Poker Player Goes on a Bank Robbing Spree Again

The 2015 Borgata Summer Open winner Thomas Dougher is in serious trouble with the law again: he’s wanted for multiple bank robberies around the United States. He’s served time in prison for the same crime before.

The 40-year-old Dougher was arrested in 2007 after going on a bank robbing spree spanning at least 6 counties in two U.S states, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Dougher was identified on the surveillance footage of the robberies - he didn’t even try to mask himself - and ultimately was captured in a Virginia hotel in June 2007. He was found guilty and sentenced to federal prison, from which he was released in 2010.

Since he reclaimed his freedom, Dougher has found some success in poker. He won the 2015 Borgata Summer Open in Atlantic City - his victory over the 2,500-player field in the $350 buy-in deepstack event earned him just under $150,000. He has two other cashes listed on Hendon Mob. One for a mere $715 from December 2015 - he finished 117th in the $300+30 No Limit Hold'em Big Stax 300 at the Parx Casino in Bensalem, Pennsylvania. He also came in 134th in the WPT Borgata Open $500 event a year later, winning $2,136. The WSOP website also lists a cash for him from the Circuit that Hendon does not for some reason: he won $612 after finishing in the 427th place in the Choctaw Durrant $365 NLHE Ring Event.

After his Borgata Open win the casino blog described him as a player who mostly plays online but we couldn’t find the records of his online results, unfortunately.

Dougher’s poker career most likely has to come to a halt soon, however - he is once again wanted for multiple bank robberies. His allegedly committed two heists within four days in Atlantic City, one in Northfield, one in Newark, Delaware and another one Pleasantville. Once again unmasked security photos taken during a robbery have surfaced of him, so his capture seems almost inevitable.

These photos are from his Delaware heist where he did not pull a weapon, just handed a demand note to the clerk who complied and handed the robber an undetermined amount of cash.

This is not the first time a poker player with notable results committed serious crimes this year. The most recent example of that is New Zealand poker pro Shane Tamihana being arrested for dealing meth; while the strangest one might be the time this year’s WSOP Main Event casher Jason Funke was brandishing a handgun naked near a church in Las Vegas and was consequently shot by police.