My name is Chauncey Monk and I was banned for life for basically getting robbed at gunpoint.
I moved to Florida back in June of 2015 I moved into a poker house of guys. I played primarily at Kennel Club in West Palm Beach, I played the highest games that ran from 5-10 nlh to 10-20plo8.
The story starts back in December, I managed to drop some where between 10k-13k on the floor after leaving the restroom, some one watched me drop the cash then picked it up and left the kennel club.
I had no options that night to go to my security box because they had no access to security boxes after 4am and this incident happened at 5am which I had no knowledge of them not allowing access to security boxes . Don't really blame anyone just bad luck I wish they just had better security and better cameras . I was really pissed off kennel club's cameras were terrible they had no clue how this guy arrived nor left other then on foot. The picture they had posted in there break room was horrid. It really blew my mind that a million dollar a month business didn't have cameras that could read license plates in there parking lots. Aside from that I was told rumors that I know security guards told other people that they wouldn't arrest or detain this guy if he came in since there is no crime against picking money up off the floor. This made me pretty upset at this time. I emailed the room manager Michael Glenn explaining that I was pissed about what happened that I was going to remove my money and play elsewhere . This really set off the poker room manager and he conveyed to me in a later meeting that he didn't like how I handled the situation. (run bad 1)
But weeks later I get a call from a friend of mine who is a dealer at the kennel club. The dealer says I think that the guy who picked up your money is at kennel club, he informs me that he knows the guy somewhat and that the guy is kind of weird, ( the dealer who called me owns a barber shop not far away from the kennel club and this guy was one of his customers).
He tells me he does not want to get involved for the fact that he knows the guy he doesn't want to have this customer know that he was involved in him getting caught. I live less then 10 mins from kennel club and I assure him that I will go in and find the floor so we can handle this situation. I arrive at the kennel club 10 mins later. I goto the floor to tell him what the dealer told me that this guy is here. We look around the room without any luck apparently this guy changed tables and left right as I got there. (run bad 2)
Couple weeks go by and I'm playing late night at kennel club. I have a early scheduled pit game a 5-5-10 with 20$ buttons straddle plo8 game at 10 am. The kennel club closes at 4am. I foolishly had nearly 13k in cash and chips on me that I should have put in my security box and the only reason I didnt goto my security box was because I had a huge issue with getting locked out of this game the cage opened at 10am but it took nearly 20 mins for people to get into their boxes and I didn't want a whale showing up so that my seat would get taken.
I was parked in there preferred parking lot that always has a security guard in it so I thought id be safe you have to pay 2$s to park it is within 50 yards from the kennel club. I make it half way to my car and a black male jumps out of a white van with a mask holds a gun to me and tells me to give me my bag. I drop the bag then frantically run to the security guard 40 yards from me and he's shocked and appears to not have seen anything happen. I call 911 and chase the black male across the street . The guy gets away police officers show up with dogs and take reports.
The next day I go into the poker room managers office and he tells me they are going to find the guys and tells me that I need to keep quite and not talk about the incident. He literally assures me that they are going to do everything they can to get my money back.
I live in a house full of professional poker players obviously they found out i was robbed, I had a backer who took action in my plo8 games I had to let them know too. So obviously people at kennel found out. I had friends who had went and tried to talk to the managers at kennel club about the incident they were told and scared with bans also. Every player i know who plays there walks around on eggshells. The kennel club tells its patrons that I was offered a escort that night too, when I have witnesses that were with me that night and none of them were offered escorts. What place offers escorts for 2-5 games?
I walked into kennel 3 days after the incident and went to grab some money out of my security box for a friend. I was pulled aside and told I was no longer allowed to play at kennel club and to empty my security deposit box.
Later i found out they fired the dealer and the floor person in charge the night I was called about the guy who picked my money up. Very sick they fired this dealer he did nothing wrong. Guy has a wife and kids worked there nearly 13 years and had never been written up. I feel the worst about this.
I have been in conversations back and forth with a lawyer representing kennel club in hopes that I could get this all solved. I offered to sign a non-disclosure agreement so I could continue to play, they rejected and that is why I haven't posted anything till now . My main goal after getting robbed and banned was to get back into playing at kennel club.
The police working this robbery case told me that kennel club had confiscated some of the chips from the robbery. Apparently whoever robbed me tried to send in people to cash in pumpkins which the kennel club is holding on to. The kennel club denied me access to those chips.
