Phil Ivey Says He Was Drunk, 'Got Quite A Few Numbers' During Gambling Sessions At Borgata

Earlier this month the Borgata fired back after Phil Ivey countersued the casino in a case involving controversial mini-baccarat sessions from 2012. On Tuesday, Ivey’s legal team filed the latest court document in the case, which was an opposition to the Borgata’s motion aiming “to suppress and conceal material and relevant evidence of its own institutional methods to disadvantage high rollers like defendant Ivey,” the 10-time WSOP bracelet winner’s legal team claims.

The Borgata is seeking a protective order to prevent the deposition of the casino’s food and beverage manager, according to the court document. Ivey’s legal team wants the sworn statement to try to prove that “each side in the gaming world utilizes its own devices to gain an advantage over the other.” Both sides allege the other committed fraud.

Ivey claims to have been drunk during play, which included betting up to $150,000 a hand. Ivey and playing partner Cheung Yin Sun were able to spot manufacturing defects on the backs of playing cards to gain an edge on the house. They won $9.6 million and the casino wants it back.

Ivey said in a deposition regarding the role of alcohol in the case: “I mean it distracts you from your concentration. I mean anything they can do to give themselves an advantage. So alcohol does—everyone knows alcohol impairs your judgment—and they have pretty cocktail waitresses and they’re all quite flirty. They’re talking to you, you know. I got quite a few numbers.”

In March, a judge ruled against Ivey’s request to have the case dismissed. It was leading up that ruling that Ivey’s legal first brought up the casino industry’s practices to try to win money from high rollers, but the judge didn’t buy it. He said that “there is no doubt that much of the defendants’ characterization of the casino milieu is accurate, as tangential a defense as it may be."

Arguing that the casino took advantage of Ivey, and it wasn’t just him taking advantage of it thanks to edge sorting, is just one of his team’s strategies to try to win the case.

Here is the court document filed this week:

Ivey Court Document

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