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Akio Kashiwagi – The Mysterious High Roller From Tokyo

Going back to 1992, we can find the strange tale of Akio Kashiwagi. He was a mysterious Japanese businessman who would descend on the casino baccarat tables of Atlantic City and Las Vegas, and proceed to take them to the cleaners. He did this by simply getting big at the baccarat games. Because baccarat has such a low house edge, by betting over $100,000 per hand, he was bound to strike it lucky. But all good things come to an end. In this case, on the end of a murderer's samurai sword!

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The Mysterious Life And Death Of A High Roller Baccarat Player

One of the greatest legends in the world of casino baccarat was Akio Kashiwagi (柏木昭男). In fact, he is still a modern icon of gambling in general. Born in Tokyo in 1938, his past has always remained a great mystery. He called himself a Tokyo-based real estate investor and was a famous high roller known for the huge sums of money that he wagered in all the casinos to win the jackpot in Atlantic City and Las Vegas casinos.

The Samurai Of The Baccarat Tables

To add to the legend, Akio Kashiwagi liked to refer to himself as “the warrior.” Claiming to be incredibly wealthy, he owned a home and an office in the suburbs of Japan’s capital city. From there he ran the Kashiwagi Shoji company. Apparently, this was both a real estate company and an investment vehicle. Thanks to its success, he was able to claim an income of literally hundreds of million dollars annually. Kashiwagi also claimed to have over a billion dollars in assets. What’s interesting is that his finances were so secretive. So much so, that when Las Vegas Casino officials performed a credit review, they declared his profession only as “business.” Everyone suspected a Yakuza link. More especially because Akio Kashiwagi was incredibly camera-shy and took great pains not to appear in any photos.

Wagering Huge Sums Per Hand

Billing himself as the “Samurai” of the baccarat tables he loved to play like a casino whale with large sums for each hand. It was not uncommon to find him spending between $100,000 and $200,000 up to 70x per hour. Famously he would sit at the casino baccarat tables for hours on end. And would often go many days without sleep. In many ways, he was just a typical Japanese gambler, without any real jackpot winning strategies, but with access to greater funds. In 1990 he got into a wrangle with the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City. Previously he had won over $4 million and Trump was determined to get the money back. So he invited Akio Kashiwagi to come to Atlantic City, where he would roll out red carpet for him.

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Donald Trump Vs Akio Kashiwagi

The deal with Donald Trump promised him a $12 million win or lose situation. Over the course of a number of days, his fortune ebbed and flowed. In the end, Trump tore up the deal before Kaashiwagi reached $12 million. He was becoming fearful that the man for Tokyo might take him to the cleaners. So the Japanese businessman rage-quit, leaving the casino with just $2 million, having lost $10 million.

Trump was at first relieved with the outcome as he was himself in serious financial jeopardy. But it turned out that Akio Kashiwagi cancelled the cheque, leaving Trump seriously out of pocket.

The Brutal Death Of Kashiwagi

On January the 3rd 1992, the same day as his birthday, Akio Kashiwagi was to meet a grisly death. Some say that his end was with a samurai sword and there were over 150 stab wounds. His corpse was laying in a huge pool of blood at his palatial house in Japan near Mount Fuji. Due to his paranoia, his house was always securely under lock and key. Yet on the day of the murder, there were no signs of someone forcing their way in. Politico Magazine later wrote a story about how Trump was still owed $4 million from an unrecovered gambling debt. In fact, after his death, it was revealed that Kashiwagi owed over $9 million to casinos in both Las Vegas and Atlantic City. His murder remains unsolved.

Akio Kashiwagi In The Movie Casino

In Martin Scorsese’s1995 film “Casino” Akio Kashiwagi we can see him as the actor Nobu Matsuhisa, though with a different fictitious name. In fact, the character inspired by the baccarat legend was “Ichikawa.” Today, virtually all baccarat players, even those playing at the best online casinos with jackpots like 22Bet Casino, have heard of Kashiwagi and his famous baccarat gameplay and wagering. Also the famous story of when he pitted his personality and wits against the owner of the Trump Plaza Hotel. None other than Donald Trump himself.