A new lawsuit is being presented against Phil Ivey, a nine time World Series of Poker champion who is considered by many poker players as the best in the world. Ivey was at the centre of a lawsuit in the UK regarding supposed cheating at baccarat inside one of the country’s biggest casinos, and now a similar suit is coming out of Atlantic City.
The Borgata Hotel and Casino claims Ivey used a defect in a deck of cards at the casino’s baccarat tables to win over $9.6 million. The casino alleges this misconduct occurred between April and October 2012, though declined to explain why the case took so long to be made.
The allegations involve edge sorting, which violates casino gambling laws in New Jersey. According to the casino, the back edges on some of the cards were irregular in that they did not have the rows of white circles that resemble hard cut diamonds, which is standard on the cards manufactured for the casino.
The cards used at Ivey’s table allegedly had only half or a quarter of a diamond, causing an irregularity that a skilled player could exploit. The Borgata claims Ivey requested winning cards are flipped in certain directions to highlight the irregular edge, while the losing cards were flipped in another direction. He also requested an electronic shuffler deal out the cards to avoid altering the pattern.
Ivey denies that any cheating took place, but did not say whether he would fight the lawsuit or not.
