A Mayfair casino will not have to pay poker player Phil Ivey (above) £7.7million in winnings after a High Court judge ruled the 'edge-sorting' technique he used, helped by Cheung Yin Sun (below), was cheating.
[From article]
This week, the same pair were back in Central London, this time in the High Court, for an equally high stakes game as Ivey, an American, tried to convince a judge he had not been cheating and the casino had no right to withhold his winnings.
Indeed, Ivey felt so confident in his case — the biggest legal battle in British casino history — that the American stunned the gambling world by admitting precisely how he did it. And the truth was even more ingenious — Crockfords might prefer the word 'devious' — than anything James Bond ever faced.
[. . .]
For Ivey, 38, and his companion — no casual observer but one of the sharpest operators in Las Vegas — were 'edge sorting'. That means he and Cheung Yin Sun were able to 'read' the cards by spotting imperfections on the back of them.
Crockfords and its owners, the £21 billion Genting Group of Malaysia, were not prepared for this when Ivey came to play.
He was 16 when he told his parents in New Jersey he was going to become a professional gambler. He developed his poker skills playing colleagues at a telemarketing firm, went on to win countless World Series 'bracelets', or championships, and is regarded as the best all-round player on the planet.[. . .]
Angel brand cards have a purple-coloured diamond pattern on the back. An expert at 'edge-sorting', Ms Sun knew some of these packs have a tiny — but crucial — flaw.
The geometrical pattern on the backs of cards is supposed to be symmetrical, but on these it wasn't. Looked at very closely, the pattern along the long edge on one side of each card is noticeably different from the long edge on the other.
[. . .]
Armed with this information, Ms Sun and Mr Ivey could tell whether the dealer was about to deal a 'strong' card as the first card in each hand. All they had to do was study the back of the top card waiting in the card 'shoe', or dispenser, used by the dealer and Ivey would place his bet accordingly before the game began.
In this way, Ivey turned the game from the dealer's advantage to his advantage — and raised the stakes.
Betting as much as £150,000 a hand, he and his companion gradually started winning and winning.
[. . .]
Edge-sorting is just one weapon in the arsenal of so-called 'advantage players' — who try to find legal ways of improving their odds of winning. But Ms Sun has already been banned from at least one U.S. casino for doing it there.
[. . .]
The judge, who admitted he has never been in a casino and sticks to bridge, commended the American on his truthfulness but ruled his actions amounted to 'cheating for the purposes of civil law'.
Ivey will not get his winnings and will have to pay costs. Worse, the verdict won't help him in another pending legal suit, this time in the U.S. The Borgata casino in Atlantic City is demanding back $9.6 million that it says Ivey won from it in the same circumstances.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2788731/straight-bond-thriller-brilliantly-cunning-card-shark-chinese-moll-cheated-london-casino-7million.html#ixzz3Fyq8a1Yg
Straight out of a Bond thriller: How a brilliantly cunning card sharp and his Chinese moll cheated a London casino out of £7million
Phil Ivey tried to sue London casino Crockfords Club for his £7.7m 'winnings'
American played Punto Banco, a form of baccarat at Mayfair club in 2012
He used technique of 'edge-sorting', giving customer 'first card advantage'
Claimed Cheung Yin Sun accompanied him purely for 'good luck'
By TOM LEONARD FOR THE DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHED: 17:07 EST, 10 October 2014 | UPDATED: 03:18 EST, 11 October 2014
For Ivey, 38, and his companion — no casual observer but one of the sharpest operators in Las Vegas — were 'edge sorting'. That means he and Cheung Yin Sun were able to 'read' the cards by spotting imperfections on the back of them.
Crockfords and its owners, the £21 billion Genting Group of Malaysia, were not prepared for this when Ivey came to play.
He was 16 when he told his parents in New Jersey he was going to become a professional gambler. He developed his poker skills playing colleagues at a telemarketing firm, went on to win countless World Series 'bracelets', or championships, and is regarded as the best all-round player on the planet.[. . .]
Angel brand cards have a purple-coloured diamond pattern on the back. An expert at 'edge-sorting', Ms Sun knew some of these packs have a tiny — but crucial — flaw.
The geometrical pattern on the backs of cards is supposed to be symmetrical, but on these it wasn't. Looked at very closely, the pattern along the long edge on one side of each card is noticeably different from the long edge on the other.
[. . .]
Armed with this information, Ms Sun and Mr Ivey could tell whether the dealer was about to deal a 'strong' card as the first card in each hand. All they had to do was study the back of the top card waiting in the card 'shoe', or dispenser, used by the dealer and Ivey would place his bet accordingly before the game began.
In this way, Ivey turned the game from the dealer's advantage to his advantage — and raised the stakes.
Betting as much as £150,000 a hand, he and his companion gradually started winning and winning.
[. . .]
Edge-sorting is just one weapon in the arsenal of so-called 'advantage players' — who try to find legal ways of improving their odds of winning. But Ms Sun has already been banned from at least one U.S. casino for doing it there.
[. . .]
The judge, who admitted he has never been in a casino and sticks to bridge, commended the American on his truthfulness but ruled his actions amounted to 'cheating for the purposes of civil law'.
Ivey will not get his winnings and will have to pay costs. Worse, the verdict won't help him in another pending legal suit, this time in the U.S. The Borgata casino in Atlantic City is demanding back $9.6 million that it says Ivey won from it in the same circumstances.
Straight out of a Bond thriller: How a brilliantly cunning card sharp and his Chinese moll cheated a London casino out of £7million
Phil Ivey tried to sue London casino Crockfords Club for his £7.7m 'winnings'
American played Punto Banco, a form of baccarat at Mayfair club in 2012
He used technique of 'edge-sorting', giving customer 'first card advantage'
Claimed Cheung Yin Sun accompanied him purely for 'good luck'
By TOM LEONARD FOR THE DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHED: 17:07 EST, 10 October 2014 | UPDATED: 03:18 EST, 11 October 2014
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