Beware the Home Game

Ok, so I found this disheartening tale via Boing Boing.

The skinny - standard home game setup. A few friends grows into around 100 friends who show up at different times, usually in the range of 6-25 people. Low stakes, range of skills, the usual. Basically a bunch of people looking to have fun and improve. It's 2:30 in the afternoon at the end-of-season freeroll, with around 20 players, and about a dozen armed and and armoured police raid the house. Nobody's sure why... the best guess seems to be the $5 charged for pizza and drinks, although there were apparently some questionable allegations made against the organizer by the cops.

It seems that at least 2 of the cops also played in the game in the preceeding months as they set up this sting. Really? A couple dozen guys getting together to play poker and it warrants an undercover sting operation? Obviously the crime rate in San Mateo is non-existant.

Sigh. 'Tis sad. Although I do have to say - what the hell is wrong with the organizer? From the sounds of it, they just let people randomly show up and say, "I heard about this game, and I'm new in town..." That's a recipe for disaster. Even my club doesn't let a newbie in unless a current member brings you along first (thanks Kat). Even moreso if it's literally a home game. I have one that happens every couple months and sees 20-30 people show up, but the organizer knows them all, or at least knows who brought them. If a stranger showed up, they wouldn't be let in.

But then again, the "danger" of poker is part of its allure.