Most local poker games not high-stakes

He was new in town, looking for a game, and got the e-mail of another poker player off a web site.

But when he showed up for the game in Mount Pleasant, they refused to let him in.

"Nobody knew me, or could vouch for me, so I couldn't play," the man, who asked not to be identified, said. "I had to leave, which was stupid, because if I was a cop, I already knew where the game was."

But that was shortly after a group of poker players in Mount Pleasant had been busted, and tensions were running high among the hundreds, if not thousands, of people who play Texas Hold 'em here on a regular basis.

But if things were bad a year ago, they are positively paranoid now, after the Lowcountry law enforcement busted up a poker ring in Hanahan last week. So far, there have been nearly 200 warrants issued for 65 players.

Many games have been canceled, and the ones that continue are kept quiet, the table talk filled with nervous jokes - chatter about who's going to rat them out, when the cops will come breaking down the door.

Read more in Sunday's Post and Courier