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Poker Players Arrested at Moscow airport! Get the Story on  blondepoker (http://www.blondepoker.com)

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Oh my gawd !! :o

$70,000??
Tikay must have robbed a bank :D
I was mislead, it said "poker players"
Was it for smuggling something in a small square box?
Erm, this is a wind up innit?

Well it would explain why we don't know what is in the box still!!!

I do hope that this is a wind up.

oh dear. hope its either not true or that its ok. ive never heard that leaving a country with money is an offence

if you leave the USA or fly in the USA w/ more than $10,000 in cash you are treated like a criminal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Apparently you need to declare it - maybe they didn't!

It is hard to know the "rules" about declaring winnings when it is the 1st time you have ever won w/ out chopping :D

I think customs officials have an aversion to Blue Glasses and pink shirts too   :D


Jo xxx

 :blonde:

seriously, when I came into England this last trip I was searched and when they found the paperwork for the comps I was playing and that little gold thing you wear on your wrist they told me I may need a work permit in the future. When they asked me if I was a poker pro I said ' I think so but you many be hard pressed to find someone who will agree w/ that". They did not laugh :blonde:

Do not make jokes to immigration officials<g>

Although the immigration official wanted to know if I had an obsession with Elvis after he saw how many times I had been to Vegas, when I was stood at the counter in a state of visible excitement :) I thought that was cute.

Declared or not they're gonna want a bung aren't they? Could they not have taken the money to a reputable bank and got them to transfer it electronically?

Reputable Russian Bank?????????????????????

What I want to know is whether this is for real.

I've assumed it was some kind of joke and find it hard to believe it's for real.

ANyone know for sure either way?

it's probably a joke, but i have no idea.
I even looked on reuters :D

spookier and spookier, this sounds like the event he was talking about though the dates are different???

http://www.pokerpages.com/tournament/schedule2009.htm

And the venue - wasn't Tikay in Moscow?

Never looked at the venue, just the russia and team event bit :blonde:

right, it must be this one then.

http://www.pokerpages.com/tournament/schedule595.htm

according to the results nobody won $70,000, certainly not the old fella

That's why they have been arrested then, they done a bank over <g>

Is that not 2001  ?

$150,000 Prize Pool Guaranteed. Free Food and Beverage within Tournament dates. Accomodation at the Hotel Cosmos at the price of $50 per night (Single Room) $60 Double Room. Airport Transfer $15 per person. Sightseeing tours available. Casino Cosmos Guarantees help in money transfer from Russia to a European Bank.

It does say 2001 but I pmsl  with the "guaranteed help" for money transfer. Can I help in the transfer please.

Everything takes ages in Russia to sort out...

SO they might be there for a while then??????

We should get a care package sorted, anyone know what "exact" colour dye he has for the hair?

I will donate a tube of Steradent  :D

hehehe, i'm gonna give up this adding link malarchy

I hope they get it all sorted out soon.

Sounds like the standard Eastern European way of imposing an additional 'rake'.

What's the odds they are released after paying a 'fine'?

I hope its a "cash" fine 8)

last i heard is tikay is still uncontactable himself and ed g where carrying the money they havet replied to any txt messages yet

do you think it's true then iron?

its true that he has been lifted by the ruskies where he is now nobody knows mind you blonde roberthm a legal expert in getting crooks out of jail is currently losing all his money at rob yongs game so tikay will have to make so with some russian lawyer lets hope he doesnt ask if russia is part of the usa

oops, maybe i should edit a few of my posts.............

there home

Phew.........that was exciting! Come on Tikay make ya self a cuppa and tell us what was in the F in Box and trip report! :D

cant wait........................

Wow! All this interest in the 'ol fella.

Full trip report on the way, will take a day or so, but in view of all the interest, I'll give you the lowdown on what happened today. Give me 5 minutes to write it up.

Meanwhile, wsopin06, ifm, dik9, & a few others all get  :redcard:. "Must have robbed a bank, "could not be tikay, they said pojker players", this is intolerable.

sod the lowdown

Nice to have you back safe and sound Tikay  :)

xx

A "Get out of Jail free" card?

we are home,hope tk is not too sore

So it wasn't Vasolene?

can he type any slower??

