Attempted robbery at Legends Poker Room in Houston stopped by brave security guard, after 12 shots fired in struggle

Texas poker keeps ending up in the news.

First Johnny Chan's 88 Social club in Houston went busto, and closed, and was eventually bought out by another party.

Then Sammy Farha got his ass kicked by a dealer at Legends, right down the street from 88 Social.

Then Doug Polk bought an interest in an Austin-area room.

Now Legends is back in the news again, as a guy came in to rob it, brandishing an AR-15. A brave security guard tackled him from behind, and the two fought on the ground, while the gun kept firing off during the struggle, like you see in TV cop dramas.

Somehow nobody was hit by the gunfire, despite the gun going off 12 times, and the robber was subdued and cuffed.

Story: https://www.pokernews.com/news/2022/...bery-40564.htm


The security guard, Trelynn "Tek" Robinson, dislocated his shoulder in the whole incident. There is a Gofundme for him: https://www.gofundme.com/f/this-man-...ember=16732601 .... and $1458 has been rasied so far, out of the $40k goal.

There were about 50 people inside Legends when this happened, by the way.

https://twitter.com/houstonpolice/st...19482926886916

I was in Houston over the weekend and was excited to play in a Texas room- what with the livestream craziness and all.

I looked on PokerAtlas about noon on Sunday, and Legends had the most tables going by far (7 NL and 7 PLO). I almost thought the app was in error, as the other rooms had one or two tops. So off I went in the Uber. Traffic was a mess because of the marathon, and I got there just after 1. Yup- the 20+ table room was hopping.

Apparently they have free rake (time charge, actually) if you get there before noon, for as long as you stay, so at $12/hour, that's a good deal, hence all the tables. It was no membership charge, though, and free Bud Light (cans). The place is BYOB if you want to bring your own- they'll put it in the frig. Security guard waived me through the metal detector but seemed on the ball.

My Uber driver said the neighborhood was shitty, and I said I wouldn't walk anywhere. I got seated right away and bought in for $300 to test the waters. Max was $1000 I think at 1-3.

So the table was pretty shitty. I always am a bit apprehensive at a new place, but people are the same everywhere. There was one decent player, and one fish (who'd call anything pre), and a bunch of OMCs. Double board bombpots on every dealer change for $10 (you can opt out) and I won one after awhile with AA (set on top, not sure on bottom or what he had). No one else was drinking so I asked for a change to a "party table" tipped the floor $5 and was soon reseated. I don't think he got tipped much, and he was super nice after that. Table still wasn't great but the fish followed me (!), and busted after awhile.

I'd had a bunch of Bud Lights by now, and was up a couple of hundred. Maybe down $100 in time charge though. I needed to eat so got a cheeseburger which was pretty good snack bar type food for $15. Cleared a couple of hundred after food, tips and whatnot.

Watched to football games and Ubered back to hotel around 10:30. I liked the room a lot, and the action was decent. Dealers were great, but their racks contain tips only (no rake), so sometimes they need players to make change which was odd. But then I read this!

Armed robbery attempt with an AK (it was sooted!) fewer than 4 hours after I left. Shots fired. I run good!


I told my friend about this and he said "who would rob a casino?" but that misses the point. These poker rooms are really more like large strip mall stores (e.g a Blockbuster or Mattress firm etc.) Sure, there was a guard and a metal detector, but that was 10 feet(?) from the floor desk and 20 feet from tables, where in a real casino the poker room is hundreds of meters from the door (not that robberies haven't happened.) If a real armed gang came after one of these rooms, a security guard wouldn't stop it.

The security guard when I was there was a pro, and maybe the same guy that tackled the robber 10 hours later, and security seemed fine. It was not a casino, though.

LOL if you were in the room and you are one of these people who donate only like $25.

Pretty incredible when you see a guy in this position making maybe $12/hour put his life on the line. Have to imagine Jsearles is taking a dive here.

Every Card Room I have been to in the Southern Florida area had a local policeman/Sheriff Deputy on guard most of the time. Particularly at night time. I don’t know all the details, but this is at the Card Room’s expense. One night in Fort Pierce, FL I was leaving the room at 2 AM or so and had enough cash that I asked the deputy for a walk to the car. This room was in the middle of nowhere off some highway.

Texas & Florida are certainly similar in the fact that so many people carry guns. I wonder if these rooms in Texas even have the ability to hire law enforcement given the legal ambiguity and what not. Yes, it would still technically be one armed guard, but I think there would be additional deterrent with a law enforcement presence at the rooms. You don’t hear much about the Florida rooms being robbed.

Really courageous job by the security guard. I know when robberies started to happen in a lot of the underground NYC clubs, many clubs moved to cash settlements during the day, either before or after play. This obviously is added risk to the Card Room. Clearly in rooms this public having everyone play off a sheet is not going to happen. Moving to more of a cashless system just isn’t going to work either.

I think this is a case where the legal ambiguity makes things less safe. That is unfortunate. But what a job by the security guard. All the best to him.

Used to live 1 mile from that address….just on the cusp of where the neighborhood turns to shit.

Reports of a second incident this time at 101 Poker in Katy Texas. Perp was shut down before entering the club.

BUMP

Another shooting there, this time shots fired into the building. Someone was almost hit in the head. What a mess this place is.

https://www.pokernews.com/news/2022/...exas-40985.htm

Holy shit what a mess!
looking at google maps and seeing a ton of residential nearby and an elementary school . Looks super diverse considering the businesses in the area. I did notice in the article it said that 2 low stakes games went right back to playing shortly after. If you are gonna play these rooms you have to consider the temperment people are carrying these days and recognize the situations where it could possibly lead to an incident like this. These guys coming in paycheck to paycheck and already dislike someone and then lose their money and have nothing else but their impulsive anger.

that is so scary to think about!!!

if you have to play , you must be super aware and be able to defuse situations as they start to form. You can't be combative , you have to be a friend and tell a guy what he wants to hear to calm it down. Or say nothing and watch a timebomb form as the night goes on. Thats the art of playing in those games. If not, get shot !