The Berlin Poker Tour was the target of a brazen robbery on Saturday. The balaclava masked robbers entered the
Grand Hyatt Hotel with the intent of taking home the prize money reported to be as much as 3.68 million euros. The gang brandished machetes and a pistol and went about stuffing the cash in bags and threatening employees. Chaos ruled the floor as the security forces attempted to stop the thieves from completing their mission. Dramatic footage from the operational cameras shows a brave very big security guard throw a large object at one of the robbers, and then wrestle the individual to the floor almost exposing the armed robber's face in the process. Another thief ran to his accomplices aid and brandishing what looked like a large pipe made the security guard let go of the thief and run away. The armed thugs are reported to have removed between €100,000 and €300,000 from the event. Fortunately only a few minor injuries were incurred during those tense moments. The Berlin Poker Tour is the biggest and most well attended poker events ever to take place in Germany. The cameras were rolling during the episode and the actual footage is available on the net. Those who were watching day four of the tournament saw the robbery live around the globe on the internet. Nine hundred and forty five poker players assembled in Berlin for what turned out to be more excitement than some of them bargained for. Germany has never seen such a turn out for poker ever before with even tennis star Boris Becker taking part. Kevin MacPhee the online qualifier took home the 1 million euro top prize. It's a good thing no one was seriously injured during this raid and it's a good thing they didn't get all the money. One wonders about the effectiveness of the security team and how much protection that large amount of money had.