Hes not even online, Must be checking everythings alright in all depts. :)up

Glad to see you are home safe too Ed :)

xx

You boys do get us worried at times!

Maybe he can only sit at his desk for short periods of time        /:-|     :dd:

You can also hide your status if you amend your profile...though I suspect the cats have eaten him :'(

Good result againts Weymouth Simon.

he took more than 15 minutes to type out the report, but we only wanna know 1 thing:-



[/color]

Better result would be a defeat, as it would've ended Megson's reign

btw, notice I'm offline  :D

Smartarse , lol

I know this is a kind of russian thread, but no need to hijack it already! :D

Not until we know whats in the BOX!!!!

no your not

4 of us - Ted Giddens, Racing Ronnie (that's Ronnie De Bealoux, pronounced, "bollocks" - truly!), Pat Keane, & myself got invited to a TV Tourney in Moscow, at the Shangri-La Casino. NOT a team event, but we travelled as a group, same flights, same hotel, & it was all booked by someone else, more details in the full Trip Report later.

4 heats of 8, 2 from each heat go through to the Final.

We were all seeded into separate heats. Ted Giddens got busted in his heat, I got turned over by Kiril Gerasimov, when his AK beat my QQ all-in. (Well, when I say QQ, it turned out to be 3-5, but these things happen). Racing Ronnie & Pat Keane both finished as runners-up in their heats, & so made the 8 man Final.

The entry fee was $3,000, & the Prize Money was $60k, $30k & $10k. We four all agreed pre-comp to "swap" 10%.

Pat Keane ended up finishing 1st, & Racing Ronnie 2nd. Lovely. Some business was done 5 handed to save $5k each, so Pat & Rionnie bagged a total of $77,500 I think.

So that's $7,750 each due to Ted & me. We had paid our entry fee by cheque, (complicated, details in the TR) so I asked them to give me the cheque back, & take the $3k out of the $7,750, Ted ditto, & thats what was done, so Ted & me collected $4,750 each. So Ronniie & Pat netted $60-$65k, all in crisp new $100 dollar bills.

Our car took us to the airport together, we checked in together, & went throigh all the security gates together except the last one. We got separated in the Duty Free, so Ted went through first, no prob, then Ronnie went throuigh, but he got pulled & searched, they fouind the money, & he got marched away. Ted is watching all this from the other side of the security gate, so phones Pat to warn him.

I go through next, I get pulled too, & have to empty my pockets & bag. No prob, I'm not over the limit, but they take me to the side room too, where Ronnie already is. 5 State Police, 3 male, 2 female. I tell them my story, no probs, they scowl & give me a bit if a rub-down, but release me. I go thriough to departures to join a worried Ted G.

Please note, some discretion is required here - I need to say, I don't know how much Pat & Ronnie had on them.......

Ronnie is in trub though. Full body search, some money is identified, loads of forms to fill in, & he's told he'll be in clink all weekend, in court in Moscow on Monday, & is facing 1 to 5 years. Or, he could pay a $10,000 "Fine"...... Fine is paid out of the cash, forms are torn up, Ronnie is released.

Pat's next. He gets pulled, too. Same drill. Clink all weekend, court Monday, 1 to 5 years, or a "fine" can be arranged. We don't know what's happening, but we have to board now, there is nothng we can do, we board & leave Pat behind. Horrible.

Just before the plane leaves, Pat boards, he's safe. Apparently he got a $9k fine, too.......

So they lost $19k, & obviously, Ted  & me will refund our %'s. Ronnie & Pat refused to take the money back, but they've got no choice, right is right. And poor Pat got pulled at Heathrow too, but no probs there, he was all in good order.

I may be a bit out of order divulging all these details, but I'd told Dave this morning I was in a spot of bother, & he must have told Rhow, who put it on the Main Page of blonde. So really, I don't have any choice but to reveal all, otherwise rumour & conjecture will run rife. My apologies to Ronnie & Pat if this causes a prob, but it seems half the world knew half the story, so I need to put it to bed. None of us knew or were aware there were any limitations to taking cash, which was legally ours, out of Russia.

I gotta say I feel terrible for Pat & Ronnie, but them's the breaks. A full trip report, with loads of interesting bumf, will follow.

