College Park illegal cardroom robbed

Here we go again.

A couple of years ago the Fairfax County Police got a hard on for raiding poker games that took a rake.  Then when they ran out of games to raid in their jurisdiction, some enterprising young fellows started robbing games throughout the area.  Then it got quiet for a while and all the local operators got paranoid.

We appear to have some entrepreneurs again, and the method is similar to the previous spate of robberies.

Late one night last weekend in a quiet College Park neighborhood,
police answered a call about an armed robbery. Once there they found
what looked like the center of a professional gambling ring. They also
found 12 men, missing their cash, their cellphones — and their pants.  See WP article

The discussion on the local forums says the pants tricks is just to save time.  Last time games were robbed the robbers didn’t want to take the time to pat everyone down, so they just took their pants.  These aren’t speculation, this is what the previously robbed home game players said happened to them.

Ironically enough I just found a new "Big Game" here in town and have planned a trip out with some buds for Thursday night.  I was comforted when the owner described the approach as having security cameras that monitor you up the stairs as you approach.  I’ve got plenty of poker going on now, so I’m not really in need of that level of risk in my life right now.