Overseas/Offshore Safety

[itlegacy]

During recent interview of Vince Van Paten ["Best Damn Sports Show Period"], I was reminded of the issues we US citizens face when travelling overseas. He mentioned that [1] Aeroflot casino was robbed by armed men, gaining access to high security areas in the facility, everyone's money was taken, and [2] that "charming" co-owner of the casino in Costa Rico who won the big tournament stole/robbed the casino of everything and it was shut down.

Here's one of many sites you should review regarding your destinations; leaning all you can PRIOR to leaving our shores.

http://travel.state.gov/travel/tips/safety/safety_1180.html

Be aware and safe out there folks.

 

[puppyfeet]

Good post and thank you for the link, IT!


I would like to add that people should be careful when planning games at home, too, and I'm not talking about the police coming to shut down your home game!

A few years ago here in Austin (which is hardly what you would describe as a high-crime city), there was a rash of robberies of poker games happening around town, with the targets ranging from MTT's to small home games.

The tourneys were targeted probably because they used the internet (chat rooms, bulletin boards, etc.) to get the word out about the games as well as word of mouth, which means that anyone could've gotten wind of a place where there would be a lot of people in one room with plenty of money and decided to rob it. So if you're planning on having a small tourney, think about that when you're figuring out how to get the word out about it!

The cops also recommended that if you and your buddies have a weekly (or monthly, whatever) home game that you switch up the location of the game as well as the day that you play it on (in other words, don't play every Friday at 7 pm at Fred's house, move it around!), and be wary of allowing in players that everyone at the table doesn't know pretty well. And leave expensive jewelry, watches, credit cards, etc. at home when you're playing, or it could disappear along with your cash.

I didn't mean to thread-jack, but just wanted to point out that while you're thinking about being safe playing cards overseas to not neglect thinking about being safe at home, too!