Greg Mueller, a poker pro from Vancouver, BC, is a former professional hockey player, and not the best guy to try to steal chips from, as a robber at the Aria hotel and casino in Las Vegas found out a few nights ago.
After Day 1b of the Epic Poker League Pro/Am event, where Mueller finished the day as chip leader, he went to the Aria to shoot some dice with his good friends Shawn Buchanan and Kyle Wilson.
As Mueller rolled dice he had his chip rack sitting directly next to his left hip. A character described as “shady” was floating around the craps table, watching, giving off a little bit of a suspicious vibe. Next, Kyle tells Mueller, “Count your flags!” That’s when Mueller noticed that one of his 5k chips was missing, and the “shady character” was walking off in the other direction!
Mueller and his large friend Kyle Wilson were in hot pursuit of the robber through the Aria casino. Kyle got a hold of the robber at first and ripped his shirt clean off, but the robber kept running through the casino shirtless like a gazelle fleeing two hungry lions on the African savanna! In Mueller’s words, “It was like Frogger, when he’d turn my way, he’d kind of freeze for a second”.
It wasn’t long before Wilson and Mueller were upon the robber outside, holding his face pressed down into the pavement. “Ship the flag and I won’t do anything to you!” At which time the robber, handed over the $5K chip.
The police soon took over and Mueller walked back to the table, relieved at getting his money back and ready to shoot some more dice. In Mueller’s words, the $5k chip wasn’t a lot of money to him, but he hates when people try to steal from him. He was prepared to chase the guy back to LA if he had to! His friend Kyle later said that he never saw the $5K chip actually get taken, but he knew something was up when he saw Mueller’s rack shake for a second!
The robber obviously chose the wrong person to rob, and will now deservedly be making his way through America’s outdated criminal justice system. It’s unknown yet how much jail time the thief may be facing. For now at least, thanks to Greg Mueller and Kyle Wilson, there is one less sticky fingered thief out loose on the streets of Las Vegas.