We gamblers and advantage players. We\u2019re complicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019re smart, obsessive, and we make great stories. The greatest of all was Kerry Packer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I know it\u2019s ironic: A coupon scuffler let\u2019s-get-it-for-free guy like me is fascinated by the biggest whale of all time. Sure, it\u2019s goofy, but the question remains, what can we learn from them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Packer\u2019s father died in 1974, Kerry inherited a $100 million Australian media and casino empire. He was apparently dyslexic, a poor student in some ways and clearly brilliant in others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
He was the biggest player that Vegas, London, and other casino jurisdictions ever saw. He could win or lose tens of millions in a single trip and he did. Often. He had $20 million credit lines all over the world. Some reports claim he was a card counter, but everyone agrees he understood variance and was willing to work through it. And tipping? A George like no other. If you\u2019re a George with billions, you\u2019re still a George. But if you are an asshole with money, you\u2019re still an asshole. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s a partial list of Packer\u2019s gaming accomplishments and busts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In one run down the Strip, he won $20 million from 4 joints, then $13 million more at another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hi first eight-figure loss in one sitting was also the biggest loss in UK history; it took place at Crockfords, which came out ahead 11 million pounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aspinall Casino in the UK didn\u2019t fare as well; Packer bankrupted it in May 1990. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He once lost $33.3 million at Bellagio. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On March 31, 1992, he was up $9 million at Caesars Palace, which had to report a 50% drop in quarterly profits. He lost it back the next day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After winning $26.2 million at MGM and tipping the dealer pool $250,000, key casino executive Larry Woolf was dispatched to inform Packer he was banned. Then MGM fired Woolf, too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then there was the time that a Texan at a high-stakes poker tournament at Stratosphere was making too much noise. Kerry asked him to tone it down and the Texan blurted out,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWho are you?! I\u2019m worth a hundred million dollars! What do you think a that?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kerry responded, \u201cI\u2019ll flip you for it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And these are the best. In two interactions with waitresses, he paid off their mortgages for $130,00 and $150,000. He also had multiple health problems and after being rushed to the hospital for heart problems in time, he tipped all three drivers $1 million. Each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kerry was a George and we loved him for all he did. When he died, he was worth $6.5 billion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Notoriously media shy, Packer didn’t like journalists. I hope he would have liked my reporting of him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We gamblers and advantage players. We\u2019re complicated. We\u2019re smart, obsessive, and we make great stories. The greatest of all was Kerry Packer. I know it\u2019s ironic: A coupon scuffler let\u2019s-get-it-for-free guy like me is fascinated by the biggest whale of all time. Sure, it\u2019s goofy, but the question remains, what can we learn from them? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86405,"featured_media":841192,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1083],"tags":[1455,1456],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/a-whale-of-a-story.jpg?fit=868%2C659&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841191"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=841191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/841192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=841191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=841191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=841191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}