In a disappointing start to the World Series of Poker this week, poker players who had travelled to Las Vegas for the epic tournament reported thefts of money and laptops from the Rio Hotel where they were staying.
The complaints, especially from Finnish players Lauri Pesonen and Joni Jouhkimainen, had an eerie deja vu quality about them, recalling for many the intriguing theft and return of laptops at the European Poker Tour Barcelona last year (see previous reports).
Adding to the mystery, the Finnish players reported that other valuable mobile devices and even their wallets were left untouched in favour of their laptops and sunglasses.
On Thursday Pesonen tweeted that his and Jouhkimainen’s laptops had been taken. “Everything else, wallets, ipads etc still here. EPT Barcelona again?” he wrote.
It does not appear to be a case of the Finns alone being targeted; Manh Nguyen – also staying at the Rio – reported that $35,000 had been stolen from his room.
“I called the police and Rio security and filed a report,” Nguyen later told Poker News, adding that he subsequently found out that there are no security cameras in the Rio hallways, only in the elevators.
The surprising element in the reports is the trusting nature of players who, even after the much publicised Barcelona rip-offs, are still sufficiently complacent to leave large amounts of cash and valuables unsecured in a hotel room.
A long discussion thread at the twoplustwo forum shows that other players have some quaint ideas on the best way to protect valuables when travelling:
A spokesman for the Rio Hotel later assured guests that hotel management takes this sort of allegation very seriously and has instigated an investigation in collaboration with the local police.