Judge: Poker Pro Phil Ivey Cheated At CasinoIvey Not Granted Option To Appeal Ruling |
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The cards did not fall Phil Ivey’s way this week.
A judge presiding over his lawsuit against a London casino for withholding his $12.4 million in winnings he accumulated playing a high-stakes table game in 2012 said that the 10-time WSOP bracelet winner did in fact cheat the casino.
Ivey admitted to edge sorting, which is a tactic that involves noticing manufacturing defects on the sides of playing cards. Ivey and his partner never touched the cards and thus maintained that their strategy was sheer skill and definitely not cheating.
In order to edge sort, Ivey and his companion did ask the dealer to turn the cards a specific way. Still, the firm who made the defective cards acknowledged making a mistake.
Despite this, the judge disagreed with Ivey and his lawyers.
“He gave himself an advantage which the game precludes,” the judge said following a week-long trial, Bloomberg reported. “This is in my view cheating.”
“We attach the greatest importance to our exemplary reputation for fair, honest and professional conduct and today’s ruling vindicates the steps we have taken in this matter,” Genting Crockfords London said in an e-mailed statement after the verdict.
Ivey was not granted permission to appeal the verdict.
Genting’s Crockfords had returned Ivey’s original stake, but refused to pay out the rest. Eventually, and as a result of the Crockfords incident going public, Atlantic City’s Borgata casino sued Ivey for $9.6 million, saying that the poker pro also edge sorted against them in 2012. In the Borgata case, the casino is trying to recoup the money it paid Ivey.
Assuming the Crockfords case sets a precedent, Ivey may be in trouble in New Jersey.
Ivey has won more than $30 million playing poker in his career, in tournaments and grinding online poker. He’s up untold amounts in un-tracked private games.
On Tuesday evening, Ivey’s interview with 60 Minutes Sports aired on Showtime. In it, Ivey tried to explain why he wasn’t cheating at Crockfords or at Borgata.
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