Bit of a trip, one way & another. Big ups are due to Pat, Ronnie & Ted, WHAT a time we had, they are all great guys. A few tins of vaseline may be in order though....

OK, now I'll have to set up the lappie, because the pics of the box contents are on that. Bit of an anti-climax, that one, now!

Well I was considering going to their festival early 2006, but probably not now (Not that I'd have $70K on me) :D

Blooming heck!

Glad you and your pals are safe and well - that's the main thing.

Heid
xx

Anyone for the festival frolicks in February? Bring your own box!

Glad  everyone is OK sounds like fun had by all !

Knowing what we now know, I would not hesitate to return, but obviously, we'd all do things differently. I remain committed, unless there is a change of plan, to return to Moscow in late January for what I think will be a great Festival. The Casino is just awesome, so is the hospitality.

http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2005/08/01/011.html (http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2005/08/01/011.html)

Some required reading for those planning to take money out of Russia. You can take up to $3,000 out with you no problems. Up to $10,000 is OK provided you declared it on the way in.

Interesting quote - 'Skibinskaya said a traveler who unwittingly showed up at customs with more than $10,000 would be asked to leave the excess amount with customs. He will be issued a receipt and can claim the money upon returning to Russia, she said.'

Though, of course, that doesn't account for customs officials looking for a quick way to make a few thousand dollars in a hurry...

I think probly your age helped you escape the same conditions as the other two presented with Tikay..  



Good to see your back safe and well..:3some:

$19,000 fines?

What for?

Sounds like corrupt police to me.

The day you catch me in Russia, playing poker, is the day hell freezes over. 

OK, just one more.....

[attachment deleted by admin]

The day you catch me in Russia, playing poker, is the day Russia doesn't freeze over. 

oops, that last pic is on the wrong thread, sorry.

Playing poker in Russia? Yeah, we had a spot of bother, but I would not have missed it for the world, we had a bundle of fun too. Life's for having a little edgy fun.

Mind you, this is me after they confinscated my shoes at Security, they gave me these blue polythene thingys to put on my feet. Least, I think thats where I was supposed to put them.

[attachment deleted by admin]

Here's the very proud winner, Pat Keane. Pat is Chief Executive of CelebPoker. It was easily the biggest comp he'd ever played, & he played out of his skin. A big up to him. The field included Kiril Gerasimov & Evgeny Kavelkinov, both of them are world-class.

[attachment deleted by admin]

Here's Kiril Gerasimov (left) post comp, playing a little $300-$600 online. He's a lovely fella, but don't mess with his blinds. I had 5 attempts during the comp, the score was 5-0. To him.....

Later, a HUGE cash game went off in the VIP room, with over $50k in front of every player, one guy had $270k in front of him!

[attachment deleted by admin]

Who's your tailor, Stevie Wonder?

[attachment deleted by admin]

Think i'm straight again....

Horrible story, every sympathy for those involved.

Most countries have very strict rules with regards to taking money in and out of the country. In the USA, and many other countries you have to declare any amounts over $10,000. It Is not a problem to travel with more than $10,000, you just simply have to declare it. All it takes is 10 minutes to fill out a form.

In Russia the law is different. You are not allowed to take more out of the country than you take in. On entry you declare how much you have, and when you leave you cannot take more than this. It’s simple. It’s the law. And if you break the law you have to pay the consequences.

If you go to Russia and win money there you need to arrange for the casino to make a wire transfer to your bank account. It’s the only legal way of getting the money out.

An expensive lesson learned.

Jon Shoreman

Jon, thanks for that clarification. It will come in handy for when the Brits bring the money home in early February! I can honestly say, none of us were aware of this. Ignorance is bliss. Expensive, too.

Or buy a Premiership football club ;)

When this story hit the room at Rob Yong's house last night. We found out that the ones with the most winnings were given total $19k "fines", one bright spark says "Good job tikay doesn't win much then". Can't remember who said it of course, ask sloopy, he may recall  :D

Get your hands out your pockets, stand up straight, and tuck your shirt in

 and you wonder why they picked on you guys LMAO

Just got PokerEuropa throught the post and was interested to read the article that says you guys were warned numerous times not to take cash through customs.

