Home Poker Players Robbed And Pepper Sprayed In Portland

A home poker game held in a garage was the scene of a violent robbery in Portland Monday morning, when three armed men took the 18 gathered players for all the money they had.
The incident took place at 3.45am near Southeast 114th Avenue and HolgateStreet in Portland, Oregon, when the 18 poker players were interrupted from their game by three armed men wearing black outfits and masks. The scene must have struck a surreal chord with the victims, whose first reaction was to laugh, seemingly believing it was all part of a carefully orchestrated send up.
It wasn’t long before the players realised that the masked men meant business, though, when one man was assaulted, and everyone was ordered to the floor. One poker player commented:
“They were all wearing black and had masks covering their faces.One of them hit me in the back with a shotgun until I was flat on the floor..The men roughed some of us up and then patted everyone down stealing money, credit cards, jewelry, even cell phones and car keys,” said the victim.
Another of the victims had a gun held to his head throughout the robbery, and after the robbers had collected their haul, they sprayed all the players with pepper spray before fleeing the scene. Despite being shook up, Portland police confirmed that no one had been seriously injured although two men had to be treated by paramedics at the residence.
Police are now continuing with their enquiries, and anyone with any information which may help, is asked to contact police at (503) 823 3333.
In the meantime, the harrowing experience has left its mark on at least one of the victims, who was left feeling vulnerable after the home poker game robbery. He was quoted as saying; “I’m going to stick to the safety of  bricks and mortar casinos when I play cards from now on.”