No-limit robbers (anniversary)

A strong No-Limit player can keep "slapping you around" _ just "lean on" you and keep "leaning on" you until you melt. Of course, that could happen in Limit too ... but, again, not to the same degree.

There's not a man alive that can keep beating on me. I refuse to let somebody keep taking my money ... and all the other truly top players are the same way. An aggressive player might do it for a while... keep leaning on me. But, at the first opportunity I get, I'm going to take a stand and put all my money in the pot.

It's like that little boy who keeps sticking his head up and keeps getting slapped all the time. Well, sooner or later, he's not going to stick his head up any more. So if a guy keeps going on and on and keeps pounding on me ... then me and him are fixing to play a pot.
-Doyle Brunson, Super/System

Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time is enemy action.
-Ian Fleming, Goldfinger

Today is the two-year anniversary of the robbery that destroyed the old New Emory Game. I will always remember the date, the Monday after Thanksgiving.

It comes to mind because as Christmas approaches, more and more people feel the need to have money. I'm posting this as a warning for people to be just a little more careful out there. You don't even have to be playing poker, astonishingly enough, to have your money taken from you.

I've been to plenty of low-stakes games that don't seem very safe to me. Even if you know you're not playing for very much, it can appear otherwise to others if you aren't more careful.

But what I also came out of the experience was learning of the fluid nature of money. It wasn't the end of the world. I made the $700 I lost back in nine days, including a rare winter road win in Vegas in December. I think that's what separates gamblers with bankrolls and the well-meaning public who knows how to grind out the days but doesn't have an inch of that good-ol' American speculator's bone in their body.

Non-casino live play carries a risk that isn't for everyone, even me.

I also write this because Empire has suffered two break-ins and an auto theft at his home, as has been documented here. The holidays are here, so it's on, fellas.

At Limerick Junction over the weekend, Empire implied that what me and Gnome went through (his account here) was worse than his break-ins because of being robbed at gunpoint.

I think that would be true if there was only one Empire break-in vs. one poker robbery. But three times implies a lack of respect on the part of the robbers for my friends' ability to keep their home safe, in a state that looks the other way to the use of deadly force to protect one's home.

Gnome and I immediately ended the possibility of repeat incidents by simply never going to the host's game again and staying away any non-casino game with stakes that would be attractive to thieves. It's much harder to walk away from your home and not return again. Plus your home is your safe place. Where do you go when that's been breached?

I hear the guy believed connected to the theft of Empire's dad's truck has been arrested, so maybe the break-ins will stop. I hope that potential burglars in the future will think twice before trying to circumvent the security steps that Empire will undoubtedly take.

But as for everyone else, we can do our part to not look like a juicy target in a season that puts a premium on having cash for the holidays.