BLOOMINGTON - Robert Sylvester hadn't played poker with the Texas Hold 'Em League for about a year, but he was a topic of conversation around the table Tuesday night at Tri-Lakes Banquet Facilities, 2100 Bunn St.

Donnie Bradford of Bloomington said he last saw Sylvester at a Twin City discount store Friday or Saturday and all seemed routine. On Monday, Sylvester, who was a suspect in at least one robbery and possibly six since early December, was killed by police after a high-speed chase ended on Interstate 55 on Normal's northwest side.

"Everybody I talked to just couldn't believe it," said Bradford, who said he's known Sylvester for about 30 years.

"He wasn't a good card player," said Dean Derbyshire, director of the Texas Hold 'Em League, noting Sylvester was not patient or into nuances of the game.

"He was a lucky guy who was very bold - sometimes that aggression would win out," Derbyshire said.

Sylvester - known to everyone at the table as "Bobby" - wore a "big baggy railroad-type hat all the time," Derbyshire said. "He wore it everywhere."

"He wasn't loud and boisterous," he said. "He wasn't outspoken - he was a character."

Tri-Lakes President Dennis Ballenger said Sylvester sometimes came to the association's twice-monthly fish fries.

Derbyshire said the only way he can explain what happened was that some people said Sylvester had another side to his personality.

"The only thing I can say about the 'other guy' is he had a terrible temper," he said. "I never saw it here."