As we have previously reported, Phil Ivey sued the Crockfords Casino for withholding his winnings of 7.7 million GBP, that we won playing Punto Banco (a form of baccarat) in 2012. The casino claimed that Ivey’s technique of ”Edge Sorting” was illegal, while Ivey said that it was the casino’s fault that they let him play with cards that had small variations in the pattern on the cards, which he used for his advantage. Judge John Mitting ruled that the technique was indeed cheating and that Ivey gave himself an unfair advantage.
Ivey has admitted from the beginning he used the technique, but that is in no way cheating and he would never damage his reputation in hope of a big win.
”Some people believe that it was cheating. I know it wasn’t. The professional gamblers know it’s not. I wouldn’t do anything close to cheating. I mean, my reputation is everything in gambling.”
Judge John Mitting declared that: ”He gave himself an advantage which the game precludes. This is in my view cheating.”
Ivey’s lawyers were refused permission to appeal, although they can renew their application to the Court of Appeal directly. Following the ruling, Ivey’s spokesperson said the following:
”I believe that what we did was a legitimate strategy and we did nothing more than exploit Crockford’s failures to take proper steps to protect themselves against a player of my ability. Cleary today the judge did not agree.”
Ivey has another lawsuit in action aswell with the Borgata Casino for $9.6 million. This casino also used the ”Edge Sorting” argument to try to get their money back from Ivey, it will be interesting to see whether Ivey will be able to win at least one of the cases.
