Edge sorting

Last updated

A deck of face-down playing cards Playing cards modified.jpg
A deck of face-down playing cards

Edge sorting is a technique used in advantage gambling where a player determines whether a face-down playing card is likely to be low or high at casino table games by observing, learning, and exploiting subtle unintentional differences on the backs of the cards being dealt. [1]

Contents

Applied by poker player Phil Ivey and subsequently challenged in court by the casino in which he did so, the England and Wales High Court and Court of Appeal and the UK Supreme Court ruled that the technique, which requires the player to trick the dealer into rotating specific, high-value cards, is cheating in civil law, and that a casino was justified in refusing payment of winnings. This ruling would not be applicable if the player simply took advantage of an observed error or anomaly in the deck for which he was not responsible. [2]

Technique

Many packs of cards produced by manufacturers have unintentional, almost indistinguishable edge irregularities. Typically the backs of every card in such a pack are identical, but the two long edges of each card are distinguishable from one another: the back pattern of one card is not symmetrical to another that has been rotated 180° (half a full turn).

During the course of a game, the player asks the dealer to rotate high-value face-up cards, saying for example that they feel it will bring them luck. The dealer, indulging superstition, does not realize he or she is unwittingly orienting the cards such that valuable high cards are oriented one way in the deck and low cards the other way round. The unintentional card edge irregularity thus makes the high or low value of face-down cards apparent to an observer aware of how the dealer has been tricked into orienting them. This orientation will remain so long as the cards are not "washed," shuffled in a way that rotates them. Thus, the player must also request that the dealer shuffle the cards with an automatic shuffler, which does not change the orientation as a manual shuffle might. The dealer is not obliged to comply with any of these requests, but will usually do so if thought to be the result of gambler superstition or mistrust.

Over the course of a game being played this way, low cards will tend to be oriented one way, high cards the other. Once a significant proportion of cards have been rotated, any player who knows this can gain a statistical edge more than outweighing house edge by using the knowledge whether the card to be turned is likely to be low or high. [3] [4]

Legality

In 2012, poker player Phil Ivey and partner Cheung Yin Sun won US$9.6 million playing baccarat at the Borgata casino. [5] [6] In April 2014, the Borgata filed a lawsuit against Ivey and Cheung for their winnings. [6] In 2016, a Federal Judge ruled that Ivey and Cheung Yin Sun must repay US$10 million to the Borgata. U.S. District Judge Noel Hillman ruled that they did not commit fraud but did breach their contract with the casino. He found that they did not abide by a New Jersey Casino Controls Act provision that prohibited marking cards. Although they did not mark the cards, they used tiny imperfections in the cards to gain an advantage. [7]

Later in 2012, he was reported[ by whom? ] to have won £7.7 million (approx. $11 million) playing punto banco, a version of baccarat, at Crockfords casino in London. Crockfords refunded his £1 million stake and agreed to send him his winnings but ultimately refused payment. [8] Ivey sued them for payment but lost in the High Court of England and Wales; it was judged that the edge sorting was "cheating for the purpose of civil law". [9] [10] It was accepted that Ivey and others genuinely considered that edge sorting was not cheating, and deemed immaterial that the casino could easily have protected itself. The judgment observed that Ivey had gained an advantage by actively using a croupier as his innocent agent rather than taking advantage of an error or anomaly on the casino's part. Ivey appealed against the judgment but was unsuccessful. [11]

He further appealed to the UK Supreme Court (see Ivey v Genting Casinos ) [12] which also decided in favour of the casino. All five justices upheld the decision of the court of appeal, "which dismissed his case on the basis that dishonesty was not a necessary element of 'cheating'." [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blackjack</span> Gambling card game

Blackjack is a casino banking game. It is the most widely played casino banking game in the world. It uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global family of casino banking games known as "twenty-one". This family of card games also includes the European games vingt-et-un and pontoon, and the Russian game Ochko. Blackjack players do not compete against each other. The game is a comparing card game where each player competes against the dealer.

