Yesterday morning, a friend of mine fell victim to a follow home robbery from the Commerce. I know everyone has heard these types of stories way too many times before, but paying heed to some lessons learned from this incident may save your bankroll and your life, no matter where you live or play in the world.

After cashing out big in the wee hours of the morning from a 5/10 500 to 1500 capped game, he pulls his car into his garage, steps out of the car, and up his driveway walks up a young black man wearing dark baggy cloths, a hoodie over his head and a blue bandanna across his nose and face. He raises a sideways held automatic pistol pointed at my friend's chest and says coolly and ever so politely, "How's it going this evening? I'm going to need your money and your wallet."

When it's over, at gun point my buddy hands over an impressive roll of $100's, along with his wallet and a $3,500 watch. As this goes on, his wife and son sleep inside the house. The gunman takes off in a waiting car driven by an accomplice. The actual details are a much more dramatic, but as you could imagine, at every moment of the hold-up my buddy anticipated it's all going to end with a bullet in his chest.

He tells me he always checks to see if he is being followed several times along the 40 minute freeway drive home. He said that on three stretches of the drive home at 3:00 a.m. there was no one behind him closer than 1/4 mile, including when he pulled off the freeway. This fact gave him a false sense of security that he was not being tailed. As he was waiting at the signal at the off ramp to his home, a car did pull up behind him about 10 to 15 seconds later. That was obviously the perps car, and the delay was long enough that he thought nothing of it. Once off the freeway and in his sleepy residential neighborhood, he let down his guard, particularly since he looked for followers and felt all was good with no one closer than a 1/4 mile, three times along the ride home. My guess is that these guys had learned from failed previous experiences, the art of tailing someone inconspicuously. With this skillful tailing skill, it suckered my buddy into believing all was clear.

Another thought to think about regarding a false sense of security that served to set up my friend to lower his guard: Though he always remained cautious, he believed that 5/10 NL players were relatively safe from being marked for a follow home robbery at the Commerce. His logic was that why would they risk hitting a 5/10 player when they can take the same relative risk by marking a High Stakes player from the top section with potentially 10K or better in his pocket? Well, perhaps because shooting for a $3K to $5K robbery may have less potential for complications since those in the top section with $10K to $20K or more on them will be that much more alert and prepared or even armed for the event of a robbery, and more likely to put up resistance if confronted. Also, many high stakes players tend to bank with the casino, which is a great idea, even for lower limits.

Here are the lessons learned. Always keep your guard up when driving home. Know that a professional criminal experienced in follow home robberies will be smart enough to follow you with stealthy inconspicuousness. If you score big, watch who follows you out of the casino and onto the highway. That’s the point when the follow home begins so don’t lose sight of those vehicles in your rear view as you pull out. If you are not sure, make a few moves, including pulling off the highway and then going straight back on to see what happens. Or make a few turns here and there to see what happens. It may be a hassle, but if in your life time of playing poker you avoid getting robbed just once, it will be well worth everything. My friend now feels scared in his own home and unsettled these guys know where he lives and may come back for more on some un-expecting evening in the future.

These scum bags took a lot more than his money, they took away his and his family's sense of security in their own home. Worse yet, if part of the intent is to rob and then kill you for bragging rights, well you tell me if that’s not worth a little paranoia and a little time for prudence after every session?

Stay Safe

can he go to the police and review the security tapes of the evening? the guys must have been hanging around the card room or cage for a while, scouting targets

Glad I dont live in LA

I'm glad he and his family aren't dead.

Wow sad to read, safety depots box, and I don’t get out of my car tell the garage door is closed.

Some of these guys are inside job as well. When I get my players card, I never give them a correct address...

It's possible these guys were waiting for your friend at his house, maybe being tipped off by an employee... The player's card has all your information...So be careful..

Anybody with player's card.. change your address, especially if you live in LA

Alex E raises a good point, hopefully police are on to that angle.

Monk--your story just goes to show that when you must be most careful is arriving home and getting out of your car. The time your friend let his guard down is exactly the time that having it up might have saved him. Right when you're driving on to your own street is the time to look behind you and see what's there.

Do you have any basis for this?
Can all casino employees see that information, or is it restricted in some way?

I know it sounds crazy, but I have crazy thoughts a lot, so what about GPS? Any way the perp had a valet slip something in his car, or was able to attach something to his bumper?

I concur 100% I never give my home address and I even go as far as to use a prepaid cell phone for all of my poker related calls & texts. As the old saying goes just because your paranoid doesn't mean that people aren't out to get you.

I am a bit older than most of the posters here and I admit that in my younger days I ran in some shady circles but luckily the street smarts I picked up have mostly kept me out of harms way. I feel terrrible for the victim, it's a really horrible situation. In NYC we are probably more cautious because we play in "underground" games and it is sad to think that even where the game is legal people are still in danger. I hope that the police can catch them.

