Casino sues gambler who allegedly won $9.6 million by cheating at baccarat
Borgata Casino Hotel & Spa is suing a professional gambler who they allege won $9.6 million by cheating at baccarat over multiple visits in 2012.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court Tuesday, names defendants Phillip Ivey Jr.; an alleged associate Cheng Yin Sun; Gemaco Inc., a Kansas City card manufacturing company; and an unnamed employee of that company, who inspected the game cards.
Borgata said in the lawsuit Ivey calls himself the “greatest professional poker player of all time.”
It alleges that Ivey knew about a defect in the playing cards and was manipulating the situation by making special requests using high-roller privileges in order to have an advantage over the casino.
The method he allegedly used to scam the casino is called edge sorting, which allows a player to “mark” the cards without actually touching, defacing or placing a physical mark. The backs of the playing cards had a repeating geometric design — rows of small white circles designed to look like the tops of cut diamonds — and when the cards were improperly cut asymmetrically during the manufacturing process, the two long edges of the cards were not identical. Borgata claims some of them were only a half diamond or a quarter of one.
According to the suit, in April 2012, Ivey contacted Borgata to arrange a high-stakes game of baccarat in which he agreed to wire a deposit of $1 million and a maximum bet at $50,000 per hand.
Ivey also made special arrangements, including having a private area, or pit, a casino dealer who spoke Mandarin Chinese, one eight-deck shoe of purple Gemaco playing cards to be used for each session of the play, and an automatic card shuffling device.
Borgata said in the lawsuit that Ivey told them he made these requests because he was superstitious.
But the casino's suit allege Ivey knew there was a defect in the cards and the requests were made so he could “surreptitiously manipulate what he knew to be a defect” to gain an unfair advantage over Borgata.
The automatic card shuffling device was requested because it would not change the direction of the cards and allow them to be distinguished when used again.
The lawsuit claims that Ivey and Sun instructed a dealer to flip cards in particular ways, depending on whether it was a desirable card in baccarat. The numbers 6, 7, 8 and 9 are considered good cards. Other "bad" cards would be flipped in different directions, so that after several hands of cards, the "good" ones were arranged in a certain manner — with the irregular side of the card facing in a specific direction — that Ivey could spot when they came out of the dealer chute.
Sun, also a professional gambler, was banned from several casinos around the world at the time.
The same arrangements were made for subsequent trips in May, July and October 2012. The only change that was made was an increase in Ivey’s deposit, to $3 million, which increased the maximum allowed bet.
During the October visit, Borgata’s suit says, the casino became aware of a London casino that was withholding about 7.3 million British pounds, or about $12.2 million, due to an investigation into an alleged card manipulation scam while Ivey was playing Punto Banco — a game similar to baccarat.
When confronted about the situation, Ivey said he intended to sue the casino, Crockfords, the Borgata suit says. That case is ongoing.
Borgata is suing Gemaco to reimburse the casino for the amount paid to Ivey, $9,626,000, attorney and court fees, and to be liable to reimburse the casino for any and all current or future losses resulting from negligent manufacture and inspection of the cards.
The casino also is suing both Ivey and Sun for the same $9,626,000, court and attorney fees and any other damages as defined by the court.
Poker ace suing Britain's oldest casino after being denied £8million
A gambler who is suing Britain’s oldest casino for withholding his £7.8 million payout has admitted he did win the cash by ‘reading’ the cards. Playing punto banco over two nights in August last year, Mr Ivey says he was able to exploit tiny flaws in the design of the cards – asymmetrical pattern differences on the rear that are the result of mistakes made during the manufacturing process.Phil Ivey, dubbed the Tiger Woods of poker, says he used a legitimate technique called ‘edge sorting’ to identify cards during a game of punto banco, a type of baccarat based purely on luck. But he vehemently denies cheating.
However, Mayfair club Crockfords believes he ‘operated a scam’ and claims he ‘acted to defeat the essential premise of the game’ – and is refusing to hand over his winnings.
Mr Ivey – a professional American poker player – is suing the casino in the High Court and the case, the biggest legal battle in casino history, is due to be heard later this year.
In May, The Mail on Sunday reported details of Mr Ivey’s win – and revealed that the casino had not paid out because it believed he had been reading the cards.
In his court submission – seen by The Mail on Sunday – multi-millionaire Mr Ivey, 37 admits to being an ‘advantage player’ – someone who uses legal ways to gain a mathematical advantage over the casino.
It was well known in the industry around this time, according to Mr Ivey’s claim, that players might be able to use imperfectly cut cards to their advantage.
Because of this, the claim adds, the casino should have thoroughly checked them before use.
On his visit to Crockfords, Mr Ivey was accompanied by a Chinese associate known as Kelly, who was adept at ‘identifying the design flaws’.
Mr Ivey’s claim says: ‘During the second session on August 20 [Mr Ivey] made various requests for decks of cards to be changed at the end of hands with which [Crockfords] chose to comply.
This continued until Kelly identified a deck or decks of cards where the pattern on the reverse side of the cards was asymmetrical (in that one “long’’ side was different from the opposite side).’
Outlining how the pair managed to ‘edge sort’ the deck, the claim says: ‘Kelly would ask the dealer to reveal each card in turn by lifting the edge furthest from the dealer so that Kelly could identify whether the card was a seven, eight, or nine – the key cards in punto banco.
The first time that Kelly identified a key card, she told the dealer that it was a 'good' card which she wanted the dealer to rotate in the opposite direction to all the other cards and the dealer complied with the request.
‘In this way, the long edges of the key card became distinguishable from those of the other cards.’
Over the course of time, ‘the cards in the deck were increasingly orientated so that “good” and “bad” cards faced in the opposite direction’.
This meant that Mr Ivey was later able to recognize the key cards and bet accordingly.
Initially, he was betting £50,000 a hand but, having edge sorted the cards, he asked the casino’s permission to raise the maximum stake to £150,000.
Mr Ivey maintains in his claim that Crockfords’ owners were well aware how edge sorting worked and only have themselves to blame.
He says that casinos frequently accede to advantage players’ special requests because they do not want to deter them from playing.
Crockfords, the oldest private gaming club in the world, initially agreed to transfer Mr Ivey’s winnings to his bank account, but has returned only his £1million stake.
[source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2420796/I-read-cards-Im-cheat-U-S-poker-ace-suing-Britains-oldest-casino-denied-8million-win-admits-using-controversial-edge-sorting-technique.html#ixzz2z8Lw7lJg]