I've been pretty depressed, angry, sad and not to mention I've taken a huge loss financially. I've been dealing with depression ever since this and its taken a huge mental toll on me already. I don't understand how me asking to come back in play is such a huge deal especially after everything that has happened. I'm basically given up any hope that they will let me back in with this post Id just like everyone to know my story and to be careful if you play at PBKC, if anyone has any suggestions please feel free to email me
cmonk33@gmail.com. Id like to get this story out to some more poker publications if anyone has any contacts or anyone would like to interview me please contact me at the above email address. Feel free to comment and ask questions ill post the conversations that I had with the lawyer.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B33...XTmp3T2Q0/view
This letter is a response to the letter I received from Joe Ianno. I hope this letter to be received by the manager or people in charge of making the decision to eject Chauncey Monk.
First off when the incident of me dropping the money on the floor happened I in no way intentionally wanted to broadcast that I carry around thousands of dollars.
I had tried to use my security box that night, I could not get into my security box because of the fact that the cashier closes access to security boxes on weekends past 4am. When I realized I was missing money that night, I came into Kennel approached the floor and told him my story he allowed me to look at camera footage of the incident, then proceeded to ask players at the tables if they knew the suspect who picked up my money. I cannot control what was said or gossiped around the poker room about the incident. I never did take the incident public nor did i take the incident to any type of poker forum or media.
Secondly the letter states that I was offered an escort before the alleged robbery. I have never in my life ever been asked if I wanted an escort at Kennel Club nor did I know they were provided until after the incident. After the robbery during the kennel club and the sheriff's report on the incident was the only time I was explained that I could be provided an escort.
I find it hard to believe that a guard would randomly ask me and me only to be escorted out especially when I was playing a standard two-five game that several other players were playing. I asked the players playing with me that night after the fact, if any of them had been offered and escort and none of those players told me that they were offered a escort.
Lastly, May it be known that the dealer who contacted me about the player who picked up my money from the first incident.
Your letter states that I told the dealer to contact me when the player arrived in Kennel Club and I had intention to interfere with Kennel Club operations. I had never told the dealer nor anyone to ever call me to inform me of his arrival, I was told he was to be arrested upon re entrance to the building.
The dealer in question called me the night the player entered the building, he called to tell me that he did not want to get involved for the fact that the player knew him and was a client at his barber shop, he was concerned with his safety and made it clear to me that he didn't want any involvement due to the fact that the player knew him and that is when I told him that I was less than 5 minutes from the casino I would come in and go to the floor/security so that he could stay out of the situation.
I immediately after getting off the phone with the dealer, called a friend who I knew was playing I told him to go to the floor. My friend did not see the suspect because he had changed tables. When i arrived at kennel I went to the floor on duty Lou and told him that I thought the player was here. We searched the floor and tried to find the player without any luck. He took me into his office and showed me on camera the player leaving. I in no way tried to interfere with the palm beach kennels operations nor did i ever tell anyone to contact me in regards to seeing the player to handle the situation. I respected the dealer in question and understood he felt a concern for his safety that is why I proceeded to kennel to contact the floor myself.
In closing I understand that these incidents have caused kennel club a great deal of stress, I apologize if any of the emails i sent were in a sense of bashing the way you guys do business. I was upset in both situations and by no means meant to bash or slander your business. That is why I have not contacted a lawyer, I have not contacted the media and I have not posted anything about either incident to twoplustwo or pocketfives or any other various poker website or forums. I was instructed by the poker room manager after the robbery incident to not play at kennel club for a while if i had a bad attitude about the situations and to not post anything or badmouth the way kennel does business. I have upheld that end of the bargain only to receive notice that i was banned.
I would hope you see my side of my story that this could happen to anyone, everyone makes mistakes, I would really appreciate it if you could take a second look at all the information you have and come to a reasonable decision with the incidents that took place, I play poker for a living, I average somewhere between 60-70 hours a week at the kennel club. The dealer and floor in question both have families. We use the kennel club to provide for our families. Again I am more then willing to put this incident behind me and sign any type of non-disclosure agreement to not go to media or news or any various poker forums. I wish to put these incidents behind me and continue to play poker I hope that you can see that negative attention about a robbery is a problem I wish to detour from Kennel Club.
Thanks Chauncey Monk.
Last edited by ch4nc305; 02-15-2016 at 05:26 PM.
