It’s a technique known as edge-sorting. Between April 2012 and October 2012, Ivey won more than $9.6 million playing baccarat at the Borgata with Sun’s edge-sorting help. During one 17-hour period. A poker player who sits for long session “grinding” out a profit, rather than heavy gambling looking for a big score. A sort betting game which requires more guts than skill. See inside straight draw. Poker tracking software often includes a Heads-Up Display that lets you displays all of these statistics directly on the poker table so that you can use them to aid in your decision-making. Another vital component of tracking and analysis software is the analytical portion.
The edge when you see a down card is only a little over 3%, and that’s only if you play the perfect strategy with the information you receive. Of course a 3% edge over the house is great, but not as good as the other games in this section. Caribbean Stud Poker-Caribbean Stud Poker offers an edge over 11% with perfect hole card play. Exploiting unintentional differences on the backs of the cards is known as edge sorting. Using the technique, Ivey and Sun won $9.6 million at the Borgata. The casino paid out the winnings, but filed a lawsuit against the two players in 2014, seeking to have the money returned to it.
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]
Applied by poker player Phil Ivey and subsequently challenged in court by the casino in which he did so, the UK High Court, Court of Appeal and 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[edit]
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]
Legality[edit]
Casinos usually regard this technique as cheating; many players consider that they are legitimately playing to gain an advantage.
In 2012, poker player Phil Ivey and partner Cheung Yin Sun won US$9.6 million playing baccarat at the Borgata casino.[4][5] In April 2014, the Borgata filed a lawsuit against Ivey and Cheung for their winnings.[5] 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.[6]
Later in 2012 he was reported 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.[7] Ivey sued them for payment, but lost in the UK High Court; it was judged that the edge sorting was 'cheating for the purpose of civil law'.[8][9] 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. Critically, the judgment pointed out 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 judgement but was unsuccessful.[10]
He further appealed to the UK Supreme Court (see Ivey v Genting Casinos)[11] 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'.'[9]
What Is Edge Sorting In Poker Terms
See also[edit]
Card counting, another strategy that improves statistical odds, not considered cheating
References[edit]
^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.
^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.
^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.
^Kaplan, Michael (29 June 2016). 'How 'Advantage Players' Game the Casinos'. The New York Times. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
^ abHaley 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.
^'Poker pro Phil Ivey ordered to repay $10M to Atlantic City casino'. NJ.com. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
^Ron Dicker (9 October 2012). 'Phil Ivey, Poker Champion, Denied $11.7 Million Payout From Punto Banco Card Game'. Huffington Post.
^'Top poker player Phil Ivey loses £7.7m court battle'. BBC. 8 October 2014.
^ abGrierson, Jamie (25 October 2017). 'Poker player loses court battle over £7.7m winnings from London casino'. The Guardian. ISSN0261-3077. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
^Khomami, Nadia (3 November 2016). 'Poker player loses appeal against London casino over £7.7m winnings'. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
^'Poker Pro Ivey Goes All In at U.K.'s Top Court Cheating Case'. Bloomberg. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Edge_sorting&oldid=994559356'
Casino game players can generally be divided into one of two groups. The casual player wants to win, but doesn’t do much to try to win.
What Is Edge Sorting
The other group of players takes steps to try to lower the house edge as much as possible. A small percentage of thisgroup is willing to take steps that can give them a small edge over the casinos at times. This small group of players is often called advantage players.
This takes quite a bit of work and involves a few dangers, including being asked to leave the casino if they get caught.
Advantage players usually start by finding games that offer the lowest house edge and learning the perfect strategy to use while playing. Blackjack is the game the players often start with. Ithas a low house edge and you can play each situation a certain way in order to reduce the house edge as much as possible.
The next step for most advantage players is to learn how to count cards while playing blackjack. If you learn how to count cards you can play with a small advantage over the house while playingblackjack.
This edge is usually 1% or less, but an edge is still better than the alternative.
But blackjack card counters quickly learn that in addition to playing with an advantage by counting being hard,they also often get caught and asked to stop playing. So they start looking for other ways to gain an advantage over the casinos.
This is where hole carding comes into play. It offers many advantages over card counting including a higher edge, a larger variety of games, and it’s harder for the casinos to figure out whatyou’re doing.
Keep reading to learn what hole carding is, how to do it, and what games to use it with.