A Boing Boing reader says: "This a first-person account of a raid that took place at a home poker game on Saturday. About ten officers in riot gear ran in with guns drawn. Afterwards they took the homeowner's 13 year old and put them into child protection services. Apparently an officer went "undercover" for a few months before the raid. The reason for the raid was a $5 food and drinks chip-in, apparently you can't charge any fee, even if you're spending more than that on food and drinks and cards. No one ever contacted the homeowner and warned them not to collect any fee. Anyway, the whole story in the link. It's on a number of other sites too, such as Reason.com"
This account suggests the police hinted to individual players that the hosts may have been cheating or defrauding them, though that's not apparent in the news accounts. Firsthand accounts on poker sites have only good things to say about the hosts. Of course, even if the hosts were cheating, it wouldn't justify a full-on raid, particularly in mid-tournament. The SWAT tactics seem more like intimidation. Raiding in mid-tournament also ensures there's a $1,300 pot to seize for the sheriff department's general fund.
