Is it cheating or just giving yourself a small edge if learn how to do things like count cards at blackjack? It all depends who you ask, it seems, and whose cash is involved in the matter. World renowned poker pro Phil Ivey says a £7.8 million ($12, 420,72) winnings though he admits he used a technique that gave him a slight advantage over the average player, and certainly over the house as well that he never got paid for from London’s toniest Mayfair club was not cheating.

Edge Sorting for the Win

But Phil Ivey says his technique is legitimate and called ‘edge sorting.’ Apparently, the player is allowed by it to recognize cards at punto banco, a sub-genre of baccarat which involves absolutely nothing but luck. Often.

The venerable Mayfair club Crockfords Britain’s casino that is oldest views things a little differently, to no one’s shock. The club maintains that Ivey ‘operated a scam’ and that he ‘acted to defeat the fundamental premise of the game’; and this, they state, is reason enough him his massive win for them to not pay.

So, who has might and right on their side in this battle regarding the gambling behemoths? It’s no small matter; Ivey has now sued Crockfords in Britain’s High Court plus the case promises become extremely high-profile, given who’s involved and the money at stake.

Ivey, 37 who’s considered one of, if perhaps not the, top player in poker today does not reject being what’s called an ‘advantage player,’ meaning making legal use of advanced mathematics skills to gain a slight edge over your house; and he admitted as much in his present court submission. Ivey says while playing punto banco at Crockfords in August 2012, he made use of his incredibly discerning eyes by making note of tiny flaws in the cards’ deck imprints ( the people that could appear identical to the majority of us). These flaws are inevitable and miniscule flaws that occur during manufacturing.

Casino’s Responsibility?

Ivey says he is not 1st to utilize this exceptional skill, and claims it therefore lays on any given casino to check on their card decks very carefully before placing them into use; something Crockfords clearly failed to do. That’s his story and he’s staying with it.

Except there is actually much more to it. The story becomes a bit ‘Rainman’ish even as we continue to follow its trail. Because it turns down that Ivey actually had an accomplice well, he calls her an ‘associate’ who was included with him to Crockfords to spot the specific decks of cards with these design flaws. Ivey then (based on his court that is own claim made ongoing demands for card deck modifications until his ‘associate’ Kelly spotted one by having an effectively asymmetrical enough pattern to get results this ‘edge sorting’ system on.

It went one thing like this, Ivey’s claim asserts: ‘Kelly would ask the dealer to reveal each card in change by lifting the side furthest from the dealer so that Kelly could identify whether the card was a seven, eight, or nine the cards that are key punto banco. The very first time that Kelly identified a vital card, she told the dealer it was a ‘good’ card which she wanted the dealer to rotate in the reverse direction to all or any the other cards and the dealer complied with the request. In this way, the long sides of the key card became distinguishable from those for the other cards.’

Tends that after a point, Kelly had were able to manipulate the deck so the ‘good’ vs. ‘bad’ cards were facing directions that are opposite. Heck, we’re thinking someone in eye-in-the-sky should have seen this trick before and spotted it, no?

Obviously, nevertheless, Crockfords didn’t do that, and Ivey made usage of his cap ability to identify key cards with their bets that are own. And while the casino initially had been set to give Ivey his winnings that are full so far, it’s only came back the £1million stake he bought in with.

Every day late and $12 million short, Crockfords’ parent company, Genting, now has investigators reviewing security footage and questioning employees who are there that night.

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