Borgata suing Phil Ivey for $9.6m Baccarat Win

In 2012 and ’13, poker pro Phil Ivey made headlines for his legal battle with Crockfords casino in London. Ivey won £7.8 million in baccarat after ittedly using an advantage-play method called “edge sorting.” Crockfords has since refused to pay up, and Ivey is suing under the argument that gaining an edge isn’t illegal.

Now, the 9-time WSOP champion will be fighting a war on two fronts because the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa is suing him for $9.6 million. Unlike Crockfords, the Borgata didn’t withhold baccarat winnings from Ivey, so they’re trying to get the money back through legal means.

The lawsuit alleges that Ivey spotted manufacturing defects in the casino’s baccarat deck(s), then exploited this information (a.k.a. edge sorting) during four sessions in 2012. He also had an accomplice with him, Cheng Yin Sun, who instructed the dealer on the exact rules that Mr. Ivey wanted.

Some of the strange rules that Sun and the poker pro requested included a dealer who spoke Mandarin Chinese, an automatic shuffling device, and Sun accompanying him to the table, as she gave the dealer specific instructions on how to deal the cards. The latter is what helped Ivey spot defective card edges and gain an advantage over the casino.

Borgata officials were willing to grant these odd requests because Ivey deposited $1 million before his first baccarat session and was willing to bet as much as $50,000 a hand. Over the course of three sessions – which collectively took 89 hours – Ivey was able to win $8.8 million in profits.

Upon returning to the Borgata for a fourth session on October 7th, 2012, Ivey was confronted about the reports that he edge sorted at Crockfords. However, they’d already paid the money to his bank in Mexico and couldn’t recoup the funds.

Like Ivey, the Borgata has also had their share of legal troubles lately. A poker player sued them a few weeks ago after the casino was forced to stop a $2 million guaranteed tournament with just 27 of the original 4,000-plus players remaining. They discovered counterfeit chips in play and got the police involved.

Christian Lusardi was eventually arrested after it was found that he tried to flush nearly 200 of the counterfeit chips down a hotel toilet. The player who sued argues that everybody should not only get their tourney buy-in back, but also be reimbursed for traveling expenses since the Borgata failed to prevent the cheating incident.

This being said, Atlantic City’s top casino will have some major legal work ahead of them with the poker tournament and Phil Ivey cases.