Home poker game raided in Orlando:

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/...es-poker-table

I would say that's an underground card club, not a home game. No wonder it got busted

Just read about this today. The game that got busted is five minutes from my house.

FWIW I've heard about a long running club game in Waterford Lakes but have never gone looking for it. I'm guessing this was the one.

Now that I'm not posting from my phone, I moved this from the LC thread into its own thread.

Assuming this was a raked club game, I understand why they busted it. But a SWAT team? Really? WTF, OCSO (Orange County Sheriff's Office)? It was four guys, one gun, less than $2k, and they bring in SWAT?

Maybe I just don't understand the purpose of SWAT, but it seems like overkill for a small 1/2NL game.

What unit should make raids? Parking enforcement?

$1,680 was the bank for 2 tables?!? Either it's a crappy 1/2 game where people buy-in for $50 or they didn't find all the money.

Gambling is sometimes a by-product of Gang activity and drugs. Im guessing its even more true when your in FL, being a hub for coke trafficking.

They were probably really disappointed it was a mediocre game they raided on.

I mean, armed guards for a game with less than 2k!? Id be thinking something was up, that need a guy at the door with a loaded gun.

The news is always going to glorify something like this, we all know the cops/swat were SUPER disappointed they didnt find anything else weapon/gang/drug related. So they came up with anything else they could arrest them for to make it worth while.

Theyre could have been 10k there and thats all that was reported.....You never know what to believe with this stuff, cops lie, reporters dont get the whole story and make things up to get it more interesting.

aside from that, if the home game is illegal in florida all they need was the paddy wagon.

I would love to see what would happen if they ever busted an honest to god real home game, something like a 0.25/0.50 game, non profit, a bunch of guys, BBQ, and $1,500 on the table after several hours of play. Would there be any public backlash? Or would the puritans win over and the general public would feel the cops were doing their job?

Sorry but if you have an armed door guard, not a player, then this is hardly a "social home game between friends", it screams underground raked game. In Florida eh? Well I wouldn't be shocked if the casinos were encouraging raids on their "comp" by a word here and there. Yeah eventully they will accidently raid a small time "social game" something really bad will happen and action will be taken, because all kinds of cops, lawyers and other "suits" play in these kind of games!

There's little doubt in my mind that the casinos have a vested interest in making sure the police are aware of "underground" games.

you guys need to work on your newspaper article reading skills.

-- this was written (read: "ctrl-c, ctrl-v") from a press release from the police department. people who are accused of crimes are told immediately by their lawyers not to say anything to anybody, especially the press.

-- "armed guard at the door" could simply mean the guy closest to the door was carrying. Maybe he was the one who said "hey, you can't come in here", and was thereby acting as a guard.

-- "four men arrested on charges of operating a gambling house" means nothing at all. We are not hearing the gambler's side of the story. The cops simply make charges, gather evidence, and let the lawyers sort out the truth as best they can.

-- there is no mention of rake anywhere in this article. Assuming it's there is just falling prey to the insinuations of a professional public-relations writer. Of course, there are hints, and this could easily BE an underground raked gambling room, but be aware of what evidence you're being presented, and what conclusions you're drawing from assumptions.

-- they found $1600 on one guy. There's no real indication of what was on the table, or how much was in the room. This is actually a bit strange, because in these raids, the cops usually confiscate every dollar in the building, and say "police seized $$$", an inflated amount based on how much everyone brought to the game.

Really, this description could be used for a mildly popular .50/$1 nlhe game on a night where two tables got going. $1600 in the bank (if it even was the bank), somebody's taking notes on the buyins, there's that militaristic guy who sits by the door and is annoyingly formal about letting people in. I didn't even know he was armed (but actually, hardly shocked).

Remember that from the police's point of view, they find out about the game in a distorted way to begin with. Maybe that guy who lost a 400bb pot when player c said "a deuce would be good, table your hand" went to the cops and told them he'd been cheated out of $400. Most cops aren't going to understand the subtleties of rake, or RRoP showdown etiquette. They just hear a guy complaining about a crooked underground game.

LOLz

I could also mean there was an armed guard at the door. Neither of us know.

I imagine the truth is somewhere between the two extremes. I'm sometimes armed at home, as are my guests, but I live in Arizona, where they issue you a gun at the border.

Why not just take your warrant to the door and knock? The increasing militarization of civilian police departments in the US is real issue.

That's a great way to serve a no-knock warrant...