KAP Thanks
Bryan for his personal recount of a recent
home poker game robbery!
Ok, so Saturday night was my first time
ever being robbed
at a poker game. Here's how it went down...
I will however try to set up the story as
best I can.
A couple weeks ago I went back to Alabama
to visit my parents and some friends I haven't
seen in a couple years. Now when I last
was here, most of my friends were poker
degenerates. Playing 4-5 days/week, so when
I came back I figured maybe they had slowed
down a bit, but to no avail. The night I
got back we played and had fun as we used
to.
 To
give you an idea of our games... they usually
include about 5-10 guys that all know each
other and maybe a couple outside people
that are friends of some of us and typically
the game starts on any given night around
3am since most of these guys are bartenders
at local bars.
The games usually are no more than $50
tournament buy ins, but recently after being
gone for a year, there seems to have been
a large growth of high stakes home cash
games in the area. We played for cash occasionally
in home games, but it usually was between
friends and was not for this type of money.
We also usually drove around 3 hours to
Tunica, MS if we really wanted to play 1-2
no limit or 2-5 no limit, but with the recent
growth of higher stakes cash home games
my friends really didn't see the need to
drive all that way. I however did as I'll
explain in a minute...
So about the second or third night I was
here my friends the bartenders who I've
known for years told me there was this cash
game that they've been playing in recently
and that we should all go after they got
done with work. So we did and man was this
the loosest game I've ever been at. Also
a very nice setup. TV's on the walls, free
food and drink, full casino poker table
(rake included ) . So anyways, to give you
an idea of the group there was me (pussy
ass pretty boy), my 3 friends (typical big
bartender types), a few gang bangers, the
white boy who thinks he's black and a few
other low lifes or mopes as they were called
in Rounders. All in all a pretty nice group
as long as you don't piss off the wrong
person. A few of the players are also known
to carry guns.
Back to the loose action though. So we're
playing 2-5 no limit and I started with
like $200 which isn't much and one of my
other friends started with $500. Within
the first 15 minutes we were there we were
both up almost $500 and by the next half
hour my buddy was up almost $1200. I remember
looking over at him and saying, "are
we really playing for real money here"?
Now these guys weren't taking bad beats
off us, but the gang bangers just kept raising
and wouldn't lay shit down for anything.
They'd raise $50 in fairly early position
with rags and then me and my buddy happened
to catch Kings and Aces and no matter how
much we raised they would always re-raise,
so needless to say we kept putting the pressure
on them and ended up doubling up a few times.
By the end of the night we probably won
a couple thousand between the four of us
who went. So it was a good night.
Within the next week I was playing at atleast
3 other games around town with the same
setup. Usually a full table of players and
roughly $5,000-$10,000 in play at any given
time not including pocket money. Now even
though I've only been back in town for a
couple weeks I was getting pretty known
around town at the cash games as a pretty
strong player that plays pretty conservatively.
No huge wins under the belt, but just strong
consistent play.
On Monday of this last week we played at
a new house I hadn't been to yet and was
apparently run by some old timers. Guys
around 50 or 60 that have probably been
playing poker for quite a few years. Everyone
was sitting down with around $1000 atleast
at the table and the talk between most of
them was that fact that quite a few home
cash games had been getting robbed lately.
They actually seemed quite concerned which
I thought was odd. These guys were old enough
to have been playing back when Doyle was
first playing, so them showing nerves like
that kind of concerned me. They were very
worried whenever someone rang the doorbell
or knocked on the door. Luckily nothing
happened, but all this week the talk around
the poker games was the fact that a big
number of games were being hit recently
and to just be careful. This obviously made
me worry and so I decided that it just wasn't
worth the risk anymore and that I wasn't
gonna play in the cash games anymore unless
I went to a casino.
So, now it's Saturday night and I'm at
the bar having fun, my friends are working
(bartending) and I'm trying to work the
ladies which for some reason isn't working.
Oh well. So, my buddy Glenn asks me if I'm
going to play tonight at this one house
where the game is usually at when they're
done and I say probably not since I only
brought around $100 out and spent that at
the bar. He then says... "don't worry
about it, I'll cover ya till tomorrow."
