Ivey’s Lawyers Reject the Cheating Claims of Borgata

The lawyers for Phil Ivey claim that he won $9.6m by playing baccarat at Borgata Casino thanks to his extraordinary skills

The attorneys for professional poker player Phil Ivey rejected the claims of Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City that their client cheated the casino out of $9.6m a few months ago and want the casino to withdraw all claims out of court.

“In a court hearing a week ago, Ivey’s lawyers argued that Ivey didn’t cheat using the edge sorting technique, but instead, he managed to win $9.6m thanks to his “extraordinary powers of observation and discernment”. Therefore, he earned each and every penny because of his amazing skills.”

If you are not familiar with the subject, Borgata accused Ivey and his friend of cheating in the punto banco version of baccarat by using the edge sorting technique that enabled him to identify high value cards by observing the pattern of a pack of cards manufactured by Gemaco. The casino also accused Ivey of abusing his high roller status and convincing the dealer to turn the important cards around so that he could notice the design flaws of these cards even though he wanted the cards to be automatically shuffled.

Second Such Cheating Claim for Ivey

This is the second time that Ivey has been accused of using the edge sorting technique. Crockfords Casino in London, accused Ivey of similar tactics and refused to pay him £7.8m which Ivey claims to have won.

This is how edge sorting works. Allegedly, the back of the cards manufactured by Gemaco were incorrectly cut so that the edge patterns on the right and left side of the cards were slightly different when face down. By observing the cards and asking the dealer to turn them 180 degrees due to superstitious beliefs, Ivey was able to tell whether each card has high or low value and he had an advantage of almost 21%. Ivey was betting $100,000 per hand on a couple of occasions at Borgata Casino during 2012 and was able to win $9.6 million.

To his defense, Ivey’s lawyers said that his client never touched the cards in question and that reorienting the cards is not illegal. Furthermore, they pointed out that the situation took place two years ago which is beyond the six months period by which a casino should alert the state Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) of suspected cheating. Lastly, they said that the court is not responsible for handling an issue that constitutes a legal casino activity, but this is the responsibility of the DGE.

Gemaco Wants Out of Suit As Well

Missouri-based Gemaco Inc. that manufactured the cards also wants out of the suit. They said that the cutting of the cards was “invisible under reasonable inspection”. In addition, they noted that they haven’t changed or modified the cards in question and that the damages of Borgata were caused by other persons. The parent company of Gemaco, GemGroup, has been recently bought by Gaming Partners International Corp (GPI), a casino equipment supplier, for $19.75m.