Pai gow poker is a version of pai gow that is played with playing cards, instead of traditional pai gow's Chinese dominoes. The game of pai gow poker was created in 1985 in the United States by Sam Torosian, owner of the Bell Card Club.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baccarat</span> Gambling card game

Baccarat or baccara is a card game played at casinos. It is a comparing card game played between two hands, the "player" and the "banker". Each baccarat coup has three possible outcomes: "player", "banker", and "tie". There are three popular variants of the game: punto banco, baccarat chemin de fer, and baccarat banque. In punto banco, each player's moves are forced by the cards the player is dealt. In baccarat chemin de fer and baccarat banque, by contrast, both players can make choices. The winning odds are in favour of the bank, with a house edge of at least 1 percent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Let It Ride (card game)</span>

Let It Ride is a casino table game based on poker, where the player wagers on a five-card poker hand formed by their own three cards and two community cards. It is a product of Bally Technologies, under its Shuffle Master brand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheating in poker</span>

Cheating in poker is any behavior outside the rules of poker that is intended to give an unfair advantage to one or more players.

Card players are those participating in a card game. Various names are given to card players based on their role or position.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Card counting</span> Blackjack strategy used to determine advantage in upcoming hands

Card counting is a blackjack strategy used to determine whether the player or the dealer has an advantage on the next hand. Card counters are advantage players who try to overcome the casino house edge by keeping a running count of high and low valued cards dealt. They generally bet more when they have an advantage and less when the dealer has an advantage. They also change playing decisions based on the composition of the deck.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phil Ivey</span> American poker player (born 1977)

Phillip Dennis Ivey Jr. is an American professional poker player who has won ten World Series of Poker bracelets, one World Poker Tour title, and appeared at nine World Poker Tour final tables. Ivey is regarded by numerous poker observers and contemporaries as the best all-around player in the world. In 2017, he was elected to the Poker Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Three Card Poker</span> Casino game

Three Card Poker is a casino table game based on poker. It was designed in 1994 by Derek Webb.

Cheating in casinos refers to actions by the player or the house which are prohibited by regional gambling control authorities. This may involve using suspect apparatus, interfering with apparatus, chip fraud or misrepresenting games. The formally prescribed sanctions for cheating depend on the circumstances and gravity of the cheating and the jurisdiction in which the casino operates. In Nevada, for a player to cheat in a casino is a felony under Nevada law. In most other jurisdictions, specific statutes do not exist, and alleged instances of cheating are resolved by the gambling authority who may have more or less authority to enforce its verdict.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Four Card Poker</span>

Four Card Poker is a casino card game similar to Three Card Poker, invented by Roger Snow and owned by Shuffle Master.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poker dealer</span>

A poker dealer distributes cards to players and manages the action at a poker table.

Jerry L. Patterson is an American writer. He authored several gambling books as well as a gambling newspaper column.

Asia Poker is a casino table game similar to Pai gow poker that is now popular in most Atlantic City, New Jersey casinos. Players are dealt seven cards and divide their cards into three hands: a four-card hand (High), a two-card hand (Medium) and a one-card hand (Low). The four-card hand must be equal or greater in poker ranking than the two-card hand and the two-card hand must be equal or greater than the one-card hand. After all players have set their hand, the dealer sets the house's hand according to the "house way" and then compares each player's hand to the house's hand. If the house wins at least two out of three hands, the player loses. If the player wins at least two or out of three hands the player wins. Unlike Pai gow poker, the casino does not charge a 5% vigorish for winning wagers. Rather, the house edge comes from winning all "copy hands". Also, unlike Pai gow poker there are no ties in this game; the player either wins or loses. The House edge figures to be around 3% based on the probability of the player having a losing copy hand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malaysian Pontoon</span> Malaysian variant of the pontoon card game

Malaysian Pontoon is a card game related to Pontoon and blackjack and, like those games, a descendant of Vingt-Un or Twenty-One. It is played by those in Australia, Malaysia and Singapore, where it is usually just called pontoon. This game is similar to match play 21 or Spanish 21, while original pontoon, played in Britain, holds closer to the traditional Twenty-One rules, but can be quickly distinguished by the use of the terms "twist" and "stick".

