Poker Pros Robbed Of €4,000 Then Attacked With Machete In Barcelona

A few days after the dust has settled on the EPT Barcelona, some interesting news has also emerged regarding the bizarre robbery which took place on the sideline of the tournament.
Apparently, poker pros Carter Phillips, William Reynolds, Kevin Stani and Kayvan Payman were in Barcelona on Wednesday 24th November, ahead of the start of the EPT Barcelona, when Canadian pro Kayvan Payman was robbed of €4,000.
However, that was only the start of the bizarre events which followed after the group of poker pros had left the hookah bar where they had been drinking until 6 a.m.
As the group were walking back, Kayvan Payman got ahead of his friends and before long found himself surrounded by local thieves who then pick pocketed him out of €4,000 before escaping via a close-by subway station.
After the rest of the poker pros realised what had happened and gave chase, the thieves were able to shut the station’s security gate and hide while the pros tried to acquire assistance from staff at a local closed restaurant. That’s, however, when the situation became even more bizarre and as  William Reynolds explains:
“(One) is holding a frying pan and the other is holding an 18in machete. I’m like wow these guys really want to help us. I approach the man with the machete attempting to talk a mix of simple English and Spanish when all of a sudden he comes at me with a Steven Segal kick straight to my chest that connects.”
“He than begins to assume the role of Zorro and starts thrusting the blade directly at my heart with his first attempt making the smallest of contact. While he is doing this I am not trying to fight back and just continue to move back with my hands up in the air reaching for the sky in this little enclosed spot.”
“At the same time the man with the frying pan is trying to crack Payman’s skull. The two guys we were trying to get help from end up causing more harm than the robbers. This entire time my eyes are fixated on this crazy Spaniard and his machete. Eventually the 2 realize we are not trying to fight back and go back inside their locked store.”
Fortunately, the group suffered no major injuries but found the whole bizarre series of events unnerving. Carter Phillips even exclaimed he would consider no longer travelling to poker venues outside of the US because of the perceived risks involved.
However, after the excitement has died down Phillips has subsequently acknowledged that “part of the night was definitely self-inflicted on ourselves and could have been avoided.”