As D.C.’s wannabe card sharks are brushing up on their Texas Hold ’Em games, some of the city’s cops are fine-tuning a skill of their own: the illegal-gambling raid. On Oct. 15, three Adams Morgan police officers busted into a second-floor room at Awash Ethiopian Restaurant on 18th Street NW in response to gambling complaints. While an earlier raid on the restaurant had been foiled by a door watchman, this time the crew caught five gamblers, mostly local cabbies, and hauled them all to the 3rd District station, according to Officer Andrew Zabavsky. Though technically considered illegal under D.C. law, informal poker games held indoors are rarely broken up; the cops raided Awash because it’s a licensed bar and restaurant—and because an anonymous caller kept complaining. “Maybe it was a disgruntled cabbie who lost all his money,” reasons Zabavsky.—Dave Jamieson