"Instant celebration followed by instant chaos."
That was how one bystander in the city of Winslow, Arizona described the scene on one of the city's famed corners.
"The guy was just sitting there, looking sorta smug, humming that Eagles song, when all of a sudden, there were cops everywhere," said John Drohan, 52, of Surprise, AZ. "Dude just stands up, flings this gold thing in the air, and runs off. Wildest thing I've seen since I saw Five Finger Death Punch at the Hollywood Bowl"
The scene played out just before 6pm PST in the city known in-part for its role in the Jackson Browne song "Take it Easy" made famous by the band Eagles.
Early reporting suggests this was the scene where local authorities recovered the $10,000 Gold Pass to the PokerStars NAPT Las Vegas Main Event.
Winslow Police Chief John Caldwell credited the recovery to work of the poker community known as The Org. Chief Caldwell singled out Irish poker pro and podcaster David Lappin for leading the search.
"Interpol tells me that Lappin fella barely slept for the last two weeks," Chief Caldwell said. "I talked to him myself, but I didn't understand a damned word he said. Regardless, good work."
PokerOrg and the Chief immediately announced Lappin would get to keep the Gold Pass and play in the NAPT Las Vegas event November 5.
"Maybe he'll win the thing and bring some of that money back to Winslow," Chief Caldwell said.
Bereft, utterly stupid, winner
Lead searcher Lappin was beside himself in the moments following his vigilante charge.
"For over two weeks, I followed dastardly clues, felt clever, felt smug, felt utterly stupid, felt bereft, learnt Russian, ate breadcrumbs, drank espresso martinis and dreamt about pythons," Lappin told The Winslow Trib by phone shortly after the discovery. "I threw in the towel three times but the elegantly designed puzzle kept coaxing me back."
Lappin's efforts earned him an entry into the $5,300 NAPT Main Event, a hotel stay at Resorts World, and travel cash, together worth $10,000.
Lappin thanked his fellow searchers and internal team for helping close the case and said he was reserving comment about the biggest shock of the investigation until more information comes forward.
Shock and embarrassment
Within an hour of the Gold Pass recovery, the X account posing as the group BLOCKERS issued two cryptic tweets, and then what you see below.
Slow Poker, a wily and often elusive content creator and poker player, posted a video to the BLOCKERS account taking credit for the BLOCKERS ruse and for running off with the pass PokerOrg had intended to use in the second generation of Runner Runner this fall.
"Once a runner, always a runner," Slow Poker said in the video.
As yet, PokerOrg has been unable to contact Slow Poker to hold him account for the last two weeks of our lives. Nevertheless, Slow Poker vowed to reprise his 2022 cross-country cat-and-mouse game for one day before the NAPT Main Event. He said he would be in one city for one day, and if if anyones catches him, they get a seat to the NAPT Main Event.
PokerOrg has vowed to track him down no matter what it takes.
PokerOrg CEO Eric Hollreiser said, "We take full responsibility for everything that's happened to date, and our team will not rest until we find Slow Poker. We encourage all of you to join the manhunt with us. He may be a runner, but he's no match against The Org."
Hollreiser promised PokerOrg would publish a step-by-step investigation unveiling the answer to every clue that led to the recovery of the pass.
As this phase of the investigation ends, PokerOrg would like to publicly thank David Lappin and the many other searchers who put in countless hours to bring this mystery to an end. We can only hope that, working together, we can now stop Slow Poker.
In the meantime, everyone can take solace that, at least for now, BLOCKERS has been silenced, and we are in control.
