Poker round escalates - Dealer strikes

The ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas is a well-known address in the American gambling metropole. A few days ago it came to a violent quarrel between a dealer and a gambler. The incident happened in the poker room of the building. The explosive issue was ,that according to information, the dealer also took part in the violent brawl.

This incident involves the Casino employee Leandre “Patches” Wharton, who is very well known in the gambling business. Wharton lost his job because of the brawl. However many supporters of the dismissed dealer have now started a GoFundMe-Page, to collect donations - and they are successful. It is a real exception that it came to a physical conflict in the luxurious ARIA Resort & Casino. The brawl happened some days ago, when a fight between an unknown Poker player and the dealer escalated. Several witnesses reported that the gambler insulted and made racist comments about the dealer Dealer Leandre “Patches” Wharton who is well known in the gambling business and then he exerted physical pressure on him. The reason for the fight is till now not known, although meanwhile several videos which document the fight have turned up.

Other poker players want to mediate

As can be seen in a YouTube-Video, dealers und players do not behave demurely with one another. They obstruct each other several times and both parties often come to blows. The video sequence, however only started being filmed, when the fight had already started, so that one cannot definitely judge, who started the aggression first. One can however see that several poker players who were bystanders also entered the scene after a few seconds and they wanted to separate the two brawlers from each other. They succeeded in fact after a minute. Subsequently several eyewitnesses reported that most of the aggression came from the players. The dealer had, among other things, previously been subjected to racial insults. In addition, according to the eyewitnesses, the player had attacked the dealer physically and the latter had to the defend himself.

The actually popular Dealer “Patches“, afterwards received criticism from several parties. There were several however who also came to his defence, because he was only defending himself after the attack. According to several rumours, “Patches“, was dismissed with immediate effect after the brawl. There has till now been no official statement from the former employer. Therefore it cannot be yet confirmed that “Patches“, has actually lost his job. It is not yet clear, whether police investigations have begun in this case.

Supporters collect donations for “Patches“

Meanwhile several supporters of the dismissed poker dealer came up together to collect donations for him. More precisely, the supporters have started a fundraising campaign on the Website GoFundMe. After a short while the predefined fund goal amounting to 2,500 US-Dollars had already been reached.

Meanwhile 27,191 US-Dollar have already been collected from 287 donators (as on 18.12.20). In their comments, the generous donators praised “Patches“, and described him as a friendly, professional and courteous dealer. Many failed to understand how he could have taken part in such a brawl. In the donation specification, the initiators defend the dealer and ask for financial support. It actually says:

“He was abused and attacked and he simply defended himself. We all went through the experience of being abused at our place of work and we know how helpless this makes one feel. Let us do our part and show him that we are behind him.“

Conclusion

It is impressive how quick the supporters were in organising a donation campaign in this case. Nearly 30,000 US-Dollar were collected by now for the dealer, although it has not been officially confirmed that the man has lost his job. The case however makes it evident, how a moment of failure can lead to one losing his job so quickly. However, even if “Patches“, has now lost his job, he will be able to find a new job relatively quickly, since he is very popular in the gambling world.

Image source: https://pixabay.com/de/photos/punsch-faust-hand-stärke-isoliert-316605/