"Texas Hold'em Up"
Posted by Josh Hoptay on November 25, 2004

Reading through the Austin American-Statesman this morning (yeah, I'm a nerd get over it) I found this from two weeks ago (Sunday, Nov. 14th):

The poker players had resumed their game at the East Austin apartment complex when four masked men walked in.

[...]

After pistol-whipping some players and ordering the men and women to give up their wallets and strip, the robbers ransacked a room in the clubhouse, said Reynolds, who was not injured but lost $60 to the robbers. At the last minute, the game's organizer had reduced the amount players had to bring from $100 per 150 tournament chips to $25 for the same number of chips to attract more players. Twenty to 25 people attended.

The robbers stole the $1,000 prize money and about $1,000 more from the victims, Rodriguez said.

(Read the full article here)


I had been told that something like this had happened, but I had never been able to confirm it. In all honesty though, I'm not suprised that something like this would happen. In fact, I am surprised that this is the first time. To so many people, poker games have this image that they all have piles of cash lying around, an image not helped by TV tournaments where an incredible amount of cash is dumped on the table. Unfortuantly, as these guys found out, and as many of us know, most of the home games played have pots hardly worth the effort. Think about, two grand split four ways isn't that much money. Committing that kind of crime for that small of an ammount is like playing strip solitaire, it just doesn't make sense. If you are going to risk that much, there are so many better options/targets.

Anyways ... note to self: If running a poker tournament, make sure to have some security.

Hopefully this was the last time this type of thing happens, but I doubt it.