Word of Warning to home games

slamdunkpro · #1 08-13-2004, 01:33 PM

There have been several raids across the Maryland / DC / Virginia region in the past week or so. This seems to be a fairly concentrated enforcement action. The one common denominator that we have been able to find is that all the raided games were either listed on or got players from http://www.homepokergames.com/.

This is not to say that homepokergames.com is rating out to the police. I’m not implying or suggesting that in any way. I think it’s more a case of the police discovering a nice neat laundry list of games to raid.

Watch yourselves.

2planka · #2 08-13-2004, 02:25 PM

Can you substantiate or quantify this? Are there news/web articles or reports?

Not questioning your post. I want to see how these things are reported in the media and hear the rationale.

Were the hosts of the raided games collecting rakes/vigorish? If so I can see why the games may be of interest. How big were the games (stakes and/or headcount)?

MrGo · #3 08-13-2004, 02:33 PM

Also been some raids in the Milwaukee area. Be careful.

2planka · #4 08-13-2004, 04:09 PM

Is that the one I read about in CP a couple issues ago? Some dude running a game in a bowling alley or something? That guy received warnings to cease and desist, and he collected vig for it.

Still, you'd think the man would have more important things to worry about.

rocky · #5 08-13-2004, 04:14 PM

Nothing illegal about a home hame in Virginia unless you are cutting the pot .

MrGo · #6 08-13-2004, 04:19 PM

No, it wasn't that one. But the authorities are taking a closer eye to things, in Milwaukee anyway.

slamdunkpro · #7 08-13-2004, 04:42 PM

I haven't seen anything in the media, but I do have first hand knowledge of three events.

One was kind of silly, they were running 15 tables with tournaments and up to 20/40 3 days a week. Plus they were advertizing in the paper.

One was a 2 table game, low stakes, the other was 2-3 tables medium / high stakes.

slamdunkpro · #8 08-13-2004, 05:10 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Nothing illegal about a home hame in Virginia unless you are cutting the pot .

[/ QUOTE ]

Not quite so. IF your game has more than 2k going across the table in 24 hrs then you can be charged with a class 6 felony.
VSC18.2-328.

rocky · #9 08-13-2004, 05:52 PM

Thanks for the info. I don't think any of the home games I play at would fall under THAT category for quite a while yet.

kkiely2 · #10 08-13-2004, 06:41 PM

hi, i run homepokergames.com. It's pretty obvious i don't want police anywhere near my site. I received an email from someone in VA asking to de-list his game because it got busted. I assumed it was the same one.

My position on home games is this: if it is a raked game then i think most people dont have too much sympathy for those who get caught. Personally, i dont have any problem with people raking home games. I have attended raked home games, but i prefer not to play in them purely for financial reasons.

For "normal" home games it's a different story. Home poker games have a long tradition in America of being a very safe social activity where people can have fun. Unfortunately, our government doesn't see it that way. Police officers are like anyone else who have jobs - if there is no work for them to do then there is no reason for them to have a job. So they find anything to arrest people for. People who host home games on my site seem to fall into 2 groups: the law-abiding Stepford citizens who are hesistant to list on my site, and the i-dont-give-a-s***-about-the-police group. There's tons of games out there who aren't listing on my site out of fear - i can tell by the paranoia of the people who actually do list. It is merely a matter of risk-tolerance - the ones that are listing on my site are willing to take the risk and accept any consequences.

I dont host a game but i would be in the second group if i did. Personally, I wouldnt mind my game being busted. Busting 10 people for gambling for low stakes in your own home has the opportunity to turn yourself into a martyr. I would just go to the media to get sympathy. Poker is a skill game that is played by 100 million people in this country. But most people don't have the energy/interest/courage to do this. Admittedly, my hate for the government runs stronger than most. Having cops coming into my home to seize my money would piss me off. But the fact is, things aren't going to change unless people get mad. The more raids there are, then the more people will get mad. The cost that the busted home games bear is a nessesary cost to achieve the future freedom we want. Hopefully it will not be for nothing and any raids that happen around the country will be the catalyst for change.

Also, I am planning major upgrades to my site and may try to find a technological tool that would help the hosts' anonymity.

if anyone wants to contact me with any info (including police info) then email me at kkiely AT aol.com