What does it really look like to live as a professional high-stakes gambler at the very top of the casino food chain?

In this episode, Johnny sits down with RJ “Chip” Ryan — a legendary blackjack whale who spent decades betting millions per hand in casinos from Atlantic City to Las Vegas to Macau. RJ tells the raw, unfiltered story of how he went from a broke gambler driving to Atlantic City with his last $5,000, to carrying $10 million in checks, flying private jets, rubbing shoulders with billionaires and celebrities, and taking casinos for millions of dollars at a time.

RJ is also known to many as “Robin Hood of Las Vegas” from the Cocaine Cowboys universe — the man who helped launder cartel money through casinos, later cooperating with the feds and offering a very different version of events than what’s been told on screen.

This episode dives deep into:

-The real math and psychology behind winning at high-stakes blackjack

-How casinos court, reward, and ultimately try to break whales

-Blowing millions in a single night — and coming back the next day to win it all back

-Private jets, penthouse suites, celebrity parties, and casino politics

The emotional toll of gambling, addiction, loyalty, karma, and survival

-RJ’s personal reckoning after caring for his mother, losing everything, and betting his life on one final run

This is not a glamorized gambling story — it’s a brutally honest look at the highs, lows, wins, losses, and moral gray zones of a life lived on the edge.

Stick around until the end and decide for yourself:

Was RJ a genius, a degenerate, a hustler — or all three?

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00:00 Intro: High Stakes Gambling Stories

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