Phil Ivey is currently in court over the $9.6 million he won at Atlantic City's Borgata casino back in 2012 using a technique called edge sorting. The casino says that the technique used violate New Jersey casino gambling regulations, while Ivey says he won fair and square.
In a court filing this week, Borgata lawyers claimed that Ivey and his partner used an unfair advantage at the card tables. In his defence, Ivey responded that that Borgata casino uses free booze, sexy servers to distract gamblers. In other words, he claimed that Borgata used its own techniques to create an advantage against him.
"It distracts you from your playing," Ivey said. "I mean, anything they can do to give themselves an advantage. Everyone knows that alcohol impairs your judgment, and they offer that, and they have the pretty cocktail waitresses and they're all very flirty. They're talking to you, you know. I got quite a few numbers."
"Was I drunk while I was playing? I'm not sure if I ever wasn't drunk while I was playing," Ivey responded when asked about his drinking habits while gambling at the Borgata.
Ivey then said that it didn't matter how much alcohol he consumed, because his non-drinking partner told him which cards to bet on. Borgata claims that the cards used were defective as the patterns on the backs weren't the same. However, the decks of cards used have been destroyed. It will be interesting to see who benefits from that.
We will keep you updated on this court case.
source: stltoday.com