Theft at the 2014 WSOP (Rio All-Suite Las Vegas Hotel) - Poker News

After a series of tweets were issued by poker professionals during the start of the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, a potentially serious security situation at the Rio All-Suite Las Vegas Hotel and Casino has come to light. During the last 24 hours, no less than three poker pros took to Twitter alleging that personal property – including laptops and large sums of money – were stolen from their hotel rooms overnight.

The first player to sound the alarm was Finnish pro Lauri Pesonen, who issued the following tweet at 8:52 p.m. local time Tuesday night:

Lauri Pesonen
@oopinlare
Both my and @Jouhkb's laptops stolen from our room at Rio. Everything else, wallets, ipads etc still here. EPT Barcelona again?

With much of the poker world still getting into the swing of the WSOP season, Pesonen's warning went relatively unnoticed overnight, but as the day dawned another poker player voiced his concerns with this cryptic message:

Manh Nguyen
@MunMunny
Did that really happen to me? Am I dreaming? Please wake up... Please wake up.

Just about six hours after wondering if he was dreaming, longtime circuit grinder Manh Nguyen let the rest of the poker community know his worst nightmare had indeed come true, confirming that another act of in-room theft had allegedly taken place:

Manh Nguyen
@MunMunny
Attention poker players: large sums of money has been stolen out of my room at rio last night.

Finally, nearly 15 hours after Pesonen's initial warning, fellow Finnish pro Joni Jouhkimainen also confirmed via Twitter that his belongings had been absconded with overnight:

Joni Jouhkimainen
@Jouhkb
Just found out that the guys also took our sanitary bags and sunglasses instead of iPad&wallets wtf . Whats wrong with this people

With the word out concerning security issues at the Rio, and poker's brightest stars in town with their bankrolls in tow, several players saw fit to retweet and reply to the trio who had allegedly been victimized by burglary. The list of those to offer their condolences, or attempt to seek a resolution, included Tristan Wade, Timothy Adams, D.J. MacKinnon, and Bryan Micon, with each expressing a combination of sympathy and concern.

With the Twitter-verse abuzz over allegations of theft from player rooms - the second such incident to take place in less than a year after the EPT Barcelona stop was marred by laptop intrusions - PokerNews reached out to Nguyen to find out his side of the story in more than 140 characters. Here's what he told us:

I came to the Rio for the WSOP with my friend Jimmy Chen. He's a PLO cash game grinder. Jimmy and I checked into the Rio on May 27 around 6:30 p.m. We came to the room and dropped our bags off and went to dinner. When we got back to our room a total of $35,000 had been taken out of our bags. We got back to the room around midnight. Luckily we didn't have all of our money in one spot so all of it wasn't taken. It didn't look like they went through any of my other stuff. Nothing else was taken. Room was not messy almost as if they knew to check the backpacks. I called the police and Rio security and filed a report. I find out that there are no security cameras in the Rio hallways, only in the elevators, and that we are just basically screwed.

With this story still developing PokerNews will continue to investigate, so check back Thursday for a full report on the theft allegations, including further details from the Finnish pros and any other publicly issued allegations from the player community.

Spoiler:

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05-29-2014 , 05:20 AM

t0bes1

centurion

Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 135

oh snap

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05-29-2014 , 05:44 AM

LVpokerPRO

old hand

Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 1,930

I always feel and I hate to say it that when something like that happens....someone they were with was involved. Whether it be dropping a key for someone to pick up or who knows, and then being with that person so they wouldn't think you were involved. It's just too random that people don't seem to ransack a room they just happen to know exactly where the money is at. Poker players traveling and sharing rooms with people they've grinded with for only a yr or so just seems like a recipe for disaster imo. Brutal story and it's happened quite often that we hear about

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05-29-2014 , 05:50 AM

kerr

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 4,848

Be good if we could get a text and/or email every time our door was opened. One way or another we should be able to verify if someone is in the room, be it ourselves, cleaning, or someone who doesn't belong.

