Categories: Casino News
| Published On Sep 17, 2013 7:00 am CEST  |  Updated on May 2, 2021 1:01 pm CEST | By iGaming Team

‘I read the cards but I’m no cheat’

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Professional poker player Phil Ivey is suing one of Britain’s oldest casinos for not paying him what he deems are his lawful winnings during a game session which amount to almost £8 million. According to Ivey, he did use a technique called ‘edge sorting’ which involves identifying the cards during the game of Punto Banco, but he also claims this technique is perfectly legitimate. The Mayfair Club Crockfords is defending against the lawsuit, claiming the player obtained his winnings by scamming the casino and alleging Ivey ‘acted to defeat the essential premise of the game’. The case, which is believed to be the biggest casino related lawsuit of its kind, will be heard later in the year by the High Court but pretty much is reduced to the casino believing Phil Ivey counted cards, which it deems an illegal technique and withholding payment for such actions. Ivey on the other hand states he is an ‘advantage player’, meaning he uses uncommon but legitimate techniques to gain an edge over the casino. Crockfords, which is Britain’s and most probably the world’s oldest gaming club, had at one point agreed to transfer all of Ivey’s winnigs to his bank account but basically only paid back the £1 million buy-in. The casino, which is owned by Malaysian casino giant Genting, had a team of investigators flown to the UK to investigate the case and interview casino employees and analyse hours of CCTV footage.