Poker Game Busted In Atlanta

[Jimako03 0]

Yet the other day I saw a police officer writing people citations for jaywalking. No Joke

I got pulled over by some dike cop because the front of my car was slightly ahead of the white line at a stop sign (I made a complete stop). It was pitch black outside and she driving behind me. Yay for law enforcement.

[CBass1724 1]

phuck da po lease.

[Steamed Rice 0]

yeah, had a buddy that played in that game once - disco inferno was playing that night - the braves player was john rocker (at least that night)

:) :icon_dance: :icon_dance: :D :D

[MSR 0]

yeah, had a buddy that played in that game once - disco inferno was playing that night - the braves player was john rocker (at least that night)

Well that kind of makes the whole thing worth it

[scram 1]

The argument presents a slippery slope... If we would prefer that police "look the other way" in enforcing poker laws in favor of catching drug dealers, should they look the other way for drug dealers in favor of catching rapists? Should they look the other way in catching rapists because they could be out stopping murder?

The order of magnitude that separates crimes isn't proportional- even between Felonies and Misdemeanors. You are framing it in such a way that they are (which just isn't the case). This is Criminology 101 stuff. Basically, all victimless crimes- be they felony or misdemeanor- hover somewhere around the very bottom of importance; crimes that are 'malum prohibitum' in nature- wrong only because they've been made illegal.Playing poker, building a new shed on your property without a permit, etc. Slightly above them in the order of magnitude would be "quality of life" crimes like drugs, prostitution, etc- still lacking in any inherent "evil", but violating against the standards of any given society. These are so rigorously pursued by cops because they are the path of least resistance- easy to create the illusion of "doing something" without having to expend much effort of (non-existent) brainpower. Slightly above them are "technical offenses" that aren't really inherently "evil" but we have legislated against them due to their real potential to create victims.A fairly sharp increase of magnitude happens when you get into premeditated, non-violent crimes that actually involve victims- theft, embezzlement, etc- even though they're more profound than less significant crimes, you still remain very near the bottom of overall magnitude.Then, you have violent or predatory victim oriented crimes- rape, robbery, murder, sexual abuse, etc. Crimes that are "malum in se"- inherently evil. Here, the order of magnitude increases in gross disproportion, many fold in importance over lesser crimes. Kinda like the Richter scale. The difference between a 7.2 and a 7.3 earthquake isn't "only one tenth of a percent"- it is tenfold.If we worked on a scale of 1-100, murder would be 100, predatory rape would be in the high 90's, robbery would be in the 80's, sexual abuse of children would be in the 90's, etc, etc, etc... Then, you immediately drop 50 points of importance to embezzlement, then you drop 30 more points of importance to poker.With finite, limited resources available to any given Law Enforcement agency, it is just patently offensive that so much money and time is expended on solving crimes that are 1's, 5's and 10's in importance when 90's and 100's go unsolved due to "lack of manpower". Then, they have the audacity to rationalize it as "enforcing the law" when in reality, it is left up to them to expend their resources in the most efficient manner, which busting poker games just isn't (in most every municipality save for maybe Maybery)

[ilovejulie 0]