 ;ifm;

Yes, I read the article.

I was not warned, but then it was not me that won the money, (I just got my 10% share) or carried much of the money. I went home with about $5k, roughly what I went with. I have no idea if the guys who carried or won the money were warned or not. I told the truth to the Customs guys, showed them the money I was carrying immediately, got given a sermon and a warning, end of story.

I do know this. I'd return to Moscow any chance I get. The Shangri-La Casino was stunning, & I loved every minute of my time there. We were treated like royalty, the owner, & Mr Power, were magnificent hosts. They have a tourney at the end of this month, & if I could find a way of financing it, I would be there. I was actually invited to play in the Tourney, but the adverse publicity has probably killed that stone dead. A shame indeed.

did you go back this year tony?

i wouldn't have thought he would risk it....

"hello mr kendall welcome back" as you hear the gloves snapping back on

damn.........spotted the title , the thread starter and number of pages and assumed Rhow was holding auditions
 ;scarymoment;

Noi, I never returned, though if invited, I'd be there like a shot. Going to Russia without an invite is very complicated indeed, one needs "Vouchers" from someone who has invited you, & Hotel Bookings need to be agreed before Visas can be issued. You cannot "just" go to Russia, you won't get in.

Getting my Visa was comical. Queue outside the Embassy is method one, don't bother. The queue is 200 yards long, you stand on the pavemnent, & the little window only opens for 3 hours per day.

While queuing, flyers for local Travel Agencies who can organise a Visa within 24 hours are handed out, so off you trot, pay them £100 over the odds (a bribe in effect) & hey presto, you have a Visa.

Method three is best, & I have used this too. Meet a guy called ....... from the Embassy in a local pub, give him your Passport, (dodgy, yes....) return in 4 hours with a £75 "fixers fee" & you have your visa. Bizarre, but it works.

A sad PS to the whole story though.

I got invited back, as did Edy G, Racing Ronnie & Pat Keane, though I'm not sure if Ronnie or Pat would risk returning, as things got a bit hot between them & Russiian Customs officers, & they got conned out of a heap of money.......(Edy & I somehow got through OK eventually without any financial loss, except a reduction of our % in the other two, who's winnings got diluted by the Customs boys).

The intermediary who invited us the first time, & then again, was a Marketing genuis, great guy, early thirties. He got killed in a light plane crash over Northampton a few weeks later. A real tragedy, he was a smashing guy.

So many stories, so little time.......

 you sure the winnings were '' diluted '' by customs ?? sounds like a likely story to me

Well, call it what you will, they were "fined" about $30,000 in total, & they paid up, being a better alternative than the threatened weekend in a cell, court appearance in Moscow at 9am Monday, & looking at 7 to 9 years inside! Having paid the "fine", all the papers were ripped up, & they were free to leave. The Customs Boys had a good night......

 ill bet they did , bummer

There's a few nice places to play poker if you're in Moscow - and it's not really that hard to get a visa, though as tk says you don't want to be messing about trying to do it yourself (especially through the London embassy - I think the consulate in Edinburgh is easier to deal with, or used to be at least). I've used Russiadirect.net to get a visa, and their service has always been very good. If any one was going back to play in a tourny i'd recommend them - they might also be able to help with questions about getting your money out - having a business visa might be better than a tourist visa, for example. If I remember rightly though, customs don't actually check or ask to know how much money you're taking in, so the main thing (as you found out...) is not to try and take more than 10k out.

I agree with prettty much all of that.

Moscow is just wonderful, & plenty of nice Casino Cardrooms.

The law, as I understand it, is that you cannot take out more foreign currency than you take in. The problem began for us because we never realised we should have declared our cash when we arrived - we did not. We were also ignorant of what we could take home, but this problem was made worse by not declaring what we took in. So it was much of our own making, caused by ignorance, but the fact that we were "informed on" did not help. (How else can it be explained that 4 of us, queueing seperately at the Airport, were the only 4 to be searched?).

For future reference, "winnings" can be wired home.

I'd love to return.

