Phil Ivey, court annuls winnings

It ends with a stalemate the story of Phil Ivey, one of the most accomplished champions of poker (with almost 17 ​​million dollars won in his career is nicknamed the Tiger Woods of poker), who had sued the Crockfords casino in London, where in 'August of 2012 was the protagonist of an amazing session of baccarat. In two days he had managed to win about 8 million pounds (nearly ten million euro, in fact).

A sum ever come to his account, though: the casino looking at the images of the CCTV cameras had noticed that Ivey had used the technique of '"edge-sorting", a system that enables us to recognize the cards by observing the imperfections on the back. Ivey, repeatedly, had asked the dealer to turn the card 180 degrees when they are removed from the shoe, for a better look at them and decide whether to stay or to call again once they are recognized. Hence the decision of the gaming room not paying the winnings and return to the player wagers made, about 1.2 million euro.

The case was then finished the High Court in London yesterday where the judge ruled in favor of the casino, claim considering the decision not to pay out winnings. Ivey, claiming the sum offending, claimed that he never cheated, but simply for having used, thanks to the skills gained through years of his career at the green table, "a security flaw in the casino." A different opinion was instead the court to the effect that Ivey would have used the unsuspecting dealer as "innocent means" for their own purposes, a behavior that in the opinion of the judge, "is similar to that of those coffin in here."