Home Invasions
Robbing Poker Players
By Daniel Muniz

Home invasions and robberies are a fact of life in America. However, an alarming new trend is emerging across the country. Armed thugs are brazenly breaking into private residences during cash games of Texas Hold ‘Em poker. The bandits typically take the money that was converted into chips and since people usually bring additional cash with them, the players are told to empty out their wallets.

Such a development was bound to happen ever since the popularity of Texas Hold ‘Em went through the roof.

Poker games for cash have always been a popular national pastime and friends and family members have enjoyed friendly low stakes games for generations. However, Texas Hold ‘Em completely changed the landscape because it is a challenging form of poker that is a lot of fun to play. In fact, highly publicized poker tournaments on cable television have created a number of celebrities and generated tremendous interest in the game.

But a problem arises when people want to play a high stakes game at home.

All of a sudden, there are only a limited number of interested players who want to gamble that much money.

A lot of people, myself included, enjoy playing poker for small stakes such as a $20 or $50 buy-in. But anything more for a home-based game and you are probably better off going to a casino. As for me, I simply cannot afford the bigger stakes because I don’t have that kind of discretionary income.

So in order to have Texas Hold ‘Em with a buy-in of $250 or $500 or higher, the organizers of such games now have to go beyond their social circle of family and friends to spread the message by word-of-mouth that a high stakes event is now available. Being more public about it is one of the few ways to attract the players who are willing to bet that kind of money and having more participants also means that more cash is available to win.

State statutes and local municipalities typically overlook small stakes games in personal residences because private gambling has never been much of an issue with community standards. It is when the gambling becomes commercialized and turned into a rogue business operation that law enforcement takes notice.

Unfortunately, thieves also take notice as well.

Hoodlums love the concept of easy money, especially when there is plenty of cash lying around in a tight confined area.

A high stakes game of Texas Hold ‘Em provides exactly that. Players have to bring hundreds of dollars to swap for poker chips. All that cash is tucked away in an easily accessible location so it can be immediately divvied up when it is time to convert the chips back into money. In addition, people often bring additional cash with them in the event that they lose all of their chips and want to get back into the game.

As a result, a poker game now becomes an irresistible target for someone looking to steal some easy money.

One such incident occurred in my hometown of San Antonio Texas and it even involved a local poker celebrity named Charles Lineberry. Lineberry and eight others were playing Texas Hold ‘Em on a Saturday night in which the buy-in was $300. They had been playing for hours at a private residence when shortly before 2:00 a.m., three armed thugs stormed into the house from the back door with their guns blazing. Each assailant wore a black mask to cover their faces and they also had blue mechanic’s uniforms which helped disguise their physical features.

The poker players immediately complied with the robber’s demands to empty out their pockets. But what was unusual is that one of the robbers somehow knew that the game’s money was stored away in a nearby cabinet which contained $3000. And what was also peculiar is how they entered the residence. The front door of the house was locked but the back door was open so that the players could take smoke breaks. This unlocked back door allowed the attackers to stealthily enter the premises and take everyone by surprise.

And when the robbery was over, Lineberry lay bleeding from a gunshot wound.

But overall, this robbery had to be an inside job or been done by someone who had been aware of the game. As Lineberry recuperated from his ordeal, many high stakes poker players across the city either cancelled their games or are wary about who and where they play at.

Casinos now sound like a much safer place to gamble at.

However, robberies like this have been on the rise across the country and they will continue to happen as long as Texas Hold ‘Em remains as popular as it is right now.

Small stakes players probably don’t have much to worry about because the total pot after the buy-ins is only a few hundred dollars at the most. However, small stakes games in private residences are far more plentiful so even small amounts of cash may be tantalizing to desperate people such as drug addicts.

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