BY TOM SOMACH

Two men who tried to use rattlesnakes as deadly weapons to collect on a poker debt have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder, the Associated Press reported.

The Lakewood, Colorado men were trying to kill Matthew Sowash, owner of the Amateur Poker Tour in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, because he owed them $60,000, according to Jim Shires of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, A.P. reported.

Arrest affidavits say Sowash’s company stages Texas hold ‘em games in Denver-area bars, A.P. reported.

Herbert Paul Beck, 56, was arrested last Thursday in Raton, New Mexico, and Christopher Lee Steelman, 34, was arrested last Wednesday in Lakewood, and bail for each suspect was set at $500,000 on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit kidnapping and extortion, A.P. reported.

Investigators said Steelman told them the two men discussed ways to kill Sowash and Beck suggested rattlesnakes, with the plan being to build a wooden box to hold the snakes and put Sowash inside, A.P. reported.

The situation came to light when Sowash contacted the Colorado Bureau of Investigation after getting threatening e-mails, A.P. reported.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)