Brazil News
PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil – A gang of armed men assaulted a Brazilian poker club in Porto Alegre on Thursday night, taking hostages and robbing employees and patrons, reported online news media. Located in the posh Moinhos de Vento neighborhood of the capital, the card club is a popular destination for poker players.
Brazilian Poker Club Robbed
According to police, at about 11 pm, ten men stormed into the popular Ypiranga Texas Club taking about 50 people – including both employees and patrons – hostage. The robbers took over $5,000 dollars in cash, plus jewelery, laptops, cell phones, backpacks, purses and digital cameras.
Witnesses described the gang of armed men as being young, mostly appearing less than 22 years old. The robbery lasted about 40 minutes. The robbers did not injure anybody during the assault. They fled in two cars.
One media outlet reported that one of the getaway cars crashed during the early morning hours and that police recovered many of the items stolen during the robbery. Police made no arrests as of Friday afternoon.
The Brazilian Poker Scene
Wagering on games of chance is illegal in Brazil, where there are no casinos. Poker however, a game of skill, is legal and card clubs have proliferated over the last decade as poker became popular worldwide.
You can find poker clubs in most major cities: such as: Porto Alegre, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Recife and Belo Horizonte. Internet, clandestine and home games are also popular, especially in locations without licensed poker clubs.
Brazil has been a stop on the Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) since its start in 2008. By then, thanks to cable television and the internet poker boom, the game gained a strong foothold in the country – there is even a Brazilian version of Poker Player magazine.
Brazilian poker players, such as: Jose “Nacho” Barbero, Alexander Gomes, André Akkari, Felipe Ramos and Veronica Dabul – considered the top female player in South America – have all made a mark in the international poker scene.
