of life, but we all take care not to be scammed. Similarly, there are scamsters in the online world that create fake casino sites, and if you play at these sites, surely you won’t get anything.

However, there are genuine sites as well that pay their customers just like traditional casinos do.

The Casinos Won’t Let You Win Too Much

Many people believe that if you are wining in a game continuously, the game automatically frees, so it can stop you from winning. This is again wrong! It only happens if a machine starts malfunctioning, and it would be a loss for the casino eventually. So this is another myth going around.

Online Casinos are Illegal

Who said that? Well, it is certainly not true unless the site is part of any scam, as we have already mentioned above. If a site is genuine, it can’t be illegal because a site can only run casinos online when it has needed certifications and permissions.

This is the player’s responsibility to always look for genuine casino websites. For this, you should check their gaming certifications and if they comply with legal regulations. You should go through their reviews and know what the other players are saying about that website.

There Are Hot and Cold Slots

This is another term that many players use! These players say that while choosing a slot machine, one should stay away from cold or hot machines. These machines have run enough and given enough payout that they won’t generate any more money.

This is hence another myth that you should ignore! There are no such machines, and every machine tends to operate as any regular slot machine.

Harry Kakavas

Harry Kakavas was born in Melbourne in the 1970s and moved to the Gold Coast in 2001.

He lost over $1.5 billion at the Baccarat tables at Melbourne’s Crown Casino, making him one of the biggest losers in gambling history.

During the Early Years

Having grown up in Melbourne, Australia, Kakavas worked as an estate agent for Colliers Jardine. A gambling addiction began in 1993 when he began betting at sportsbooks. He mortgaged his parents’ house and borrowed money from his friends to fuel his gambling addiction. He served four months in jail for committing a $286,000 fraud for gambling funds in 1998.

In 2001, he moved to the Gold Coast, where he became a top estate agent.

Gambling addiction

The more properties he sold and the more money he made, the more he gambled. In Melbourne’s Crown Casino, he spent a great deal of time, and this is where he lost his $1.5billion betting $300 000 a hand on Baccarat. Although he occasionally won, he always had to put it back and finally began borrowing from friends, families, lawyers, and banks to fund his habit.

As a smooth talker, he convinced his friends that they were investing in his property deals. They had no idea that they were feeding his gambling habit.

Crown Casino

Despite being banned previously by Crown Casino, he threatened to sue them if they failed to lift the ban. They permitted him to play again a year later and made him feel like a billionaire by flying him to the Philippines in a private jet and presenting him with $50,000 as “lucky money.”

After losing all his money, Kakavas tried to sue Crown Casino for $35million, claiming they misled him and exploited his addiction.

He lost his case at the Victoria Supreme Court, which ruled that Australian courts would not give gamblers their money back.

The Kakvas team is back on the Gold Coast, selling houses on Hedges Avenue once more.