Poker pro Phil Ivey, friend must repay Borgata $10.1M in cards case

Associated Press ^ | December 19, 2016 | Wayne Parry

[ConservativeStatement]

ATLANTIC CITY — Poker pro Phil Ivey and a companion must return more than $10 million they won from an Atlantic City casino while playing cards that were arranged in a certain way to give the players an edge.

A federal judge had previously ruled Ivey and companion player Cheng Yin Sun didn’t meet their obligation to follow gambling regulations on four occasions in 2012 by having a dealer at the Borgata arrange baccarat cards so they could tell what kind of card was coming next.

[BenLurkin]

didn’t meet their obligation to follow gambling regulations on four occasions in 2012 by having a dealer at the Borgata arrange baccarat cards so they could tell what kind of card was coming next.

Well. At least they didn't cheat.

[fhayek]

Why didn’t they just say “they stacked the deck”?

[Scrambler Bob]

Why didn’t they just say “they stacked the deck”?
= = =

Stacked is a degrading word.

[Vince Ferrer]

Ed Jacobs, the attorney for the nine-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, stressed that the judge affirmed that Ivey had followed every rule of baccarat and did not commit fraud.

So skill is not allowed?

[LukeL]

Cheat once and all your past victories come into question. I would refuse to play on the same table as him in the future.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

I'm with Ivey on this one.

This to me is like card counting in Blackjack.

If you get caught the casino can kick you out and ban you for life, but you get to keep all the money you won until you were found out.

Ivey had to put together an elaborate plan to win at baccarat, but he was only able to implement the plan by having the casino stupidly agree to all his conditions.

[HonkyTonkMan]

Story by Yu Bin Kot!!

[Kickass Conservative]

#Blackpokerproslivesmatter

[SanchoP]

The Borgata claimed the cards used in the games were defective in that the pattern on the back was not uniform. The cards have rows of small white circles designed to look like the tops of cut diamonds, but the Borgata said some of them were only half-diamonds or quarters. Ivey has said he simply noticed things that anyone playing the game could have observed and bet accordingly.
The judge noted that Ivey and Sun instructed dealers to arrange the cards in a certain way, which is permitted under the rules of the game, after Sun noticed minute differences in them. But he ruled in October that those actions violated the state Casino Control Act and their contractual obligation to abide by it in gambling at the casino.

10M buys a lot of judge. Bottomline: Casinos aren't built on winners.

[max americana]

Phil Ivey is a POS liberal. Hates republicans. Nice to know he’ll be bankrupt..

[Robert DeLong]

No, his attorney was speaking half truths, since they had the dealer stack the deck for them. There was no skill involved at all.

[Moonman62]

It really wasn’t skill. They found a dishonest way to get the dealers to mark the cards since they had asymmetric patterns on the back. The partner said she wanted some cards turned a certain way because she was superstitious which was a lie.

[Moonman62]

This to me is like card counting in Blackjack.

...

This wasn’t anything like card counting which I think is a skill. This is a case of getting the dealers to help them cheat and take all the skill out of the game.

[Still Thinking]

Stacked is a degrading word.

I personally only chase decks because I admire their mind.

[jimnm]

Arranging the cards in a certain way is allowed under the rules of the game, as per the article.

That they noticed defects and took advantage of it shouldn’t invalidate their winnings. It’s the casino’s fault for not having a uniform deck. Casinos are perfectly happy to take your money when the house is favored but the moment you win and it’s their fault, they want their money back.

[Bob434]

I thought ivey was accused of discovering a flaw in the card design which allowed him to know which cards were beign played- and didn’t tell anyone and profitted off that flaw-

[stylin19a]

maybe they just watched Kaleidoscope ....

[DaxtonBrown]

Harry Reid also has problems with the poker boys. I think they are all hoods.

[kingu]

Liberals hate it when you catch them cheating. ‘Oh, but we were just using what skills we had...’ to mark cards.

I'm sorry, to me, it all boils down to that. They set up the conditions that enabled them to mark the 6, 7, 8 & 9 cards in the deck, made a mechanical shuffler the condition of play (so none of the cards would be rotated except the ones they directed the dealer to rotate) and knew if the card in the shoe was a ‘half diamond’ or ‘full diamond’ by observing the edge design.

It's a creative way of marking cards, but it is still just marking cards.

And of course, other liberals are flocking to Ivey’s defense calling it ‘not cheating’ and ‘getting an edge on the casino.’ No, it is marking cards. If someone pulled this stunt on them at the tables, they'd not just smile and let them get away with it, they'd ban that player from all high stakes games as a cheater.

Nice job, Ivey, for putting an asterisk next to all your winnings by marking cards.