When pulling up to the house, look around! These guys didn't appear from thin air.
If you have BUSHES in front of your house - trim them. No hiding spots!

Also, right when you are about to get out of your car - you have to look in both mirrors and look around. Don't shut off car!

Great question. I'm wondering about this too:

The L.A. Sheriff's Department has contacted Commerce security to review the tapes. My friend writes down his sessions down to the minute he starts and stops along with the table number and seat position, so finding my friend going to the cage and out to his car will be easy enough. He parks in the VIP lot so no valet involved. The Commerce does not have that many young black guys playing (as much as say Hollywood Park) so picking out the perp(s) and their car may be easy enough.

If they come back...and they will...and the Commerce Security Department is on alert, it may be an easy bust.

Sad story...

Not gonna comment on what to do about this, cause the scared you get from something like this can ruin your life and take away your trust in all ppl, and make you go into a deep depression, and spending a lot of nights looking out the window or over your shoulder for these suckers, and get no sleep and getting weird.

i hope he + his wife/kids recovers....

man don t think your safe inside the house from this, who´s to say they don t , make their way into the house to get the monny...

He thought about that. What if he closed the garage door before he got out. That would not have worked, as the gunman was dropped off by the get away car at the corner of his house. He was right there when he got out of his car so he would have been close enough to grab the garage door and trigger the door to retract.

I know in Foxwoods, only certain employees have access to all of a customers info like address, phone #, etc. Most employees can only see name, city and state of residence and DOB to verify identity as needed.

Sorry to hear about your friend. He is fortunate that he and his family is safe

I've always been paranoid after big scores for these sorts of things. Even when I drive into my own neighborhood normally, if a car is following me, I am suspicious. I'm surprised he didn't notice a car following him into his neighborhood, as that would be the most suspicious place and the most likely place I would notice. It is possible that the perp even stayed back a long way following him there, and waited until he stopped the car and got him.

Glad he is fine and his family is fine, it could have been much worse.

I've been followed home from Hawaiian Gardens at about 2AM before. Luckily they weren't the best at tailing me. I noticed them as I was pulling out of the casino and every lane change I made they made. Then as I was getting close to my house I made a left into a 7 eleven parking lot just to see what would happen. They made the left into the neighborhood right behind the 7 eleven and waited. As I was sitting in the parking lot a cop pulled in and I explained the situation to him and he went and drove down the street. I saw him turn on his lights and then I proceeded to go home feeling safe.

This can happen to anyone!! as my mom always told me...BE AWARE OF YOUR SURROUNDINGS

I have a few friends that were robbed in the parking lot of the Commerce and HAwain Gardens. Some how security didnt see anything both times.

Most bank machines allow you to deposit as well. Why don't casino's have at least one machine with that option? They could even charge a good service fee, I'm sure many would pay it happily.

Ya, we were talking about this. He was saying that getting robbed at gun point changes your life. The game he loves will never be the same - he's in no mood to go back to play, nor leave his family alone in the wee hours of the night. Feeling your home is your sanctuary is gone with the fear they know were you live and may come back looking for more. They have his business card for the business he owns along with his drivers license. Even if he moves, they will always have his name, and these days, that means you can always be found. They may think if they got $5K once, he may carry that with him all the time. He also fears if they do come back and he is off gaurd without a gun himself, and he has no substancial cash on him, they may murder him to punish him assuming he is not cooperating.

Then there is the fear if they end up catching these guys from the tapes at the Casino. What next? You testify in court. Do they put a hit on you for revenge? Do they come back and find you after they get out? Rational fear or not, for the rest of his life and that of his family's, anything they do and anywhere they go will be haunted by this experience.

I've shared these posts with him. The biggest lesson is to be most alert when you leave and when you get close to home. He became complacent when he looked in his rear view mirror to see lights far in the distance believing someone tailing him would be closer - not if they know what they are doing. As you approach home, test and shake every headlight, take nothing for granted. Then and only then drive down your street.

Do it for a life time, because the consequences and mental anguish an event like this will change things in a worst way for a life time, anywhere he goes, in any remotely vulnerable place.

Great lesson here. Good job skaking them.

There should be a law that they have cameras set up to capture images of every driver and license plate that comes in and out of the parking lot of every casino. This is too common a crime and I would guess half or more of these robberies go unreported from fear of retaliation.

I LA!

Im glad you don't too.

This can't happen somewhere else?

I think the only solution (as mentioned) is to use a player's bank, although I'm not sure how it works at Commerce.. the solution is to try to avoid leaving the casino with an assload of cash.