In an article authored by the German news outlet Spiegel, Police Chief Rainer Wendt labeled the four armed gunmen who plundered the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) stop in Berlin over the weekend “small-time crooks.”
New details on the buzz worthy event have dribbled in since the incident took place on Saturday afternoon at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in the German metropolis. Text found on the PokerStars Blog shed light on the weaponry used in the high-stakes heist, which has captured worldwide headlines: “The police investigation so far has shown that the suspects had a handgun and a machete. Contrary to tabloid reports, no Kalashnikov assault rifles or hand grenades were used.” The tournament’s organizers added that the amount of cash removed was “substantially less” than numbers circulating cyberspace.
According to Spiegel, the security force at the casino was unarmed and those who responded to the distress call were small in numbers. Despite ending with no injuries, the robbery may spark a revamp in casino security. Wendt offered up the following helpful advice to the German news media: “A few guards and a hotel intern are not enough. That was really quite negligent.”
EPT Berlin Main Event winner Kevin “ImaLuckSac” MacPhee echoed the questionable security practices in a post on the popular poker forum PocketFives.com: “I honestly thought we should have stopped play. It was a pretty freaky thing to have happen, especially considering the poor planning of the tournament area… no exits, lots of panic, stampeding, screaming, and crying.” It was the EPT’s first stop in Berlin.
A 36 year-old security guard on the premises in Berlin, Roman, told another German news outlet that he made the attackers pay for their misgivings: “That guy for sure has trouble swallowing now.” Another attacker, purportedly armed with a machete, ran at Roman, who threw him to the ground. Roman recounted the media: “He did not say a word. As a civilized Middle-European, you don’t just break the necks of people like this, so I tried to [keep] him on the ground.” Roman added that he wasn’t carrying a weapon at the time because tournament officials asked him not to.
A separate Spiegel articled hinted that €800,000 may have been lifted from the scene and a PokerNews.com reporter dubbed the event “The blackest day in the history of German poker. Probably the biggest nightmare at a poker event that world has seen so far.” Claudia Sommerey, who was outside of the tournament room at the time, explained to Spiegel that security personnel subdued the bandits with ropes making up the line in the tournament registration area. She hid under a table before frantically calling police.
An article that appeared on CBS News revealed that following the robbery, the gunmen exited through a shopping mall. Appearing on CBS’ “The Early Show” on Monday morning, MacPhee recalled, “There was a lot of panic in the room that day and then we were asked to come back and play for €1 million. It was very unusual.” MacPhee was seated at the television table when the skirmish occurred. He noted, “The actual TV stage started to collapse.” Hands were brewing when the robbery took place, leading to chips being strewn about the tournament area as bedlam erupted. The robbery was also discussed on Monday’s edition of ESPN’s “Around the Horn.”
After a three-hour delay, the EPT Berlin Main Event resumed sans EPTLive, whose transmissions were cut off for the day. MacPhee went on to defeat Ilari Tahkokallio in the finals of the tournament on Sunday.
Police were able to collect DNA samples from one of the robbers and a bag containing €500,000 was reported to be found by a Hyatt staff member. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest EPT Berlin robbery coverage. Read more about the EPT Berlin robbery.
