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Poker Blog established in 2003 as the first stop for poker news, poker stories, and bad poker advice.

July 17, 2008

Illegal Poker Room Busted

by Luckbox

The Indiana Gaming Control Division busted a place in Tipton, IN last night. Tipton is about 30 miles north of Indianapolis. Investigators say the place ran illegal poker games where patrons were playing for money. Although several card players were there during the raid, none were arrested. Their names have been passed on to the DA for possible charges.

State law permits only non-for-profit groups to host poker tournaments for charity. The man who runs the business says there's nothing wrong with the card tournaments he's hosted over the last four years.

Oh... the name of the business? Holdem House. I wonder what tipped off the cops?

Here's the website which informs us that the place is "temporarily closed."

I guess the only question is why it took the cops four years to shut down a place that has been advertising poker tournaments so brazenly? After all, it's been more than a year since the Indiana Gaming Commission took over regulation of back room poker. Maybe they had better things to do...

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June 2, 2008

Gambling holes

by Otis

G-Rob and I missed the driveway into the pub and busted a U-turn in the middle of a busy highway. Our tires crunched on rock as we slid into the small gravel parking lot. The entire bar could've fit in the downstairs floor of my house. It was barely big enough to hold G-Rob's hair, let alone his ego and my enormous sense of self-loathing.

It was a Friday night around 7pm. Nobody reasonable goes to places like this, least of all suburban fathers with mortgages and firm grasps on their drinking problem. No, these places are for professional drunks who don't quaff martinis before sundown and certainly don't have many people who give a damn or dram where they are.

We two suburban fathers, however, find ourselves in these dives more often than we do the trendy or chain bars in town. We look for out of-the-way Quonset huts and cinder block buildings where the floor really does smell like beer and the people only look up from their drinks to make sure you aren't the police.

More in this Poker Blog! -->
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April 29, 2008

Shooting the legal angle: Ask for a jury, never see a courtroom

by Otis

PokerNews' Haley Hintze reports today that a number of people busted in the Palmetto State's latest poker raid will be opting for a trial by jury.

A few weeks back, the jack-booted thugs local constabulary cited 38 people for violation of our state's antiquated gambling law (yes, the one that makes it illegal to play even some board games on Sunday). Usually, the notion of taking a misdemeanor ticket in front of a jury is pretty silly. In South Carolina, however, it's pretty damned smart. Those people who didn't pay their tickets? Well, they may never see the inside of a courtroom.

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April 7, 2008

Another South Carolina Poker Bust

by G-Rob

Police in Charleston called it the result if a "ten month investigation." They arrested 27 people, including an assistant prosecutor at an underground poker game.

The Charleston Post says the game was run out of the bottom floor of a two story house with games spread on several tables. The host started the games last year and they "just grew."

More in this Poker Blog! -->
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November 7, 2007

I Quit

by Otis

It was a quote handed down through several generations, so it's possible that the deputy said, "If you play poker, you deserve to get rubbed." That would make sense. We leather-assed grinders get many a knot in our collective back. A ten-hour session is the perfect excuse for a rub-down. If we play poker, we deserve to get a massage.

However, by the time the quote reached me through the poker community's version of the Telephone Game, it sounded like, "If you play poker, you deserve to get robbed."

That's not nearly as nice a sentiment.

More in this Poker Blog! -->
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November 2, 2007

Another Game, Another Armed Robbery

by G-Rob

The games around here used to have names like "Gaelic," "Depot," and "Spring Hotel." The next one will be the "O.K. Corral". The latest undergound game to face a gang of armed bandits is a tale of lessons unlearned... and the first appearance of Wyatt Earp.

More in this Poker Blog! -->
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October 30, 2007

Spring Hotel robbery update

by Otis

"Where that chip money at? I love me some chip money!"

It's the one phrase Sunday night players at the Spring Hotel will probably remember for a long time. It's funny now to hear the players recount the words, imitate the robbers, and have the phrase "chip money" slowly sneak into the local poker lexicon. At the time, though, it was the farthest thing from funny. Because when the thugs who hijacked the Spring Hotel couldn't find the house bank (aka "chip money"), they fired their gun for the first time.

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October 29, 2007

G-Vegas Spring Hotel Game Robbed

by Otis

Two months to the day after G-Vegas' Black Stallion game was hijacked by armed thugs, it has happened again, this time at the long-running Spring Hotel game.

Full details are still coming in, but here's what we know thus far.

The Spring Hotel has been running regularly for the past several years. It was, in fact, the first underground game in the area where I played. Typically running one or two tables a night, this game was among the more discrete in the area. Unlike some of the other games, this was a room you couldn't just drive by and find. You had to have directions...and good ones.

According to one of last night's victims, the MO was almost exactly the same as the Black Stallion robbery. Several thugs came in with guns, forced everyone to take off their pants, and then cleaned everybody out. The jackers picked up cash, credit cards, cell phones and just about anything else of value they could find.

Since the Back Stallion robbery and sheriff's office raid on the Gaelic Game, most operators in town chose to either shut down or go on indefinite hiatus. That meant that the Spring Hotel was one of, if not the only regularly running game in G-Vegas this week.

While no one was physically hurt during the robbery, the robbers fired two shots into the ceiling of the Spring Hotel. The Black Stallion robbery was reportedly very scary and somewhat violent, but no shots were fired during that hold-up.

While we have no independent verification of this, it seems pretty obvious that both robberies were committed by the same group of people. These guys apparently have pretty good sources when it comes to finding the games to rob. With the exact same MO and both robberies happening on the same night (Sunday), it's clear there is a gang getting its rocks off by robbing the local poker community.

To all the good folks who got held up last night, I'm glad you're okay. To the robbers, I'd watch your ass. That's all I'm saying.

Update: For an updated, more detailed version of this story, see: G-Vegas Spring Hotel robbery update

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May 20, 2007

Some Things

by G-Rob

I did the late night Gaelic game last night. Got there after the "News at 11" and played a few hours of $1/$2NL. I've been buying in for $1000 lately. More on that in a minute.

First, here's a hand that really pissed me off. I'm curious for the reader's take. I'm on the button with AJh. UTG straddles the pot for $5.

There are 2 callers to me on the button and I make it $25 to go. BB calls. UTG calls.

The flop is Kh 10d 8c.

BB leads out for $45 and UTG min-raises to $90. I've taken a hand or two from UTG and the min-raise has my attention. BB could have top pair because he's a fairly loose and incredibly aggressive player. Plus, $45 is a curious lead out in what is now a $100 pot.

Fearing the min raise, and with noting more than a gutty and an over, I fold. BB then turns to his good friend (they've been buddies all night) and says, "Well, now we can check it down!"

He calls...they flip up their cards and check it down.

I was livid.

Frankly, I was beat, but this is cheating. I said so. The rest of the table said, "I'm not sure there's a house rule about that." Which, actually, further emphasizes my point. If there is NO house rule, the standard rules apply. This IS textbook collusion and I called it just that.

UTG won the pot. I stacked him an orbit later. Then a second time with 85o. That made me happy. After the second, I said, "Perhaps you'd have a better shot with (player x) in the pot".

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May 11, 2007

I Still can't remember what we call that game...

by G-Rob

I think it's the "Black Stallion". It could just as easily be the "Cheese Factory" or the "Hamburger Room". I have no part in these silly nicknames and so I never remember them. Nonetheless, I finished up pretty huge last night.

Plus, at some point below, I'll get to the bottom of this little gem from the comments to my "Hooker" post, "you've been tagged."

More in this Poker Blog! -->
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