The order of magnitude that separates crimes isn't proportional- even between Felonies and Misdemeanors. You are framing it in such a way that they are (which just isn't the case). This is Criminology 101 stuff. Basically, all victimless crimes- be they felony or misdemeanor- hover somewhere around the very bottom of importance; crimes that are 'malum prohibitum' in nature- wrong only because they've been made illegal.Playing poker, building a new shed on your property without a permit, etc. Slightly above them in the order of magnitude would be "quality of life" crimes like drugs, prostitution, etc- still lacking in any inherent "evil", but violating against the standards of any given society. Slightly above them are "technical offenses" that aren't really inherently "evil" but we have legislated against them due to their real potential to create victims.A fairly sharp increase of magnitude happens when you get into premeditated, non-violent crimes that actually involve victims- theft, embezzlement, etc- even though they're more profound than less significant crimes, you still remain very near the bottom of overall magnitude.Then, you have violent or predatory victim oriented crimes- rape, robbery, murder, sexual abuse, etc. Crimes that are "malum in se"- inherently evil. Here, the order of magnitude increases in gross disproportion, many fold in importance over lesser crimes. Kinda like the Richter scale. The difference between a 7.2 and a 7.3 earthquake isn't "only one tenth of a percent"- it is tenfold.If we worked on a scale of 1-100, murder would be 100, predatory rape would be in the high 90's, robbery would be in the 80's, sexual abuse of children would be in the 90's, etc, etc, etc... Then, you immediately drop 50 points of importance to embezzlement, then you drop 30 more points of importance to poker.With finite, limited resources available to any given Law Enforcement agency, it is just patently offensive that so much money and time is expended on solving crimes that are 1's, 5's and 10's in importance when 90's and 100's go unsolved due to "lack of manpower". Then, they have the audacity to rationalize it as "enforcing the law" when in reality, it is left up to them to expend their resources in the most efficient manner, which busting poker games just isn't (in most every municipality save for maybe Maybery)

Give this man a cigar!!!! Bravo.

[pokerATL 0]

Guys,First time poster, so please don't beat up me up too much. I felt compelled to reply because I liked the string and thought many of you highlight some really good points. The below post is what I wrote in the AJC (Atlanta paper) blog and and I wanted to share and try to set the record straight on some things that have been reported. Also, John Rocker is good friends with Disco and Dan Tyre, but was NOT there that night, and other than coming over to socialize on occassion has never sat down and played. There are a few ex-Atlanta Braves who have frequented the game, BUT no poker pros with any name recognition have ever played in the game. Hope this helps... I have been a regular at the “Monday” game in question for 3 years..9 out of 10 sessions I was there. I was extremely lucky to have plans and missed the raid by a mere 15 minutes. Because of my intimate knowledge of the game, I was able to see first-hand how the police can spoon-feed the media embellished information to over-zealous reporters more concerned with making the six-o-clock livecast than doing any fact finding whatsoever. As many have said the $10,000 buy-in was grossly exaggerated and completely misinterpreted – the facts are the police began sifting through Tyre’s trash (see warrant) and found of all things, a Bluff magazine (poker literature), an inordinate amount of food and beverage containers, and (hold your breath) a flyer promoting an online tournament that one of the regulars was passing out to garner interest in a World Series of Poker (WSOP) main event seat that was being given away by an online poker site. Unbelievably, the Roswell police interpreted this WSOP flyer and the seat valued at $10,000 being given away as a promotional prize as a buy-in to the live game being hosted by Tyre. This mistake in reporting to the media is reprehensible. When the police were pressed on this fuzzy math (i.e. $45,000 seized by RPD, 10K buy in per player should equal 270K) issue by a reporter, the Roswell Sergeant commented that, ummmmm, the investigation was still ongoing…as if some money would suddenly re-appear that they didn’t find after destroying Tyre’s house for 5 hours.There have also been numerous comments made that in essence a home poker game amongst friends is OK, but when it begins to spill over to a “parking lot” than that’s crossing the line. These parking complaints came from primarily isolated incidents and one vocal neighbor who had it out for Tyre – if you don’t believe me listen to the comments from Mary Hager his elderly next door neighbor and the high praise she uses to describe Tyre and his wife. By ALL of his neighbors own admission, there were never any noise complaints predicated around the poker game, and Tyre was extremely respectful and consciousness of his neighbors (oftentimes moving cars if they became too close to a neighbor's driveway). I knew 26 of the 27 players arrested on a first name basis. We watch sports together, travel, hang out, and yes play cards. I wish all of you knew this group of guys like I do…in 3+ years there has not been as much as a shouting match between us. I talked to Tyre’s wife today. She said that what disturbed her the most was holding her 11 month old and watching her front door be bashed in and told to “get on her knees” by a shouting SWAT officer who was wearing a dark hood, goggles, and heavily armed…was this show of force necessary because of knowledge of a card game going on in the basement? Give me a break. After this display of man/fire power not one weapon of any kind was found inside the house (yes, two legally owned guns were found in the impounded cars outside). Instead, they found a highly cooperative group of harmless people who had poker chips in front of them. This investigation was based on bad intelligence and a desperate police force who was willing to pick thru trash (the same tactic used to seize warrants for drug dealers and pedophiles) to shut down Tyre."

