Phil Ivey an ‘Honest’ Cheater’?

A high court in London may have denied poker pro Phil Ivey his appeal to recover “winnings” in the amount of $9.6 million after Genting Casino claims he cheated, but at least the court concluded that Ivey was an “honest cheater”.

The Genting-owned Crockfords, London’s oldest casino, withheld the winnings after accusing the poker pro of “edge sorting” while playing the game Punto Banco.

The tactic employed by Ivey allows one to predict whether a card may be high or low – and therefore beneficial to their hand – by finding tiny irregularities in the back of each card.

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And the Court appeared to agree that Ivey was simply trying to capitalize on such an edge as opposed to – say – trying to rob Crockford’s blind.

“The trial judge said that I was not dishonest and the three appeal judges agreed, but somehow the decision has gone against me. Can someone tell me how you can have honest cheating?” he asked the court.

The response from Court of Appeal Justice Mary Arden:

“In my judgment, this section provides that a party may cheat within the meaning of this section without dishonesty or intention to deceive: depending on the circumstances it may be enough that he simply interferes with the process of the game.”

- Ace King, Gambling911.com