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05-29-2014 , 05:53 AM

dwiele

veteran

Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 3,258

crazy ****.. gotta be someone from the rio staff with access to keys and all, no?

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05-29-2014 , 05:54 AM

orbea

enthusiast

Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 76

Why would a proffesional bring his online poker PC to a place were he can'tplay online.

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05-29-2014 , 05:58 AM

fanjeera

newbie

Join Date: Jun 2012 Posts: 26

no cameras in the Rio hallways, wtf?
I imagined there werent any cameras only in the rooms and toilets, after watching all the episodes of Las Vegas

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05-29-2014 , 06:01 AM

NerdSuperfly

veteran

Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 2,172

Quote:

Originally Posted by dwiele

crazy ****.. gotta be someone from the rio staff with access to keys and all, no?

back in October i posted an article in one of the Barca-Laptop-Threads, but the trolls jumping on the Hate-PS-Bandwagon rolled over it

In Las Vegas, eye in the sky guards money, not guests

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[...] Las Vegas casinos — some of the most closely-watched spaces in the world — don't have video cameras in guest room hallways, [...]

There was even one guy, who robbed hotel rooms for 8 years

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[...] "The detective told us that the guy had a keycard made, and he was going from hotel to hotel," she said. "He had been doing this for the last eight years, so he obviously knew they didn't have cameras there." [...]

Source: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2013...ey-not-guests/

seriously ... it's 'easy' to get keycards and it's pretty easy to spot the rich poker-pros ... sure, it can be an insider job or a friend of a friend. But as long, as nvg tards just try to find a scape goat instead of getting rid of the problem, this will happen again and again

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05-29-2014 , 06:08 AM

vrael111

veteran

Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 2,946

this is disturbing

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05-29-2014 , 06:11 AM

#10

PSUMike1999

adept

Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 1,118

I don't care about convenience, the RIO is a straight out dump. I would never stay there even if they comped the room. I have heard stories of bedbugs, obv lax security and they have done hardly any updating of the majority of their rooms in years.

Last year I had a friend and his wife staying there for a few days and security was practically non-existent. When I went to visit them I could go right up on the elevator up to any floor I wanted without having to show a room key. There were people running around the hallways and it just seemed like no one cared what went on on the floors. Total shame about what happened(I know Manh who is a really nice guy) but if it would happen in any of the casino hotels that place would top the list imo.

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05-29-2014 , 06:18 AM

#11

Monorail

adept

Join Date: Feb 2014 Posts: 991

Quote:

With the Twitter-verse abuzz over allegations of theft from player rooms - the second such incident to take place in less than a year after the EPT Barcelona stop was marred by laptop intrusions - PokerNews reached out to Nguyen to find out his side of the story in more than 140 characters. Here's what he told us:
I came to the Rio for the WSOP with my friend Jimmy Chen. He's a PLO cash game grinder. Jimmy and I checked into the Rio on May 27 around 6:30 p.m. We came to the room and dropped our bags off and went to dinner. When we got back to our room a total of $35,000 had been taken out of our bags. We got back to the room around midnight. Luckily we didn't have all of our money in one spot so all of it wasn't taken. It didn't look like they went through any of my other stuff. Nothing else was taken. Room was not messy almost as if they knew to check the backpacks. I called the police and Rio security and filed a report. I find out that there are no security cameras in the Rio hallways, only in the elevators, and that we are just basically screwed.

I realize OP is not the victim here, but in the case of that 35K theft...i guess i'd want to know for sure that the money was in their bags when they dropped it off. Seems far more likely that it was stolen at the airport, or somewhere else where their bags were out of their site. At the very least, Rio will have a record of when the room door was opened. It's a step up (one would hope?) from loleurope.

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05-29-2014 , 06:24 AM

#12

gostatego

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 5,752

Just get a backpack and keep your cash on you at all times. Or get a box. The last thing I'm doing is allowing 35k to be stolen from me without any chance of protecting it.