[DoinSublime 0]

Unreal.

[scram 1]

I talked to Tyre’s wife today. She said that what disturbed her the most was holding her 11 month old and watching her front door be bashed in and told to “get on her knees” by a shouting SWAT officer who was wearing a dark hood, goggles, and heavily armed…was this show of force necessary because of knowledge of a card game going on in the basement? Give me a break.

When you give 95 IQ community college "certificate holders" access to massive firepower and unfettered authority, do you think they're going to act with restraint? Hell, do you think those moustache-clad ****tards even know what "restraint" is?Think back to high school; think back to the very dumbest "brain-dead" type jocks in the locker room. Now, imagine that those very same slope-browed droolers were given complete authority to run the school and provided firearms to do it; then, imagine that the very smallest wimps who the jocks picked on were given the same authority; that is about par with the prevailing culture in your typical local law enforcement department. They're a pathetic carnival of slack-jaws, small-man complex, bull dykes, mentally ill power seekers, losers who are unable to find employment in any other profession, etc. Until we seriously raise the standards of Law Enforcement in this country, we are going to continue to have "hammer" solutions to problems that just aren't "nails" by any stretch of the imagination. The reason? The people we trust to make decisions regarding the enforcement of laws are just too stupid to decipher appropriate solutions to fluid problems that exist in real time. It is easier for them to simply establish "procedures" for crack house raids and poker games alike, then follow them like the associative thinking, flat minded dullards they are. No different than Koko the monkey knowing how to elicit a banana by behaving in a certain way. Our local police are about on par with this level of "thinking". (Sorry I always rant on these topics, but IMO, it's like the #1 problem in our country. If people really knew how unsavory these idiots were, it would be a different story)

[pokerATL 0]

Scram,While your words are strong I get your point loud and clear...believe me, seeing this raid unfold has changed my entire outlook of how I will ever view anything I see in the news again. Can you imagine sitting in your basement with friends playing poker and seeing this SWAT team come in and yell "FREEZE"...drop your cards or I'll shoot. While I'm being sarcastic, the more this goes on the less far fetched it becomes. A special appeal to all of those from Georgia on this site...just by your association to this website I know you are passionate about poker. Not to get on a soapbox, but you better start voicing your discontent with these home game busts (another raid in Georgia albeit slightly different circumstances took place in Clayton County, 50+ people rounded up) in our state. I think the majority of tax paying, Georgia residents do not want 6 month, trash siphoning investigations going on that basically yielded a bunch of first time offenders with no prior criminal history who are contributing members to society. Please speak up now - these sheriffs are elected officials who need to get law enforcement priorities and budgets back to more important matters. I will try to keep you posted on this story as more information surfaces...

[Dogpatch 2]

I will try to keep you posted on this story as more information surfaces...

I'm definitely interested in hearing more.I posted this here and told my friends at work and the very first question they had was "If it was 10k a player... why was only 25k seized?" (I believe first reports were 25k seized)Anyway, it's nice to have some info from a closer source.

[DCJ001 0]

I'm definitely interested in hearing more.I posted this here and told my friends at work and the very first question they had was "If it was 10k a player... why was only 25k seized?" (I believe first reports were 25k seized)

That's the amount that the cops said that they found at the scene.

[MoChipsPlese 0]

Don't the police honestly have anything better to do. People are getting murdered, assaulted, raped, robbed, molested, and our country is a prime location for terrorist attacks and our police forces are concerned with breaking up poker games.Wow no wonder every other country thinks we are retards...

UberCorrect!

[finztotheleft 0]

I got pulled over by some dike cop because the front of my car was slightly ahead of the white line at a stop sign (I made a complete stop). It was pitch black outside and she driving behind me. Yay for law enforcement.

If you had your headlights on, you probably could have seen the white line.