Texas police have made two arrests in the shooting of poker player Tom ‘3betpanda’ Steinbach, one of the detained suspects named as a security guard employed by the Texas Card House outside of which the incident happened late last month.
Popular poker player and Instagramer Tom ‘3BetPanda’ Steinbach was shot in the back as he left the Texas Card House In Austin with a friend, luckily surviving the ‘potentially life-threatening injuries’ sustained during the robbery-gone-wrong, and prompting Bill Perkins to offer a $10,000 ‘no questions asked’ reward for his assailants capture.
Detective Ennash of the Austin Police Department robbery unit spoke at a press conference yesterday, stating:
“We have made two arrests… Jermaine Patrick Spirlack, a 41-year old black male… and Charles Clines-Martinez, a 24-year old black male.”
Spirlack has been named by police as the shooter in the robbery, “with the assistance of Mr Martinez” – the police investigation which finally led to the arrests involving numerous different agencies, including various Austin P.D. departments, San Antonio P.D. SWAT teams, the US Marshall Service, and the Unites States Secret Service among others.
Police believe Martinez was the ‘inside man’ – working that evening - who passed the information to Spirlark that the poker players were leaving with money, and a press release from the cardroom in question confirms that Martinez was ‘a contracted security officer for Texas Card House through Champion Security’.
There was no mention of Perkins’ $10,000 reward being a factor in the arrests.
A gofundme campaign to help Tom’s recovery from his serious injuries – which includes a 10 inch scar from his life-saving shooting operation, has to-date raised $8559 of its $25,000 goal.