OK, maybe I’m stretching his definition a bit, but still … gotta like the message Factor viewers are getting when Bill O gives a big American thumbs-up to Eva Longoria for hosting her big charity poker tournament in San Antonio this evening:

This tournament, btw, part of the Second Annual Tony and Eva Parker Celebrity Casino Night, is now, I’m almost certain, the biggest charity event in Texas — one of a few, if not the only one, that raises hundreds of thousands of dollars at a pop.

Awesome, and good for the beneficiary, Eva’s Heroes.

The guy instrumental in making this event happen, btw: Phil Hellmuth

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The story behind an underground game in Houston that broke with a flurry of bullets last week — resulting in one fatality and two others wounded — is starting to emerge. Filtering through braggadocio, legal ambiguities, and the inherent fuzziness of thirdhand sources, here’s what we definitely know, what we are hearing, and then some speculation about an “inside job”. And what this robbery may or may not have to do with similar ones in Houston, Dallas, Arlington, and San Antonio.

Included is a semi-thorough timeline tracking the progression of violent poker robberies across Texas over the past 2+ years. The casualty tally so far: 2 dead, 4 wounded by non-fatal gunfire, at least 1 pistol-whipping, >150 players in the middle of it all (surrendering anywhere from a few hundred to more than $10,000 at a time). 3 arrested so far.

The game currently being talked about was known as Club 203, located in a southwest Houston semi-industrial warehouse complex, nestled in a nook about a quarter-mile from the intersection of a highway and major thoroughfare.

The dead robber’s name is Barron Glenn Boutte. (Anyone recognize the name?) He was a 24-year-old black male. The official cause of death is homicide/multiple gun shot wounds. It’s not clear where Barron was from, though one mention of him on the internet does suggest Houston.

From the Houston Police Department:

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In what really sounds like an inside job, three armed gunmen (two with masks) broke into a San Antonio home game a few days ago and robbed 15 low-stakes players (1/3 NLH) at gunpoint … but when they attempted to flee the scene, the SAPD was outside waiting to arrest them. Nice! I mean bad initially — the host’s wife, two young children and a baby were also in the house — but in the end all good with no shots fired and no need to call in the SWAT team.

(Note to non-poker media: do the math; $100-$200 per person isn’t “high stakes”.)

A firsthand account of the robbery/bust here. I’ll stay off my political soapbox for just a bit and say only wouldn’t it be nice if you could play poker in Texas at a place that can hire off-duty police officers for security? (Note to non-poker media: There’s a bill in the Legislature right now addressing this issue, fyi — HB 222 — that you may want to tie in to future stories of this ilk.)

From Vinnie the PastaTeke:

He kept repeating, “Don’t move; I’ll kill you, I don’t know you”. Maybe it’s just human nature, or maybe I watch too many movies but I couldn’t help but play over and over in my head the different things that could be done to overtake the guy with shotgun. Of course, I knew that this wasn’t smart because these guys were only there for the money and, besides, there were kids in the room. If someone tried to do something and it went wrong, one of the kids could have been hurt.

My first thought when I started reading (and before I knew the cops got’em) was wondering if these were indeed the Dallas Poker Bandits, perhaps just relocating their business because there was too much heat (and a homicide victim) in the DFW area. But the robbery sounds a little too amateur for Dallas’ now seasoned poker criminals. At the same time … there are some MO … so maybe? If you happen to be familiar with any of the Dallas poker robberies, take a look at the news videos here to see if you recognize any of the now un-masked men:

http://www.ksat.com/video/19198835/index.html
http://www.kens5.com/latestnews/stories/KENS20090416-GAMBLINGROBBERY.dd0e8f26.html

Kudos to the game host for dialing an operator and hiding his phone so the call could be forwarded to police — and nice work by the SAPD not just in ending this situation positively, but also for protecting other games … because as we have seen in Dallas, poker robbers tend not to quit after a single hit. I haven’t had a chance to get the police report yet and find out the arrested people’s names, but this story will continue to have life … not just because of the pending bill that would look to eliminate these sorts of potentially violent occurrences … but also because police are now investigating the legality of the game itself and may or may not press charges against the robbery victims as well.

We all know Richard Lee settled his case — pleading no contest and forfeiting more than $2 million dollars to make it all mostly go away. That seems to be the way it goes with enforcing the Class A misdemeanor of “operating a gambling place” … “like seriously, don’t make us try to send you to jail, just give us all your money and everything will be fine.”

Earlier this month, with approval from Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, Bexar County officials released the names of Lee’s alleged punters. Some 3,200 of them — the juiciest ones, presumably, redacted … complete with cell phone numbers, you know, so other bookies can find these customers in need. Click here to see for yourself, and let us know if you recognize any celebs on the Lee-List. I definitely maybe know one dude from Dallas on there. I think he plays poker. He lives kinda near where there used to be a poker room. Sounds vaguely and theoretically familiar.

From KSAT:

According to [Bexar County District Attorney Susan] Reed, though, the list does not mean her office will pursue charges against those on the list.

“Being the number of names on here, being a Class C misdemeanor… the cost of that would be incredible,” she said. “(It’s) not something I’m interested in spending a huge amount of taxpayer money on.”

That’s the story and he’s sticking to it.

Pleading no contest and saying goodbye to that much money means one of two things. Either:

1) He made so much money from his legally questionable online gambling business that $2.2 million is simply an affordable nuisance “cost of doing business”

or

2) This was a deal worked out not just with prosecutors (who wanted to send Lee to jail on felony charges) but also with Lee’s top customers, who supposedly included some of the most powerful people in San Antonio, including the former mayor, in which case they might have let him know they would make it up to him.

NOTE: Link fixed.