Not saying I'd resist someone robbing me with a weapon but I can put myself in situations that can make something like this very unlikely

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05-29-2014 , 06:43 AM

#13

er7eman

adept

Join Date: Apr 2011 Posts: 733

In my experience the RIO doors don't shut well. Who ever is stealing doesn't sound like a "pro", might just be someone that wandered upon a door that didn't latch and decided to run in and grab valuables. The key log should tell the story.

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05-29-2014 , 07:05 AM

#14

jhn_lundgren

journeyman

Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 320

Who would be dumb enough to leave large amounts of cash in a hotel room?

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05-29-2014 , 07:14 AM

#15

Warteen

[ ] wears the pants

Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 4,323

Quote:

Originally Posted by PSUMike1999

+1, and the bedbugs are a personal experience there. The cost-cutting at the Rio, considering they host the WSOP there and charge premiums for rooms and food, is unconscionable.

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05-29-2014 , 07:23 AM

#16

gobbomom

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 7,263

Quote:

Originally Posted by er7eman

The Rio employs thieves. I had my prescription medicine stolen out of my backpack while staying there 3(?) years ago.

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05-29-2014 , 08:11 AM

#17

GrindPokerAllDay

banned

Join Date: Jan 2014 Posts: 2,326

This actually blows my minds that these pros are so naïve as to leave valuables in their room, especially cash, and expect the valuables to still be there when they return.

Where in the hell would they be going that they leave their wallets in their room? A pool party or something? Makes no sense to me.

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05-29-2014 , 08:22 AM

#18

Masq

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 15,007

May as well take the toothbrush and aftershave too!

What sort of hotel doesn't have cameras in the hallway?!? Especially in Vegas.

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05-29-2014 , 08:24 AM

#19

kerr

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 4,848

Quote:

Originally Posted by Masq

May as well take the toothbrush and aftershave too!

What sort of hotel doesn't have cameras in the hallway?!? Especially in Vegas.

What sort of two bit hotel doesn't require key cards in lifts to get to your floor?

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05-29-2014 , 08:29 AM

#20

Webjoker

adept

Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 1,046

Quote:

Originally Posted by kerr

What sort of two bit hotel doesn't require key cards in lifts to get to your floor?

I was robbed in the Monte Carlo Casino in Las Vegas a couple years ago, and the hotel security told me that not a single casino in Vegas has camera's in their hall ways, just in the elevators. He also told me this is the law. No idea if that's true, but for sure there aren't any camera's in Monte Carlo.

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05-29-2014 , 08:34 AM

#21

Lee Jones

Semi-retired poker guy

Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 2,105

Quote:

Originally Posted by Masq

[...]

What sort of hotel doesn't have cameras in the hallway?!? Especially in Vegas.

Check out this article about the luxurious properties on the Strip. The point is that on the gaming floor, they could spot a gnat back-counting a 21 table, but an armed robbery in the hotel hallway would probably be invisible.

Draw your own conclusions and plan accordingly.

Regards, Lee

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05-29-2014 , 08:36 AM

#22

hAmThEkIlLeR

grinder

Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 569

I wonder what kind of fence handles Finnish sanitary bags.

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05-29-2014 , 08:41 AM

#23

SwoopAE

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 22,249

Seems pretty crazy. EPT Barcelona Round 2? Rio should definitely get on it asap

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05-29-2014 , 08:46 AM

#24

southern_sid

grinder

Join Date: Oct 2011 Posts: 442

Quote:

Originally Posted by gobbomom

The Rio employs thieves. I had my prescription medicine stolen out of my backpack while staying there 3(?) years ago.

Are you sure you have checked your house properly?

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05-29-2014 , 09:13 AM

#25

RaiNz

grinder

Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 423

Quote:

Originally Posted by orbea

Why would a proffesional bring his online poker PC to a place were he can'tplay online.

Why can't they play online?

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