Advantage gambling, or advantage play, refers to legal methods used to gain an advantage while gambling, in contrast to cheating. The term usually refers to house-banked casino games, but can also refer to games played against other players, such as poker. Someone who practises advantage gambling is often referred to as an advantage player, or AP. Unlike cheating, which is by definition illegal, advantage play exploits innate characteristics of a particular game to give the player an advantage relative to the house or other players. While not illegal, advantage play is often discouraged and some advantage players may be banned by certain casinos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Dwan</span> American poker player (born 1986)

Thomas Dwan Jr. is an American professional poker player who played online in the highest-stakes No-Limit Texas hold 'em and Pot-Limit Omaha games, primarily on Full Tilt Poker under the screen name "durrrr". Dwan has won prize money in live poker tournaments and has appeared on NBC's National Heads-Up Poker Championship, the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh seasons of Poker After Dark, the third, fourth, and fifth seasons of Full Tilt Poker's Million Dollar Cash Game, and the fifth, sixth, eighth and ninth seasons of GSN's High Stakes Poker.

Gemaco is a manufacturer of playing cards, casino chips and table layouts for casinos. The company is based in Blue Springs, Missouri. In 2014, it was acquired by Gaming Partners International, which has since been purchased by Angel Playing Cards of Kyoto, Japan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crockfords (casino)</span> Casino

Crockfords is a casino in London located on Curzon Street. The casino is located near and based on the former gentlemen's club in London called Crockford's.

Ivey v Genting Casinos (UK) Ltd t/a Crockfords[2017] UKSC 67 is a UK Supreme Court case that reconsidered the test used for determining dishonesty.

References

  1. ↑ Thomas Barrabi (14 April 2014). "What Is Edge Sorting? Phil Ivey Sued By Borgata Casino, Allegedly Cheated To Win $9.6 Million In Baccarat". International Business Times . Retrieved 19 April 2014.
  2. ↑ Derek Hawkins (26 October 2017). "What is 'edge-sorting' and why did it cost a poker star $10 million in winnings?". The Washington Post . Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  3. ↑ Victor Fiorillo (14 April 2014). "Borgata: Poker Star Phil Ivey Cheated Us Out of $10 Million Using Edge Sorting". Philly Mag. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
  4. ↑ Wilson, Greg (5 July 2023). "Baccarat Edge Sorting" . Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  5. ↑ Kaplan, Michael (29 June 2016). "How 'Advantage Players' Game the Casinos". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
  6. 1 2 Haley Draznin and Sho Wills (13 April 2014). "Atlantic City casino claims poker champ Phillip Ivey cheated to win $9.6 million". CNN . Retrieved 19 April 2014.
  7. ↑ "Poker pro Phil Ivey ordered to repay $10M to Atlantic City casino". NJ.com. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  8. ↑ Ron Dicker (9 October 2012). "Phil Ivey, Poker Champion, Denied $11.7 Million Payout From Punto Banco Card Game". Huffington Post.
  9. ↑ "Top poker player Phil Ivey loses £7.7m court battle". BBC. 8 October 2014.
  10. 1 2 Grierson, Jamie (25 October 2017). "Poker player loses court battle over £7.7m winnings from London casino". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  11. ↑ Khomami, Nadia (3 November 2016). "Poker player loses appeal against London casino over £7.7m winnings" . Retrieved 29 August 2018.
  12. ↑ "Poker Pro Ivey Goes All In at U.K.'s Top Court Cheating Case". Bloomberg. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.