En la mañana del lunes, los teletipos empezaron a escupir los primeros bosquejos de un horripilante atentado sucedido en la ciudad de Las Vegas. Quedaban por esclarecer muchos detalles, pero, de inmediato, la conmoción golpeó en pleno rostro a todos los que por cualquier razón se sienten afines a la ciudad estadounidense y a sus residentes y visitantes.

No hay que abundar en la especial relación que une a la comunidad del poker y Las Vegas. Quizá haya dejado de ser la capital del juego por volumen de infgresos, pero es indudablementeel destino soñado por millones de aficionados al poker. Sus casinos son como templos, y sus calles y sus gentes han acogido amucho de nuestros almigos y conocidos que han tenido la suerte de cumplir con el peregrinaje que todo jugador de poker debe hacer una vez en la vida al lugar que mantuvo con vida y luego hizo renacer a nuestro pasatiempo favorito.

Por eso, la preocupación por lo sucedido en Las Vegas era, a la vez, solidaria y real. Al igual que en Las Ramblas, objetivo de una masacre durante el pasado EPT, la probabilidad de que el ataque hubiera afectado a alguno de los miembros de la familia del poker era mucho más alta que en cualquier otro escenario. Por eso, las redes se llenaron de mensajes, primero solicitando o recabando información, y luego mostrando el dolor por el macabro suceso y la solidaridad con todas las ví­ctimas.

Dejando a un lado las discusiones polí­ticas, con el reaccionario Doyle Brunson a la cabeza, o la chocante casualidad de que el ví­deo más viral del momento del ataque sea el de Dan Bilzerian, un entusiasta de las armas, corriendo en medio de la lluvia de balas, las redes han pretendido ser vehí­culo de tranquilidad y consuelo, tras el shock de la noticia.

Esperan momentos muy delicados a la comunidad estadounidense, pues empiezan a circular noticias sobre la supuesta «adicción al poker» del asesino, un ex-piloto retirado y millonario que descargó la munición de al menos ocho armas automáticas sobre la muchedumbre que acudí­a a un concierto de country en una explanada limí­trofe con el hotel Mandalay Bay, causando al menos 59 muertos y 525 heridos. Por eso, mejor vamos a ignorar el debate sobre las armas de fuego y los ví­deos de supuestos héroes.No echemos leña al fuego

He aquí­ una recopilación de los mensajes más relevantes y emotivos que jugadores de todo el mundo han ido dejando en sus cuentas, seleccionados entre el amplio muestrario publicado por Pokernews.

I feel so angry, hurt and confused by the horrifying mass murder that occurred last night in Las Vegas. More than 50 beautiful people, who went out for night of fun, love and country music, are now dead. These are individuals that never expected this would be their last day. They all have ambitions they’ll never have the opportunity to follow and loved ones that never got to say goodbye. They were shot down by someone with multiple assault rifles from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay bay. Hundreds more were injured. One of my best friends was there. He ran for his life and saw so many people shot. I still don’t know if all my friends and family are safe. Las Vegas is my fucking city. The fear makes me want to spew hate and anger towards people who have beliefs that I think contributes to this happening. The fear makes me want to hide. The fear and anger inside me makes me want to know who the fucking perpetrator is to find out why he did it. It feels like I need answers because I want to be able to say, «This won’t happen again.» But in this, I get to take responsibility for my choices. I choose not to know or say the shooter’s name. I choose to take action where possible. I choose to speak with passion and compassion. I choose to focus on the good— like the first responders. Like the heroes who carried the wounded to safety. Like the victims at the concert who threw themselves on top of their loved ones to protect them from bullets. We all get to choose. Perhaps you have had certain held beliefs about guns, mental health, politics, terrorism, police, security. To you I ask, can we choose to be willing to be wrong? Can we speak in a way that the other can hear us? Can we come together and make a fucking difference in the name of all those lost their opportunity to last night? I urge us all not to get stuck in fear and anger. Separation and hate will only move us backwards. Unity and love will give us a chance to move forward. Who you are, the choices you make and the words you choose are never neutral. You are either contributing to more hate or more love. You are chooser. #lasvegas

Una publicación compartida de Kristy Arnett (@kristy.arnett) el 2 de Oct de 2017 a la(s) 8:49 PDT

Thanks to everyone who reached out to me to see if I am alright. I really do appreciate it. I’m not quite sure what to think or feel this morning. I’ve seen things like this happen all over the world and I’ve always tried to block out those emotions. I’ve become very good at taking in, processing, and moving on quickly through my experience in poker but that isn’t taking place at all right now. The night before last I was at an outdoor concert in downtown Las Vegas, something like this easily could have taken place during that event. When the shooting began, I was MINUTES away from it on the strip. I sat in my living room looking out the window to the strip and listening to the police scanner praying that I wouldn’t hear gunfire go off or some type of bomb. My heart was beating out of my chest for hours until I finally fell asleep late last night scared of what news or events I might wake up to see. I’m not sure what to do right now, but I know that I will try to make it count as a positive in some type of way for the world. I don’t know if that will be in the form of content, teaching, or idk but I want my impact on the world to be something that uplifts people in a world of so much sadness taking place every day. Right now I have that sadness feeling in me; I just want to sit here and cry. I’m not sure what else to feel.

Una publicación compartida de J O E Y I N G R A M (@papigto) el 2 de Oct de 2017 a la(s) 10:13 PDT