The WSOP is only 2 days old, and we already have 3 reports of laptops and cash being stolen from hotel rooms at the Rio.

http://www.pokernews.com/news/2014/0...ooms-18372.htm

From Twitter:

LAURI PESONEN @oopinlare
Both my and @Jouhkb's laptops stolen from our room at Rio. Everything else, wallets, ipads etc still here. EPT Barcelona again?

JONI JOUHKIMAINEN @Jouhkb
Just found out that the guys also took our sanitary bags and sunglasses instead of iPad&wallets wtf . Whats wrong with this people

MANH NGUYEN @MunMunny
Did that really happen to me? Am I dreaming? Please wake up... Please wake up.

Attention poker players: large sums of money has been stolen out of my room at rio last night.

Later, Manh Nguyen explained:

I came to the Rio for the WSOP with my friend Jimmy Chen. He's a PLO cash game grinder. Jimmy and I checked into the Rio on May 27 around 6:30 p.m. We came to the room and dropped our bags off and went to dinner. When we got back to our room a total of $35,000 had been taken out of our bags. We got back to the room around midnight. Luckily we didn't have all of our money in one spot so all of it wasn't taken. It didn't look like they went through any of my other stuff. Nothing else was taken. Room was not messy almost as if they knew to check the backpacks. I called the police and Rio security and filed a report. I find out that there are no security cameras in the Rio hallways, only in the elevators, and that we are just basically screwed.

During the 2013 WSOP, poker player Eric Songstegard had $3000 and an iPad stolen from his Rio room, in what appears to have been a mixup involving a second person accidentally being assigned his room, and subsequently stealing his stuff: http://pokerfraudalert.com/forum/sho...-from-his-room

Later in 2013, rooms at the EPT Barcelona at the Barcelona Arts hotel were being broken into and laptops had keyloggers/trojans installed. It appears that hotel security was in on it, and Pokerstars helped cover the matter up: http://pokerfraudalert.com/forum/sho...-EPT-Barcelona


A few questions remain regarding these thefts:

1) How come the Rio does not have a record of who entered the rooms? That should be in the memory of the keyreading machine in each door, as it was at the Barcelona Arts.

2) Was there a Do Not Disturb sign on the door? Could the maids have done this?

3) Why did Manh Nguyen leave $35k in his backpack unattended, without even putting it in the room safe?

4) Why didn't these thieves go for the wallets?


I do think there is a fair chance that these guys were targeted by Rio staff members who saw them check in, had accomplices follow them in some way, and then entered the room when it appeared the coast was clear.

It's also interesting how BOTH victims had roommates. Is it possible that it wasn't a Rio employee or outside thief? Unlikely, but possible.


These guys should press the Rio HARD for resolution in this matter, as Eric Sonstegard did. They like sweeping things under the rug.