Locals having a private poker game held up by thugs.  Shooting ensues and two people are hit.  One is stable the other dead.  The guy that died is a local business owner who donates a lot to the community.

news article

Tragic events such as this happen every day, and some people in my family still ask me why I am armed 99.9% of the time....

I refuse to be a victim. I will not sit idly by while people attempt to rob, beat or kill me.

Condolences to the family and community of the deceased. It sounds as if he was one of the good ones that occasionally keep what little faith I have in humanity alive.

 I have family members who do the same thing.  It has to be a mental disorder for mine.

You truly never know when or where trouble might find you, but fortune tends to favor the prepared.

I've never understood the mindset of complacency. It's like there's a disconnect with reality with those people, and they really believe that nothing can ever happen to them.

Most of these games have 10-15k on the table, or with the house at one time. They should have had security or off duty security posted.  Chances are it was an inside job, prob an acquaintance of one of the players at the table or a person who previously knew there was going to be a game there.

What really needs to happen is for our State Government to quit pushing their moral conservative agenda down our throats and allow us to play poker in public venues. Then we wouldn't be playing in these games that are subject to being robbed.
But nope Perry, Abbot and their cronies want to protect us from ourselves and the evils of gambling.

My wife went to high school with the deceased.  Just an acquaintance for her, but really hit home with her as her family still lives close to the deceased's graphics business in Missouri City.  

I think it really caused her to rethink her objection to my CCW every day.

Has anyone heard any details on how the incident went down?  I have heard absolutely nothing on specifics; were they shot while resisting, while fleeing, just cold-blooded gunned down, etc.

Be safe and be aware guys.

No doubt it was some sort of inside job. They knew of the game. And they walked in probably nervous and meaning business.

And someone probably went running for the door....or pulled a gun.....or lunged at a gunman...or grabbed their cash off the table and said fuck you....or struggled.....or something genius like that. Just about enough to get killed.

How many idiot guys do you think go to crap like this with sunglasses, a pocket full of money, cigars, and NOT consider bringing a pistol??

In TEXAS....I bet HALF the people in the room were armed if not more... And if you're there in the first place, you're not someone that always makes great decisions anyway so all it probably took was one more bad decision focused around the worship of money and it cost some dude his life.

Totally preventable. Don't be in bad places. Don't break the law. And nothing good happens after 10:00pm.

There is some serious derp in your post.
What equates playing in a poker game like this to making bad decisions in life? I play in games like this regularly. In fact I am playing this Saturday night. I am a business owner who has been married to the same women for 24 years and have raised 2 kids who are now in college. I have never been arrested. Hell, I haven't had a speeding ticket since 1982 and your post implies that since I play in games exactly like the one referenced above that I make bad decisions in life? L-O -FUCKING- L. RIGHT!  About half the city council members in my town play in the game along with numerous law enforcement officers from surrounding departments. And there is NOTHING illegal about our game and we play in a local business office after hours. I know lots of games just like this around here. They are played every night of the week and are attended by community leaders not backroom shady characters.
What makes it a bad place? They were playing in a strip center business in an "invitation only" game. That means it was a group of regular players most likely playing in the business location of one of the players after hours.
Who is breaking the law? Poker is not illegal unless the "house" is taking a rake and I seriously doubt that was the case above.
I am not even going to bother going into lot of the other stuff in your post about 1/2 the players probably having guns, nothing good happening after 10:00 etc.

You are being a jerk.

This happens more frequently than people think. I worked two robberies last year on private poker games that took place at a strip center. Sad deal.

Yep. Big time.

You are one incredible detective. Someone like you should have his own TV show.

At the very least, you should march down to the police station and demand that they let you run this case, because you've got a real gift man.



 

I'm not being a jerk. I'm saying gambling is retirement planning for stupid people and what they were doing was illegal.

The house always makes a take on these games. That's why they exist. It may be called something other than a take in a weakass effort to talk as if it were legal, but it is illegal, everyone knows it, and you're lying to yourself if you think or say otherwise. I've never seen one that wasn't. Heck even college fraternities do this under the guise of social meetings, and they have always been proven as illegal too..

Now, given, its not the crime of the century....but it's illegal.

And sometimes illegal shit attracts more illegal shit... There's a name for it like "crime centergy" or something like that.

I'm NOT SAYING he DESERVED TO DIE... No way I'm saying that. Murder plain and simple. Real shame. Hope they catch the dirtbags that did it!!

All I am saying is...if you don't want to be in harms way to the greatest of your ability.....stay out of harms way to the greatest of your ability..

I left a game one hour before three guys busted in with AKs and a shotgun a few years back.

