‘Cheating’ poker star Phil Ivey loses court battle to reclaim £7m winnings

A professional poker star has lost a Supreme Court challenge to get back £7.7m in winnings from a London casino.

Phil Ivey was accused of cheating by using a strategy known as edge sorting while playing a version of baccarat in Crockfords Club in 2012.

The 40-year-old American – often referred to as the "Tiger Woods of poker" – admits using the technique but maintains it is a legitimate way of playing.

However, five Supreme Court justices on Wednesday unanimously upheld the Court Of Appeal’s decision and said that dishonesty was not a necessary part of "cheating".

The court said the poker superstar had "staged a carefully planned and executed sting" on the Mayfair casino over two days.

Edge sorting involves a player taking advantage in irregularities in the pattern on the back of a card.

Patterns often vary very slightly when they reach the edge of the card; so at one edge there could be a full diamond pattern and just three-quarters of a diamond at the other edge.

The gambler will manage to trick the croupier into rotating the cards so that some – for example low value cards – end up with one way and higher value cards the other way.

Eagle-eyed players can tell which edge is which by sight.

The player can then get a good idea of whether a low or high value card will be dealt next.

During his visits to Crockfords on 21 and 22 August 2012, Mr Ivey – with another gambler Cheung Yin Sun – persuaded the croupier to rotate the most valuable cards by pretending to be superstitious.

The Supreme Court court said the croupier had no idea of the significance of what she was being asked to do.

"Mr Ivey staged a carefully planned and executed sting," said a summary of the judgment.

"If he had secretly gained access to the shoe of cards and personally rearranged them that would be considered cheating.

"He accomplished the same results by directing the actions of the croupier and tricking her into thinking that what she did was irrelevant. Mr Ivey’s actions were positive steps to fix the deck and therefore constituted cheating."

Mr Ivey is a big name in the professional poker world and has won 10 World Series of Poker bracelets and this year was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.

In a statement released after the judgment, he said it was "contrary to the facts and any possible logic involved in our industry".

He added: "At the time I played at Crockfords, I believed that edge-sorting was a legitimate Advantage Play technique and I believe that more passionately than ever today…

"It is very frustrating that the UK judges have no experience or understanding of casinos and Advantage Play, or the ongoing battle between casinos and professional gamblers attempting to level the playing field."

(c) Sky News 2017: ‘Cheating’ poker star Phil Ivey loses court battle to reclaim £7m winnings