Florida Poker Game Robbed

Copied from the Triangle Poker Journal

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Florida Poker Game Robbed

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A southside man was arrested Saturday for running an illegal poker room out of his home.

James Lyons, 25, called police about a robbery that happened at his apartment. He told them three to six men, dressed in tactical gear and armed with rifles, busted down the door and took $8,000 and a $25,000 diamond ring. When police got to his apartment, they found his high-stakes poker room.

Lyons admitted to police he was running the poker room inside his apartment at the Reserve of Deerwood Apartment complex off Southside Boulevard. He said he made enough money in the games that he could pay his rent, his car payment, his insurance and his utility bills.

His neighbors said they knew something was going on, but they had no idea it was an illegal poker room.

"When I come in some nights, I couldn't park," said Melanie Parks, who lived in Lyons' complex. "Mainly on Tuesdays and Fridays, there was a lot of cars out here, blocking everyone's spots."

Another neighbor said he saw all kinds of people entering and leaving the apartment.
"You had people of different ages and different backgrounds," Jason Trevett said. "It looked a little strange."

Lyons told police he's been operating the poker room for about four months.