You might be right tikay, but first and foremost the rule is that you can't take out more than $10k in one go, however you do it, even by a bank-to-bank transfer. Not a problem I encountered from my poker days there - thought the pots at 4-8 limit in some places are like nothing you've ever seen..!

Our problem was two-fold.

1) We never knew we had to declare how much cash we were bringing in.

2) We were taking home $90,000........

Recipe for trouble, with hindsight.

did you get a go on any trains while there i hear there is one that will take you all the way to asia

and its also possible to get to south africa only having to change train 4 times

The Train Station in St Petersburg is named "Moscow Station" because it goes to Moscow, & in Moscow, they use the same logic. Could get confusing......

I spenty two whole days in St Petersburg - sorry - Moscow Train Station, in St Petersburg, just soaking up the atmo. Ditto when I was in Moscow.

I did the same in Helsinki with Jen, & even sat in a train to get the atmo, but Jen got bored after 2 hours. She's a girlie.

Even so she's got stamina!! Its 1 hr and 59 minutes longer than i would have lasted ;)

Here's a fact you might be interested in.

Major train stations in Russia are known as 'vokzal', after Vauxhall in London, because the terminus of the first Russian railway at Pavlovsk (from St Petersburg) had a pavillion at its entrance, which was modelled on the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, and became known as the Vokzal. Over time this name was used to refer to the whole building and, as the railway network expanded, the major stations in big cities were called vokzals, with a separate word for smaller stations.

Fascinating!

Dont know if this was a stupid dream but when i was younger i always wanted to learn russian. I dont know why but it was a language that just spoke to me somehow and have always had a dream about driving from one side of russia to the other. That really is my major life goal, or at least up there with the best of them. The reason i dont think it will happen is just because of the corruption aspect to the country and the safety issue. I feel it would be the last journey i would ever make if i were to embark on it. Im fascinated by the transiberian highway and the road of bones and just the total isolation. They never had to tie the prisoners up who built the road coz it was quite simple, there was nowhere to go and you would die. I just cant imagine a place so vast, would be amazing.

Russian grammar is very complex so I've heard, lots of verb forms.

Although apparently not as complex as getting your winnings out of the country without being bent over (so to speak).

Like welsh.

I believe russian is seen as the 3rd hardest language to learn, welsh being 4th or 5th

I've heard the grammar is the hardest to master.  But that was from a uni lecturer who spoke over 12 languages!  I guess it depends on the language(s) you already speak and have studied. 

True.
But aslo there is a hell of a difference between speaking a language and being able to write in that language. There is no definitive language that can truly be said to be harder than others (although i believe mandarin is pretty much accepted as being the hardest) due to the different factors that are involved in defining a language "hard".

I'd say that Chinese is easier to learn to read and write than Japanese.  But conversational Japanese is far easier to learn than spoken Chinese (Mandarin or Cantonese or whichever other 'version').  That's from a native English speaker's point of view.

I'd imagine Welsh is pretty hard to learn - just because so few people speak it and therefore the opportunity to practice and learn is limited.  Same with Dutch apparently.  A friend of mine worked over there for quite a few years and wanted to learn the language - but whenever he tried to use it, people spoke in English to him.

Although i have always been in what we call in wales the "bilingual" unit, meaning you are taught in welsh and english i didnt naturally pick it up from that. my mum and all of my nans side speak welsh and it was only in uni i really felt the urge to try and learn so 2 of my flatmates (girls) always used to gossip in welsh so i wouldnt understand but i asked them to speak more welsh so i could pick it up. So again i know how the grammar side of welsh works but i wouldnt be able to write this post in welsh. Instead i undertand what people are saying e.g dewi speaking it to me in apat cardiff but again because he is from north wales their dialect is totally different from the west wales one im used to so is very hard to decypher what he's saying.
Im sure as you have learnt other languages such as japanese you would pick up welsh quicker than the majority. Kaz is a much better speaker of welsh than me as she went to welsh lessons and has learnt how to address people properly but i use more slang and wenglish (half english- half welsh)

You couldn't understand Dewi because he was lashed.  He couldn't understand what he was saying!

Its gonna be a good craic at BB4. We'll have some drinks i tell ya!

welsh might be the 4th or 5th hardest to lear but its also the number 1 most pointless language to learn