Police bust "Austin Poker Club"

[sucka]

Glad I didn't join up. :-)

http://keyetv.com/morenews.shtml#3

I know a couple people that play over there and haven't heard anything from them yet as to what happened (if they were even there).

Pretty funny though. I first talked to the guy who was running that place when he first opened late last year. He said he was totally legit and that he was getting around the whole 'casino' thing because of a loophole - something do with the fact that he was taking a time charge and not a rake so he had no interest in the pot as well as charging a membership fee ($200 or so bucks) per year which makes it a private club. I had heard that they had hired some private security - he had told me that off-duty Austin cops would sometimes be providing security. LOL.

On the news they said that the bust followed a 3 month sting so they have had there eye on them for awhile.

[Anadrol 50]

Stories like this make me sick. Why don't they worry about fighting 'crime'.

[sucka]

No kidding.

The worst part was a majority of the TV news coverage had some degenerate gambler guy on there talking about how gambling had ruined his life, etc...

They (the media) treated this story like the room was full of a bunch of low life scum gambling away the last few pennies they had to rub together.

The news coverage kept cutting to shots of roulette wheels and slot machines while this idiot kept blabbing in the background on how gambling has just ruined his life.

Oh well, I guess some people will just never understand...

[Fitz]

I hate stuff like this. I'm making plans to build a new house in the next few months, and one of the things I'd thought seriously about was making a professional poker room downstairs with one or maybe two tables. I figured it would be great for the guys I've played home games with for years, and I thought I might host a less social game once a week or so. With BS like the deal in Austin going on, I've decided against it. Who needs the headache. It really is too bad; it would have been a lot of fun.

Good luck all,

[TheKidCD]

I was at the APC Thur night when the raid occured. Cops came in behind a member who opened the door yelled "Police! Everyone put your hands on your head!" They then proceeded through the club putting evidence stickers on everything in site and labeling each room. One by one each person present was searched then photographed. Later each person present was taken across the parking lot to another empty office for questioning. After this the questioning officer followed you to your car wrote down some car information then let you leave.
I hope the rumors I heard are true that the police made a error here not relizing it was a private club and that rent was taken not a rake. I know at this point the future looks very bleak for the Austin Poker Club but I (as I am sure others) still hold out some hope. I would like to see this taken to the state Supreme Court cause I think poker has been stepped on long enough. How can they let Bingo Halls go on all over town and not let a private poker club go on. This club was frequented by professionals of many different professions and was a fun place to socialize. If you have ever been to a bingo hall here in Austin you would find them seedy and overrun with very undesirable people. I wish this task force would worry about real crime and stop harassing good citizens. In conclusion I must hand it to the police who did the raid. I feel they handled it very well and once everything cooled down were even talking and joking around with people waiting to be interviewed.
I wish the two guys who ran the place good luck and hope they resolve the issue soon.

TheKidCD

[Phat Mack]

Cops came in behind a member who opened the door yelled "Police! Everyone put your hands on your head!"

Then they said, "As of now, everyone in this room is under arrest!" I went home and told my family that I had been arrested by the Austin Vice Scuad (OK, OK, I know they were DPS, but I feel that the vice squad has more cachet). Next night on the local news, the talking head said the DPS announced they hadn't arrested the members. Now my family is laughing at me. My grandkids won't believe I am a hardened criminal. What I want to know is: was I or wasn't I arrested?

[TheKidCD]

LOL and don't forget all the felonies that were commited while we were talking with each other while waiting aka "tampering with witnesses"

[gte910h]

If you were informed of your right to remain silent, and told you were being charged with "the offense of X", you were probably arrested. Otherwise, you were just manhandled.

[RiverMel]

I hear this actually didn't have much to do with the poker itself--rather, the police were more concerned with what was going on in the Red Room in the back...

[TheKidCD]

Yea and from what I hear they found nothing in the back and the police spokeswoman even said "appeared they were just playing poker and none of the stuff that goes along with it."