Film Based on Phil Ivey Card Counting in the Works: 'The Baccarat Queen'
Ivanhoe Pictures, the division of SK Global that recently produced "Crazy Rich Asians, was about to start working on its latest project, a film that will delve into the 2012 accusation by Crockford’s Casino that poker pro Phil Ivey had won £7.8 million unfairly while playing a form of baccarat called punto banco.
Ivey never received that £7.8 million in winnings. Crockford's claimed he and a female acquaintance engaged in what is known as "edge sorting", whereby the two took advantage of defects in the playing cards.
Ivey sued the casino but ultimately the U.K. Supreme Court upheld a previous Court of Appeals ruling in favor of the London casino.
The Borgata Casino in Atlantic City would later accuse Ivey and his acquaintance of engaging in the same activity, only this time the poker pro walked away with $10 million. The courts ruled in favor of the casino this time as well. Borgata is in the process of seeking out any assets Ivey might maintain in the U.S.
The Ivanhoe Pictures release will be working under the title 'The Baccarat Queen', and no that is not a reference to Phil Ivey. Instead, the film will primarily focus on his playing partner, one Cheung Yin “Kelly” Sun.
Cigar Aficionado profiled Cheung Yin Sun with the claim that she cleans out casinos around the world using acute skill and intuition
From PokerNews.com:
The film will depict the life of Sun, a Chinese woman whose family’s wealth was stripped by the government forcing her to grow up in poverty. In particular, it will portray the story of a cunning and ingenious gambling scheme motivated by revenge that led to one of the most lucrative betting runs in history, Deadline reports. Sun took casinos for tens of millions in the game of baccarat in less than a year and brought one of the most prolific poker players in the world along for the ride.
According to Kaplan, part of Sun’s masterful technique of edge-sorting involved convincing Chinese-speaking dealers to turn particular cards “for good luck,” allowing her to predict with relative ease key cards to beat the house. Favorable terms were also often negotiated as is sometimes the case for high-rolling clientele, and the pair beat casinos for more than $30 million during their run.
Production was slowed down due to the Covid-19 worldwide pandemic. Additional information about its expected release was unavailable as of December 3, 2022.
- Ace King, Gambling911.com
