Sometimes risky bets pay off in a big way. The theory was tested by one small Denver-based petroleum producer, and proved to be true.

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Bill Armstrong, the CEO of Armstrong Oil & Gas, told FOX Business he risked a big chunk of his own money on a hunch that he spotted a large pool of oil in Alaska.

“The North Slope of Alaska has been kind of left behind, everybody believed that all the big fields had been found,” he told Stuart Varney on “Varney & Co.” on Friday. “And so my band of brothers and I kind of tore everything apart … and we went up there and said I think they left something behind that may be really, really big.”

After teaming with Spain-based Repsol, he built an ice road to get his equipment across the tundra, began to drill and found what used to be called a “gusher,” an oil well that releases a column of oil into the sky.

“We drilled into it and we saw what we were hoping to find,” he said.

And that was a well three times thicker than what they originally thought.

“We knew right away it was a big deal,” he added.