No your not being a jerk.
Your being short sighted and spewing comments out your ass about something you have no idea about.
Did you read my 1st reply to your post? Here's more.
I run / host a poker game once a month and have been doing so for right at 7 years and have up to 50 players some months. I have NEVER taken a penny for the house. 100% of the money paid for tournament entry fees goes back to the prize pool. It's byob and pot luck food.
I also play in numerous other games aroound the area and this is also the case.
ALL of these games are perfectly legal.
So STFU and take your anti-gambling morality somewhere else as you have no idea what you are talking about and it's making you look stupid.

Here is an interesting read on gambling in TX.
http://www.tdcaa.com/node/2872
http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/PE/htm/PE.47.htm

Not much good happens after 10 and nothing good after midnight and after 2am it all goes to shit in Houston.  4am and the shit heads start going to bed.

Do what you want but this is damn good advice for everyone and especially for young people.

And public places with $10K in cash available have never been robbed.



The restrictions on playing poker isn't your beef; just that the highlighted word exists.

If it ever happens to you in the future, just grab the nearest snake and toss it at them.

LOL
I have morals.
I just believe consenting adults should be able to take part in perfectly legal activities of their choosing free from government interference.
I don't believe another man (or group of men) should have the right to tell other men what they can & cant do when said activity is legal and promoted in other states and is causing no direct harm to others.
That is the problem with a lot of our legislators. They talk personal freedoms but only when they meet their personal agenda.
This falls in line with a lot of other laws and restrictions. Some of those being firearm laws.
I can play the lottery ( I don't), I can go play bingo (I don't), I can go bet the horse races (I have twice in my life) but I cant go to a legal, public poker room? Why? Because its considered gambling and is deemed unhealthy for me?
 

Because the government can't get a cut off of it, that's why.

Not true.
Casinos and Poker Rooms are taxed just like other businesses.
Studies show billions in additional revenue for the state.
Here's a cut and paste from a pdf file
Sorry I couldn't figure out how to link a pdf file off the internet.

This study was done by Weinstein, Clower and Associates for the Texas Association of Business
This is just a small part of the report.


Executive Summary
A recent study estimated that Texans wager close to $3 billion annually on casino games. Unfortunately, all of that spending occurs outside the Lone Star State, depriving Texas of the associated jobs, income and tax revenues. If the state were to add casino gaming to the mix of recreational opportunities available to Texas residents and visitors, billions of dollars in new economic activity and thousands of new jobs would be generated.
The economic potential of casinos in Texas would be maximized by allowing gaming at thirteen existing race tracks, as well as six free-standing casinos and three casinos on Native American lands. Utilizing the IMPLAN input-output model for the State of Texas, we conservatively estimate that once fully operational, casinos would generate $11.8 billion in new economic activity across the state. This spending would increase salaries, wages and benefits by $3.4 billion and support more than 74,000 new jobs. Importantly, these will be new expenditures and not reallocations from other types of spending.
Further, we estimate total new annual tax revenues for the state, when all facilities are operational, at $1.2 billion while local taxing jurisdictions will reap about $416 million annually in new revenues.

Personally I don't buy into all of that economic promotion and job creation bullshit as a benefit of gambling.  Allowing gambling in Texas would keep most of the money going to Louisiana and Oklahoma in Texas however gambling is only a reshuffling of monies from my pocket to yours with the government keeping a share.  Gambling does not produce an actual product.  McDonald's does produce a product even if it is a cheese burger.  That being said I gamble occasionally and think that it should be legalized in the state to keep money in the state.  But please don't blow smoke up my ass about all of the benefits and of how allowing legalized organized casinos in the state will create 74,000 jobs and $11.8 billion in new economic activity as it makes you sound like you work for the CIA, ATF, or DHS and you are giving a report to congress about your broken hard drive.

We can go back and forth about the morality of gambling / poker all day and talk about what advantages and disadvantages it brings to a populace or community. The industry creates jobs and tax dollars but the naysayers say it brings crime and addiction. Both of those have legitimate arguments but the end of  the day what it boils down to is PERSONAL FREEDOM.
The right of consenting adults to spend their time and money on a recreational activity of their choice.
If you don't want to play poker you don't have to but don't tell me I cant.
How many people spend hundreds of dollars a month golfing? shooting? fishing? The list goes on and on.  
And here in Texas that right is being denied thru the decisions of a few men in power who think they know what is best for us.  That is not a working example of a government of the people and for the people. That's a select few deciding what's best for you and I.
This is akin to certain members of our federal government wanting to ban "assault rifles"
I bet that's not a popular platform on this site is it?
I had 2 ex-military members tell me last year they didn't care if the government banned our black guns.
They stated that simply because it wasn't a hobby or interest of theirs. One of them said it while we were playing poker and the other said it of all places at a pistol training class. I cautioned them to be careful of their apathy towards others rights as when mine are taken away I might not be there to support theirs when the government comes to take theirs.
You don't have to like or participate in what activities I choose just like I don't have to agree with what you spend your time doing. But we both need to be aware of the government telling us what we can and cant do with the attitude of they know what is best for us.