NYC Poker Raids: Celebrities In The Cross-Hairs

READ MORE: New York City Poker Raids, Poker, Robert Iler, The Sopranos

We’re declaring a state of emergency in NYC, as yet another illegal poker room got busted yesterday. This one had the balls to dub itself “Ace Point Backgammon Club & Chess Studio,” which leaves us with imagery of old men discussing the virtues of the Winawer Variation in opposition to the Nimzo-Indian Defence. Not so much. And, in a gleefully reported bit of bad luck, a celebrity had the ill fortune to walk into the club mid-raid. The New York Post reports:

“”SOPRANOS” bad-boy Robert Iler was almost dealt a bad hand early yesterday morning when he strolled into an illegal Upper East Side gambling den looking to play some poker — only to find the NYPD in the midst of busting up the game, cops said. Seven card dealers were nabbed for allegedly promoting gambling, but Iler — who plays Anthony Soprano Jr. on the hit HBO series — and about 30 others were let go after officers ran their IDs for outstanding warrants. Cops stumbled on the high-stakes poker room after receiving a 911 call complaining about “a disorderly crowd” in the fifth-floor apartment at 328 E. 61st St. that houses the Ace Point Backgammon Club & Chess Studio. They found card players huddled around seven gambling tables, police said. As they placed the dealers under arrest, Iler and two friends — in a case of exceptionally bad timing — walked in, presumably to try their hand at lady luck, police said”

Marijuana possession, jacking Brazilian tourists for $40, and now illegal gambling? Insert-Sopranos-related-thug-joke-here.

Gossip [New York Post]
Robert Iler [Wikipedia]