I think about it and can faintly remember
saying I wasn't gonna play in cash games
anymore cause I was too afraid of getting
robbed. Well that thought must have been
lost in the 6 Red Bull and vodkas I had
and so I agreed to play, but I didn't want
to wait until 3am when they were done cleaning
the bar to play so I said I'd go over there
now and just start playing. Glenn gave me
$250 to get started till he got there and
so I left.
Now let me explain that not only did I
not want to play anymore cause I was worried
about getting robbed, but I had numerous
opportunities to not go even after I started
driving there. On the way to get my car
I remember saying I should just go home
and then I can wake up early tomorrow and
go golfing. I also remember driving to the
game and thinking I was hungry and maybe
I should just stop at Taco Bell and go home.
And last but not least as I parked at the
game I remember actually saying a prayer
before I went in to not help me win or lose,
but to just keep me safe.
 I
then got out of my car and walked past these
businesses as the game is on the second
floor of a duplex behind a strip mall. As
I walked towards the stairs you have to
pass a little alley way to go to the back
to where the stairs are. As I walked past
that alley way this guy Mike who tends to
lose alot was leaving and I said "what's
up" and he didn't even respond. I guess
he was pissed like normal that he lost.
I then started up the stairs and as I got
about half way up I could hear something
behind me. I looked and saw some shadows
in that alley way. I then got ready to knock
on the door when all of a sudden two guys
in all black and ski masks come
around the corner and say "freeze mother
fucker". They start up the
stairs and as they get to the top put a
gun right to my head and say "knock
on the door as you normally would".
See the guys know about these robberies
and would never open the door unless they
recognized the person on the other side.
I then heard the guy inside say "don't
worry it's just Bryan". Little did
they know our fate stood right next to me
holding guns. They opened the door and then
the robbers pushed me in and screamed at
everyone to get up against the wall.
They took everything! Wallets, cellphones,
money, watches. Everything! One robber told
one of the guys there to take the money
out of his pocket and then as he started
to reach into his pocket the other robber
freaked and cocked the gun back and hell
I thought it was over for all of us. We're
all up against the wall with these fucks
emptying our pockets, the dealer who is
a girl crying her eyes out next to me and
nothing anyone there can do.
It was all over within about 2 minutes,
but all in all they got around $15,000 in
cash and other items.
After freaking out for about 30 minutes
and everyone trying to figure out who it
could have been we all decided even though
it was an illegal cash game that we should
still call the police. We did and investigators
came out and took statements from everyone.
They even dusted for finger prints. The
lead investigator even thinks he might know
who it was since there has been a string
of them as of late.
Now I was actually one of the lucky ones
as far as money since I only had around
$250 on me and others had as much as $3000
on them, but I did lose my wallet, credit/debit
cards, neteller and more which will be a
pain in the ass to take care of, but as
I look back at everything that happened
that night and all the outs I had to not
play and even the little prayer I said just
prior to going in to just please protect
me... I have to say that atleast no one
did get killed or hurt and who knows who
these fucks were, but I guess in a wierd
way my prayer was answered. Cause what would
have happened to me if they wouldn't have
opened the door even though in a way I was
hoping they wouldn't open it or what if
someone was in the bathroom as the robbery
was happening and then came out and spooked
them or what if one the gang bangers there
who actually did have a gun on him at the
time would have pulled it. It all could
have turned out alot worse.
Sorry to make this so long, but I felt
I needed to get this off my chest and to
at least worn others about the negatives
that go along with playing in this type
of a unlicensed, unsecured game. As much
as I'm against the fact that state, local
and federal goverments try to ban certain
types of gambling. I also realize that in
some cases there are reasons behind it.
Although I believe the reason most goverments
do ban poker or cash games is because they're
not getting a piece of it, I do believe
there is a security issue and I can definitely
tell you that the only place you'll be seeing
me play poker is in a casino or online for
now on.
I just don't think I could go through that
again and I hope none of you ever have to
either.
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