Colorado Bar Poker Offices Raided

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Colorado Bar Poker Offices Raided

Colorado gambling investigators raided the offices of an organized poker tour this week, confiscating records, membership lists and other documents of what they claim is an illegal amateur poker operation.

No arrests have been made in what investigators say is an ongoing investigation.

The search warrant targeted the offices of the Amateur Poker Tour in Wheat Ridge. Calls to the poker tour and its officers were not returned.

The tour, which is a registered Colorado corporation, according to investigators, conducts an average of 15 to 18 poker games nightly in various bars, taverns and night clubs around the metro area, from Evergreen to Fort Lupton.

Some of the venues listed on the website are Club Zodiac in Westminster, Deuces Poker Room in Thornton, Teddy T's in Aurora, The Pub on Pearl in Denver and others.

Each of the venues is required to pay the tour $300 each quarter as well as $50 per table per night to host the card games. All of this is legal, investigators said, and the venues try to recoup the fees from profits on the food and drink sales to the poker players.

Colorado Bureau of Investigation agent Ralph Gagliardi, who headed the investigation along with members of the state's Division of Gaming, said the Amateur Poker Tour has roughly 2,250 members.

Of those, about 250 are Gold Card members who pay an annual fee of $199 for the card, which entitles them to play in exclusive poker games twice a month with stakes of $10,000 or more.

It's that portion of the operation that investigators say is illegal.

Players who don't pay the fee cannot participate in the tournaments, Gagliardi said.

Gagliardi said poker is legal in Colorado as long as the players don't have to pay to join a game.

"There are a number of poker operators that are legitimate in the state," he said. "Players can join a game for free, and are given chips for free. At the end of a game, the winner can trade the chips in for prizes, including cash which might come from the operator.

"An illegal poker operation is one in which players pay a fee to play," said Gagliardi. "Social poker games are legal, but when a host or organizer charges any kind of fee for participation, Colorado law defines the game as illegal."

The Amateur Poker Tour's website, www.amseriespoker.com, stated that the Gold Card membership pages have recently been taken down with the notice: "We are currently reviewing our VIP Gold membership program."

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