Armed Gunmen Rob European Poker Tour Berlin Event
You don’t often hear about too many dangerous things going on at poker tournaments these days, but a scary situation unfolded on day 4 at the European Poker Tour Belin €5,000 no-limit hold’em main event when four armed men burst into the tournament registration area of the Grand Hyatt Hotel. The tournament room was immediately evacuated until security deemed the situation safe enough to allow the players back in, only to find that tables, chairs and chips had been thrown all over the place.
The staff of the EPT, under the direction of Director Thomas Kremser, worked quickly to restore order to the tournament and eventually got the event back up and running with 20 players remaining in the tournament. The €1,000 no-limit hold’em event, which was also disturbed by the incident, was eventually canceled as a result. Cameras from EPT Live captured some of the commotion, but quickly went offline went they learned what was happening.
“An armed robbery by six men took place today at EPT Berlin,” said EPT spokesperson Kristy Thompson. “Nobody was seriously injured. We hope to re-start all events at 4pm local time. A police investigation is under way. If you have video footage or photographs that could help the police, please contact the EPT organizers as soon as possible.
The tournament resumed after a few hours and a police investigation is now under way. The tournament is taking place on the first floor of the Grand Hyatt Hotel at Marlene-Dietrich-Platz and is being held by SPIELBANK Berlin Casino.
The police are working closely with the EPT and SPIELBANK Berlin. Police are asking anyone who has information, video footage or photographs that might aid the investigation to contact them.”
