Hoyt Corkins is a poker player with a cowboy image. A few days ago his Spanish Trails home in Las Vegas was robbed.

This comes as a surprise because Spanish Trails is one of the most upscale and most secure localities in Vegas.

Reports indicated that all his prized possessions had been stolen, which included his two WSOP gold bracelets. The first of these bracelets was won way back in 1992 in the Pot Limit Omaha event, and the second only last year in the Six Handed No Limit Hold’em event.

Corkins was not in Las Vegas when the burglary took place. He was in Florida for over a month. His manager went on a routine check to Corkins’ house. A large opening had been made at the back of the house to remove the loot and the place was gutted. Every room in the house had been ransacked. Apparently this was a well-planned and executed affair and not just someone burgling a house that happened to be unoccupied. It is thought that the robbery actually took place early in August.

Corkins was shell-shocked when he heard the news. He said, “I am clearly devastated by this. My hope is that the poker community will help me try and recover the irreplaceable items that were taken. I truly appreciate the outpouring of love and support I have received.” But Corkins’ tryst with the tables has taught him how to handle bad luck. He philosophized, “Hey, you got to be lucky through life, and sometimes you're lucky, and sometimes you're not. And lot of it is dealing with your bad luck.” In an interview Corkins gave after the burglary he said, “I don’t really believe it was anybody from poker doing it, but it could have been one of their friends or something that overheard something.”

Apart from his bracelets the list of stolen items, yet incomplete is as follows. It includes his two cars (a highly customized 2005 Jeep and a Yukon Denali adorned with significant Doyle’s Room branding), his White Harley Davidson motorcycle, his piano, expensive electronics, his safe, poker memorabilia like poker chips from the more prominent casinos in town, WPT bracelet and at least $10,000. The burglar also used his office phone to get a credit card in Corkins’ name. Corkins estimates the loss as more than $100,000 and would be much more once a complete inventory is done.

Police investigations are on. They have dusted the place for fingerprints and as per the latest developments they have suspects. On Tuesday morning the Jeep was found off Craig Road in North Las Vegas. It appeared to be undamaged but the spare tire, a net and the winch system were missing.

Corkins is currently number 20 on the Bluff Power Ranking and number 39 on the Player of the Year 2008 ranking, which speaks volumes for his poker ability despite not being that high on the WSOP bracelet list. His tournament earnings to date are almost $4 million. His profile on Bluff Poker says that he herds cattle in Alabama and wears earplugs to keep opponents from affecting his game. Now those would come handy when playing against Scotty Nguyen.