Armed men robbed a poker tournament in Germany

On Saturday afternoon armed men robbed a poker tournament in Germany, getting away with a share of the €1 million prize pool.  A gang of four masked gunmen who were armed with a handgun and a machete ransacked the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Berlin where the PokerStars European Poker Tour’s latest round was taking place and made away with an unconfirmed sum of cash.

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Players and staff at the Grand Hyatt Hotel hid under tables and fled the cardroom as the sound of smashing glass and shouting was followed by the set and backdrop for the live feature table crashing down.  Some poker players received minor injuries during the melee the followed but no one was seriously hurt or injured during the robbery.

There has been much misreporting of the robbery but tournament sponsors PokerStars have released a statement clarifying what actually happened. Contrary to popular rumours, German police stated that no Kalashnikov assault rifles or hand grenades were used during the raid. Thanks to the bravery and quick thinking of one particular security guard the robbers left with roughly €240,000, much less cash than they could have.

Within a few hours of the robbery taking place the remaining 22 poker players were sitting back down to play out the remainder of the tournament with American Kevin MacPhee leading the way ahead of UK poker player, Ketul Nathwani in 2nd place.

Remember that you can qualify for many of the European Poker Tour dates by qualifying online at PokerStars. New online poker players at PokerStars will also benefit from the great welcome bonus which offers you up to a $600 when you first fund your PokerStars account and also a whole host of free poker tournaments, live poker events to qualify for and many other poker promotions and bonuses.

8th March 2010

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Article Last Updated: 14/06/2010 11:58:15

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