Poker Players Overpower and Subdue Gunman

An attempted robbery of a poker home game in New Jersey was thwarted when the players being robbed managed to outplay and defeat their attacker.

Thirteen friends had gathered in the basement of a home on Harrell Avenue in Woodbridge Township for a night of poker when Jarvis D. McCloud appeared wearing a mask and brandishing a 9mm handgun. McCloud allegedly broke into the house at around 3:00 a.m. and demanded money from the home game players.

Call Some Friends Next Time

The tables were turned on the would-be robber, however, as the NJ home gamers were able to subdue McCloud and call the police. A resident of Perth Amboy, the 37-year-old miscreant was charged with more than a dozen offenses that included criminal mischief, aggravated assault, burglary, robbery, and weapons charges, NJ.com reported.

No injuries were reported in the bungled robbery attempt. McCloud apparently was working alone and perhaps would have had greater success with some accomplices or back-up.

Odds at 13-1 Plus a Handgun

“There were enough people there that they grabbed him, wrestled the gun away from him and held him until the police arrived,” Woodbridge police Capt. Roy Hoppock stated to Patch.com. “We’re very fortunate no one got hurt. The defendant was the only one with a gun.”

Police continue to investigate the robbery attempt. McCloud was booked at the Middlesex County Adult Correctional Facility in North Brunswick and remains locked up while awaiting a bond hearing.

It Happens

Attempts at robbing poker home games have been met with mixed results for robbers in recent times. A 25-year-old man who tried to grab the loot at a Saginaw Township, Michigan poker home game in 2015 was shot and killed by one of the players.

Last year, however, a robber wearing a horse mask and holding a wooden paddle made off with some $3,500 from a Boulder, Colorado poker home game. A second robber armed with a gun accompanied the horse mask-wearing bandit.