Two masked men showed up at a poker game in a South Arlington apartment complex a week or so ago … they knocked on the door, one player got up to answer, and upon realizing that the game was about to be robbed, he struggled to shut the door. Commotion ensued as it became an inverse tug-of-war to see whether the robbers would be getting in or the poker players would be able to keep them out. After a few seconds of scuffle, shots rang out — eight, maybe 10 — at which point players and the dealer fled in the other direction, out a back door, jumping off the balcony. (Not sure if it was from the second or third floor — but three of them suffered minor injuries as a result.)
The player who originally got up from the table to answer the knock (\”John\” is all I know of his name right now) got hit by at least three bullets … one in the shoulder, one in the leg, and one somewhere else … and he died last night from blood-related complications to his wounds.
To be clear, this was not your typical Dallas underground game — you know, the strip-mall and warehouse sort run by good and sometimes not-so-good people trying to provide a valuable albeit legally questionable service and good-clean-safe place to play. This was more like the under-underground, where almost no one went by their real name nor had a regular job … OK, not the place for blogger jokes … but the livelihoods and nicknames start to matter when what might look like any other poker game turns into the scene of a homicide …
It was an apartment game where some of the regulars were apparently of an extremely thuggish ilk — not the kind of place that sends out subscription emails or emissaries to Oklahoma searching for players and runs satellites to the WSOP. A few of the guys here may have stepped foot into the Dallas scene at times — but for the most part, they weren\’t welcome in the more legitimate games around town, despite their intense desire to gamble-gamble-gamble with fatter-than-usual bankrolls.
So the apartment in Arlington became their home game — and reportedly it was more than just poker. No one set up a full casino or anything, but supposedly itwasn\’t uncommon to see a player bust out some dice on the felt and roll for money between hands. The biggest sums wagered, however, were on XBox action, sources say.
At the time of the robbery they were playing an 8-handed game of 1-2 NLH … a big 1-2, with at least a few thousand-dollar stacks in play.
(Note to any non-poker media who might be reading this: Please know that 1-2 is not a \”high stakes\” game. It is low-stakes, believe it or not, even when there are thousands of dollars on the table. Give me a call and I\’d be happy to explain to you in further detail.)
More TK on this, for sure. Naturally, speculation and rumors will abound — these sorts of things don\’t happen in a vacuum, and there are already hints that the assailants may indeed be connected to the Dallas Poker Bandits who robbed The Office five months ago …
Related:
Guns and Poker Pose Difficult Decisions for Players [Apr 13, 2008]
Dallas Poker Bandits Strike Again [Apr 11, 2008]
Poker Robberies [tag]