Monday night, i got home at 7 and had an hour with Lance before he went out to a home poker game, about a half mile from where we live. The host is a friend who has had a weekly home game at his house for a few months now. Since online poker went bust, Lance has played live more often, averaging once or twice per week. Sometimes i go with him, but it had been a long day and i wanted to get some sleep.
I went to bed early as planned and knew nothing until 6 am when Lance came home and woke me up. “Hi hon, i’m home. I saw someone murdered tonight.”
Confused and still half-asleep, my brilliant response was, “Murder? What kind of murder?”
“The kind where someone gets shot.”
Near midnight, two men entered the home where the game was held, wearing masks and brandishing guns, with intent to rob the place. The men were apprehended by one or more of the players at the table, and both would-be robbers were shot. One fatally.
Known details are available at the following news sites:
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/9910477/
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=8272194
http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/07/26/1371260/2-robbery-suspects-shot-during.html
You might think that we may have more details than are described in those stories, seeing as how Lance was there, sitting at the table, and watched the whole thing unfold. But we don’t. Lance’s account is very muddled. He describes a numbness, an inability to process what was happening. He has no memories of certain parts of the night. Hearing him describe it, he had some classic symptoms of shock.
And no wonder. Five gunshots were fired; a man was shot to death across the room from him. One of the news sites indicates that the robber was shot with his own gun. If true, there must have been some kind of struggle to get the gun away. I’m sure it was terrifying. In a situation like that, anything can happen.
I have immense relief that he is OK. What a scare. Even though i never knew anything until hours after it was over, the threat of the possibility that he would have been hurt is paralyzing.
Lance and the other people in the house spent several hours talking with police, and allowed to go home. None of the players were in trouble; they were trying to determine what had happened with the shooting. An investigation is still ongoing.
I worked from home Tuesday so Lance would not be left alone in that state. Throughout the day he talked through it some more, with me and with others in the poker community. He’s OK now, i think, and we’re glad to know that none of our friends were injured.
It’s terrible that someone was killed. But i have little sympathy.
The robbers have been identified, and no one that we’ve talked to knew them. I guess word about poker games gets around, though, and they found out about it. However, they clearly had no idea how these home games operate. Players play for real money, yes. A common buy-in is $200 per person, some a little more, some a little less. But there is no actual money on the table, only chips. The money isn’t even in the same room. So it can’t be a quick smash-and-grab job; you have to know where the money is, and it will not be in the room where the ‘action’ is.
A couple of the news sites are claiming this is a “high stakes” game, but that is just media sensationalism. The blinds on each hand are $1-$2 and never increase. Last time i played i lost $200. The two times before that i won $100. To put this in perspective, there is a High Stakes Poker show on TV where the average buy-in is $200,000 and pots routinely get large enough to pay off our house in one stroke. That is high stakes. This game is medium stakes at best, and is considered low stakes by most.
I waited a few days to post in case the police called back; i didn’t want to say anything to get Lance or anyone else in trouble. But i’m not posting anything here that isn’t common knowledge.
Scary stuff.
Lance is now fine. He didn’t sleep well for a couple of nights, but i think he’s back to almost normal now.
Lance, i’m glad you’re safe. And happy birthday!
