Research Triangle Park, North Carolina  
Triangle Poker Journal™
                             www.trianglepokerjournal.com                                                                                        

Poker games have been robbed for years but usually not around here.  From the riverboats of the 1800’s to the kitchens and dining rooms of today, having your cash taken (usually at gunpoint) has always been a real but remote possibility in most people’s minds.  We don’t think of armed robbery much here in Mayberry.  When we’re playing in someone’s home or apartment, we’re usually not thinking about losing money to anything other than our own poker mistakes.

The explosion of poker, like any activity involving cash, challenges that innocence.  Mayberry is growing up to reality. Why rob a poker game?  Well, as bank robber Willie Sutton is famous for saying, “That’s where the money is.”

For example, back in May, Carl Edward Merritt of Hickory was shot after an early-morning weekend poker game ended in an attempted robbery and gunfire.  Three or four masked men, at least one of them armed, burst into the shed and attempted to rob Merritt and the other players.  Merritt pulled out his own handgun and fired but was shot twice in the abdomen, police said. The robbers fled on foot, and Merritt ended up in the hospital. 

Such a scenario can happen closer to home.

Let’s say a group of enterprising guys rent an apartment in a marginal neighborhood to set up a poker room, a place where they can play and eat and drink and generally have a good time.  Everything goes just fine, until two additional enterprising guys figure out there’s lots of cash inside.  One night the two enter with a gun.  The poker players lose their cash and wallets and fortunately no one gets hurt or killed.  Afterwards, worried about getting in trouble for the poker part, they decide not to call the police about the armed robbery.

Fact or fiction?  A few weeks ago in Durham, this indeed is what happened.  On condition of anonymity, one of the players spoke to TPJ.  The following description is paraphrased and not verbatim to protect confidentiality.

We got an apartment on the first floor.  The neighborhood wasn’t the greatest.  We did not want to set up in a good neighborhood because of expense and because we anticipated we would get too many complaints.  

Things went well for a few weeks.  People came and went with no problems.  We thought we were not attracting any attention.  There were sliding glass doors through which players would come in and out, or go outside for a smoke.  Most of the time we kept them closed and locked with the curtains drawn, but there was no procedure about it.  Looking back, though, anyone walking by outside, even with the sliding doors closed, could hear the sounds of music and chips clacking. 

One Sunday night, just after 9pm, we had just started a $1-2 cash game.  There were only four people, so not much money was on the table.

The sliding door opened and two black guys came in, one with a gun.  They were in their 20’s with an average build and short hair.  They did not even wear masks.  They immediately yelled, ‘Get on the floor!  Get on the f***in’ floor!” until everyone was on the floor.  One guy froze up in fear and they hit him once.  He got the message and got on the floor.  Then the robbers got suspicious about someone being in the back of the apartment, and yelled, “Who’s in the back?  Who’s in the f***in’ back?’ until they were sure no one was in the back.  Indeed, there was no one in the back.  They got our cash and our wallets.  We lost around $3500, give or take.

It was over in minutes.  We kept asking each other after the robbers left, ‘Are you OK?’  Everyone was OK.  After waiting a while, we went outside and looked in the trash and the bushes thinking our wallets may have been thrown away after taking the contents.  Then came the question of calling the police.  No one wanted to.  We were worried about the poker game, about getting in trouble.  Then everyone went home.  That’s it.

TPJ spoke with Durham County Assistant District Attorney David Saacks who handles armed robberies and other serious felonies.  I asked him what would happen if players who are robbed report it to the police.  Would the players be cited for the typical Class 2 gambling misdemeanor?  “As a practical matter, no,” said Saacks.  “We focus on violence first and foremost.”  While he admitted that playing poker for money was technically illegal, his office focuses on the armed robbery, not the betting.