Phil Ivey Still Battling Borgata

Mia Gardner | 27 Sep 2018

Pro-gambler Phil Ivey must rue the day that he and gambling partner Cheung Yin “Kelly” Sun decided to indulge in a bit of so-called edge sorting during games of Baccarat at the world-famous Atlantic City Borgata Casino. The edge sorting technique is employed by players wanting to secure an edge by examining the cards for tiny discrepancies. The practise is generally frowned on, and is considered in the same light as an attempt to count cards in Blackjack.

In short, it comes down to and is considered to be cheating. Ivey’s creative approach to gambling has landed him in hot water a number of times before, but this particular incident could really cost the duo in legal fees – in an attempt to preserve their honour and retain their combined winnings of roughly $10.1 million.

Pair To Pay Back The Winnings

The thorn in Ivey and his companion’s shoes is the fact that the casino is now demanding to have the winnings paid back to them, as is typically the case when any person or business gets wind of the fact that they have welcomed a couple of pairs of sticky hands into the warm embrace of their money pockets.

In 2016, things appeared to enter an up swing for the duo, with presiding United States District Court Judge Noel Hillman having ruled that the pair had in fact not broken the rules of Baccarat. He did however eventually add that despite the fact that the rules of Baccarat had not been violated; it was an altogether different story when it came to New Jersey gambling laws.

The penny dropped about a month ago when it became clear that the honourable judge was not going to budge on the idea of not allowing Ivey and his partner to apply for motion to stay his previous judgement on the matter.

Ivey Headed For Unlucky Outcome

The latest ruling may have a nasty ripple effect for the pair of players, as the ruling allows the casino to take action to recover the money from the gamblers, even whilst the application for leave to appeal the court’s decision is in motion.

Should the casino be successful in its recovery endeavours, Ivey and his partner having sought any form of legal relief, will have been for nought.

In the meantime, Ivey has been keeping a low profile at Las Vegas casinos, but has been spotted at various Poker locations in Macau, which of course, has served to infuriate the Borgata even more.