poker rakeback

Poker Hall of Shame – No.1 Phil Ivey

Phil Ivey is one of the most famous and recognisable card players in the world. However, his desperation in doing anything to win has got him on the wrong side of the law, and tarnished his reputation.

Phil Ivey tried to cheat Cockfords Casino London in 2012 out of £7.7 million, by using edge sorting on the design of the cards when playing the card game Baccarrat/Punto Banco. He used a helper to assist in finding imperfections on the cards in order to gain an unfair advantage. Crockfords never paid out the winnings due to suspicious play, Ivey sued for the winnings, Ivey lost. Lady Justice Arden ruled in 2016 that what Ivey had done constituted cheating.

Ivey also used edge sorting at the Borgata casino back in 2012, however, Borgata paid out the player at the time, $10.1 million. Borgata subsequently sued and won, with Ivey eventually coming to an agreement to settle a number of years later.

edge sorting

What these two cases highlight is how Phil Ivey will do just about anything to win when it comes to cards. What is not known, is if Phil Ivey has cheated poker players in cash games and tournaments over a long number of years. Phil Ivey to date has won 10 world series of poker (WSOP) bracelets, did Ivey use similar techniques or others to cheat his way to win some of those titles? You would assume that someone who’s moral compass involves going to great lengths to cheat the casino (house) out of money would have no issues with doing the same to fellow poker players.

For these reasons, Phil Ivey is inducted into our Hall of Shame.

Leave a Reply

Language »