Top Gambler Won't Get $10.2M After Court Rules He Cheated

Phil Ivey has been fighting for the money since 2012
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 25, 2017 1:24 PM CDT
UK's Top Court Sides With Casino, Top Gambler Loses Out on $10.2M
In this July 15, 2009 file photo, Phil Ivey looks up during the World Series of Poker at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.   (AP Photo/Laura Rauch, File)

Professional poker champ Phil Ivey won't be getting the $10.2 million he thought he won from a London casino, the Guardian reports. The 40-year-old, whom the BBC calls "the Tiger Woods of poker," was found to have cheated in order to win the money while playing a version of baccarat at Crockfords Club in Mayfair in 2012. He's been fighting to get the millions ever since, insisting the strategy he used to win wasn't illegal. His case against Genting Casinos UK, the owner of Crockfords, was dismissed last year, and he challenged that dismissal. But on Wednesday, Britain's Supreme Court upheld the lower court's ruling, the AP reports.

Ivey and a colleague used a technique called "edge sorting," in which they got the croupier to unknowingly arrange the cards in a way that allowed Ivey and the other player to figure out what cards were being dealt, based on small differences in the pattern on the back of the cards, and bet accordingly. Crockfords returned his stake but never paid out the winnings, leading to the court battle. The Supreme Court found what Ivey did was definitely cheating, but after the ruling Ivey maintained his innocence. "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," he said. "As a professional gambler, my integrity is everything to me." Ivey was accused of doing the same thing in the US. (More Phil Ivey stories.)

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