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Harmon Leon of the San Francisco Gate Friday evening confirmed that Joran van der Sloot was not registered to play in this week's Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) held in Lima, Peru, but was merely a "rail bird". That is poker slang for "standing elbow-to-elbow with the other spectators".
Van der Sloot has been taken into custody as a lead suspect in the murder of 21 year-old Stephany Flores of Lima. She was found dead Wednesday in a hotel room registered to van der Sloot.
The primary suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Natalie Holloway in 2005, van der Sloot is known to have played online poker at various card rooms including PartyPoker and Titan. He also won just over $12,000 at a tournament sponsored by PartyPoker last year.
Leon was at the LAPT and asked the person in charge of registration for the event whether van der Sloot had been registered and he was told "No".
It's disturbing how one could go from amongst the railbirds as poker fan at one of the most thrilling poker tournaments in the world to brutal sociopathic killer as quick as the flip of a river card," Leon stated.
Ace King, Gambling911.com
